SORA SATO-MOUND, VIOLIN

Edouard Lalo: Symphonie Espagnole- movement 1

At the age of three, Sora was inspired by the music and performance of a Canadian legend, Ashley MacIsaac. Since then, anything that resembled the Violin and a bow became Sora’s instruments, and he “played” them as long as he was awake. Sora enrolled in the Suzuki Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music a month before he turned four. He is a recipient of Ward Scholarship this year, and currently studying with Professor Atis Bankas at the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Sora has been invited to perform for—and during—Music Niagara in Niagara-On-The-Lake. He was also featured at StirlingFest in Stirling Ontario. In less formal settings, he has enjoyed performing in the community in Toronto and in Japan at various fund-raising and outreach events. In December 2019, he won concerto competitions—for Canadian Sinfonietta as well as for Milton Philharmonic Orchestra—at Unionville Music Competition. He is excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with Canadian Sinfonietta. When he is not playing the violin, Sora is busy composing on the piano. He also loves drawing, sculpting, reading, fishing, skating, and playing baseball or Magic with his friends. He is a grade five student in the gifted program at McMurrich Junior Public School.

EDEN SILVERBERG, VIOLIN

Max Bruch: Violin Concerto in G minor, movement 1

Eden Silverberg, 13 years old, began her violin studies at the age of 3 in Toronto. Eden has played at the Canadian Music Competition and received two first place awards at the National Finals in Quebec City and Montreal. Recently she was chosen to play at Koerner Hall as a soloist at the ARCT Convocation. She is a recent winner of the North York Music Festival Concerto Competition and performed as a soloist with the Cathedral Bluffs Orchestra. Eden has also won many awards at the Kiwanis Music Festival and North York Music Festival. She has been the recipient of numerous scholarships such as the Canimex Scholarship and Kiwanis Club of Islington Award. Eden has played as a soloist with her two older sisters with the CAST orchestra.

Eden studies with Dr. Conrad Chow at the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Eden has also performed for various charities and fundraisers including at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. In her spare time Eden competes on her school robotics team and on the volleyball and tennis team.

EMMANUELLE SIEVERS, VIOLIN

Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, movement 3 (Rondo)

Violinist Emmanuelle (Ellie) Sievers , a 17-year-old resident of Markham, Ontario, has received numerous accolades for her musicality and vibrant performances. Ellie’s recent honours include recipient of the 2019 Christine Shaw Scholarship, the 2019 Wayne Hill Memorial Award for the Arts, the 2018 Thomastik-Infeld Vienna Outstanding String Performer Award at MusicFest Canada, and first place with honours in Diploma Strings at the 2018 OMFA Provincial Competition. In 2019, Ellie performed as a soloist with the Canadian Sinfonietta, the North York Concert Orchestra, and the Kindred Spirits Orchestra, and was a featured performer at the Newmarket Young Artists’ Showcase and at the York Region MusicAlive gala. She also participated in the 2019 National Youth Orchestra of Canada program, touring Canada and Spain. In 2018, Ellie was chosen to participate in the Young Artists Summer Program at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

Born in Japan, Ellie began playing violin at the age of 3 and soon developed a passion for performing music. In 2012, she was selected as one of ten children nationally in Japan to participate in a four-city Suzuki concert tour. Since age 9, Ellie has played in numerous string orchestras in Japan, the United States, and Canada. She has been a member of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra since 2017, serving this season as co-concertmaster. Ellie also served as concertmaster for the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of the Americas in Minneapolis in 2014, and was a member of the Kindred Spirits Orchestra from 2015-2019, where she served as associate concertmaster during the 2018/19 season. In 2019, she earned her ARCT diploma in violin performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music. Ellie studies violin under Wendy Seravalle-Smith in Thornhill, and is currently a Grade 12 student in the Arts Unionville Program at Unionville High School in Markham.

ALEX YANG, PIANO

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1, movement 1

11-year-old Alex Yang is a grade six student at Halifax Grammar School, and has been a student of Professor Lynn Stodola since 2015.  He won numerous awards and starting to build up his reputation provincially and nationally.

In June, 2019, he won First Place in both piano and violin in the Canadian Music Competition (CMC) National Final in Calgary, Alberta, and he was awarded the Grand Prize in piano for achieving the highest 97 mark in his age group, across all instrumental categories. Also in 2019, he won the Chebucto Symphony Orchestra concerto competition and performed with the orchestra with the complete Beethoven piano concerto No.1. Recently, he was invited to perform in Carnegie Hall in March, 2020 for winning the First prize and Exceptional Young Musician prize in International Classic Music Competition. Meanwhile, he is the First Prize winner for the “Best Beethoven Performance” in Great Composer International Competition.

Alex has been an RCM Gold Medalist (Atlantic Region) in both Piano and Violin, and winner of numerous Nova Scotia Registered Music Teachers Association (NSRMTA) trophies and Scholarship Competitions in piano and violin.  As one of the youngest Nova Scotia Talent Trust Scholarship recipients in 2017, 2018 and 2019, he was invited to perform in solo recital at Government House on their Music on Tuesday Series.

Alex is a member of Chamber Orchestra in Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts violin section. He loves playing violin in school musicals, such as “Seussical” and “Newsies”. He loves singing and now is a member of Halifax Boys Honour Choir.

Aside from music, Alex is a straight A+ student in school academic. In sports, He likes tennis, badminton and swimming. He loves computer coding and computer games.

JULIA SURETTE, VOICE

G.F. Handel: Piangerò … la sorte mia from the opera Julius Caesar

Canadian-American soprano, Julia Surette completed her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in Montreal, Quebec where she studied the Art of Bel Canto under the direction of Professor Stefano Algieri. Julia has accreditation in both Voice Performance and Piano from Canada’s Royal Conservatory. In 2017, Julia was awarded the Mariana Paunova and Stefano Algieri Scholarship in Voice at the Schulich School of Music for outstanding achievement. She was also the voice champion of the prestigious La Concours de Musique de la Capitale competition held in Quebec City. She is fluent in English, and has a working knowledge of French, Italian, and German. Julia will begin her Master of Music at the Royal Academy of Music in London, UK in September of 2020 with the intention of pursuing an operatic career on the international classical Opera and Concert stages.

GRACE CHÜYU LIANG, VOICE

Ludwig van Beethoven: “O wär ich schon mit dir vereint” from Fidelio, Op.72, Act I from the opera Fidelio

Soprano Grace Chüyu Liang is a fourth-year Voice Performance student at the University of Toronto, where she studies with Prof. Darryl Edwards. In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Uof T Faculty of Music, Grace gave the performance premiere of Mattthew Emergy’s song Refuge, at the Canadian Music Centre.

In UofT Opera in 2017, Grace has appeared on the MacMillan Theatre Stage as Mary Hildebrand in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. With COSI Connection from 2017-2018, Grace’s roles have included Mad Margaret in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore, Angelina’s bridesmaid in Trial by Jury, and Cousin Hebe in HMS Pinafore. With Summer Opera Lyric Theatre in the summer of 2019, Grace performed as Nora in Vaughan Williams’ Riders to The Sea and Annina in Verdi’s La Traviata.

Grace’s 2019-2020 season includes appearances in Fiddler on the Roof, in Purcell’s King Arthur with UofT’s Schola Cantorium, in Strauss II’s The Gypsy Baron with the Toronto Operetta Theatre, in Le nozze di Figaro with UofT Opera, and in Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel with Long Reach Opera Workshop.