Jimmy Jin

Jimmy Jin
Jimmy Jin

Jimmy Jin (b.1996) is a passionate composer and violinist who works in both Canada and China. He has recently graduated from the Master of music program in composition at University of Ottawa (2022) and is currently working as a RCM music theory teacher and freelance composer. Jimmy enjoys working in a wide variety of musical genres, from popular to contemporary music. Over the past two years, he has composed, conducted and recorded five original contemporary/classical pieces. He has completed 8 commissions on arranging and orchestrating film/game music into chamber/orchestral music styles, including three brass quintets, two orchestral fantasies, two piano & violin duo and a SATB a cappella. On the other hand, Jimmy is active in writing popular music as well; in 2022, he composed six pop songs, two of which (Pumpkin Carriage and Leaving my Hometown) were recognized with the ACE composition competition awards in China. Today, Jimmy’s aim is to work in all concert, film and video game music, which will allow him to combine classical and contemporary styles and approaches.

Learn more at: https://www.composerjinjimmy.com

Stephen Morris

Stephen Morris is a composer based in Toronto, whose music strives to create musical
experiences which separate the listener’s connection to the world through the expression of
atmospheric and trance inducing works. His music has been published in the SCI Journal of
Music Scores and included in concerts, conferences, short films, theatre productions, and
installations around the world. Stephen’s music has been programmed in places such as Arizona
State University, Carnegie Hall, Chateau De Fontainebleau, Trojhalí Karolina, Yancheng First
Public Retail Market, New York University, and the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
He has collaborated with ensembles and artists like the Prague Philharmonia, Imani Winds,
Moscow Contemporary Ensemble, Hanzhi Wang, and the Lincoln Centre Theatre Directors Lab.
Stephen has participated in various music festivals as a composer such as Ostrava Days (Czech
Republic), Écoles d’art américaines de Fontainebleau (France), Impuls (Austria), reMusik
(Russia), Don’t Sleep In Yancheng (China), Imani Winds Chamber Festival (USA), Charlotte
New Music Festival (USA), Music At The Close (USA), and SCI Regional Conference (USA).
Stephen is a graduate of Mannes School of Music where he earned his Masters of Music in
composition. He is currently a DMA candidate at the University of Toronto, studying with Gary
Kulesha. Stephen has previously studied with Reiko Füting, and Huang Ruo. He has taken
lessons and master classes with Tristan Murail, George Lewis, Christian Wolff, Bernhard Lang,
Bright Sheng, Vladimir Tarnopolsky, Kotoka Suzuki, Deqing Wen, and Ana Sokolovic.

Emma Theresa Verdonk

Emma Theresa Verdonk is a composer from Brantford, Ontario. She holds her Bachelor of Music in Community Music (’20) from Wilfrid Laurier University and her Masters in Music Composition from Western University (’22). She has written music for the Laurier Symphony Orchestra, the Penderecki String Quartet, Arcady Ensemble, and various chamber ensembles. Her catalogue includes over 200 children’s songs that she arranged and composed for the Musical Safari program at Queen Street Music School in Cambridge. As a past Emerging Artist (2021/22) with Arcady, the ensemble frequently debuts her music and has commissioned various works for their 2023 performances. She currently works on staff with Arcady as the assistant to the director and teaches composition and arranging at Heritage College and Seminary. In May 2022, she released an album of piano solos entitled ‘Reflections.’ Shortly after, she self-published these through Amazon as a folio collection. Emma is currently creating her second album ‘This Is Me’ for piano, vocals, and VST.

Katharine Petkovski

Katharine Petkovski
Katharine Petkovski

A Canadian composer, pianist and producer, Katharine Petkovski draws from many genres of music, layering and experimenting with acoustic instruments and synthesized textures to create exciting sonic palettes. Featured on CBC’s “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30” 2022 edition list, Katharine has released a number of recording projects and has composed music for Canadian ensembles like Odin Quartet, Bedford Trio and the Exultate Chamber Singers. 

Katharine is especially passionate about scoring music for film and tv, and has written for a variety of films, and numerous forms of visual and commercial media. She has had music featured by the Canadian Olympic Committee leading up to the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games and heard her music in festivals such as BFI Flare Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, Inside Out Film Festival, TIFF Next Wave Film Festival and the Reel Asian Film Festival. 

Katharine holds a BMus in Composition from the University of Toronto (’19), and a MMus in Composition from the University of Toronto (’21), where she received the Tecumseh Sherman Rogers Graduating Award of $25,000 upon completion. Katharine resides in Toronto and sings as alto in the Toronto Chamber Choir. She is an active member of the Screen Composer’s Guild of Canada and the Alliance for Women Film Composers.

2022-23 New Generation Film Composers’ Program Participants Announced

Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra is pleased to introduce this years slate of New Generation Film Composers participating in the 2022-23 program, run in partnership with Sheridan College’s internationally recognized film animation program.

The program. will formally kick off January 31, 2023, with an introductory workshop on the topic of  the technology workflow used in modern media-music composition. The presenter will be Charles Finlay, Coordinator of Sheridan College’s Music Scoring for Stage and Screen (MSSS) program. 

During the program, participants will all compose an original score for an animated short that will be performed, recorded and film-edited for a published final product. 

Taking the lead on delivering the program is composer and Sheridan professor, Bruno Degazio .  Professional composers serving as mentors for the program are: 

  • Virginia Kilbertus
  • Aaron Tsang
  • Jim McGrath
  • Charles Finlay 

Video Showcases from past seasons' New Generation Film Composer Program

This program is made possible through the generosity of: 

Helena Cheu

Helena Cheu is a pianist and composer from Northern Ontario.  She is Chinese-Canadian and often feels side-lined by both sides of her heritage. That being said, she feels at home on stage and at the theatre.  Before the pandemic, she worked as a pianist, playing for musicals, the ballet, and church services and funerals.  In March 2020, for the first time in her life she experienced what it feels like to have Nothing-To-Do.  It was at that point she decided she wanted to explore her limits as a writer and began studying at Queens University.  Her work often centres around themes of alienation and isolation.

Rachel McFarlane

Rachel McFarlane is a Canadian composer who began as a violinist in the Claude Watson Program at Earl Haig Secondary School. She is previously known for her breakout piece “Beyond the Challenger Deep” which was played by the Gryphon Trio at the Jane Mallet Theatre in Toronto. Rachel studied under Deborah Pady, Leona Davidson, Kevin Lau, Jennifer Smele, Tanya Charles-Iveniuk, and Janal Betchold and continued to create pieces for ensembles such as The Oriana Women’s Choir, The Amici Ensemble, The Odin Quartet and the Rachel Moore’s Choral Project in New York. Rachel has worked intensely on her film scoring strategies by completing two consecutive Berklee Programs: the Intensive High school Composition Program and the Film Scoring in LA Program. These programs introduced her to the business of composing and enhanced her composition skills for different genres of film, all while attending master classes taught by Timothy Huling, James Newton Howard, Chris Lennertz, and Tom Holkenborg. She is currently a Games and Interactive Media Scoring student at Berklee with a scholarship and is expected to graduate in 2025. She continues to compose music for her Berklee classes and ensembles under the supervision of Sean McMahon and hopes to one day work for Disney.

Michael Nunes

Michael Nunes is a Canadian composer and horn player from Sherwood Park,

Alberta. He has performed as a soloist with the Hannaford Street Silver Band alongside Jens Lindemann, and at summer festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival and the Brott Music

Festival. Previous commissions include the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the National Academy Orchestra of Canada. He is a current substitute musician with the New World Symphony. Michael holds a B.Mus from the University of Toronto, and is pursuing an

M.Mus in horn and composition at the Mannes School of Music studying with Erik Ralske and Lowell Liebermann.

Cassie Forzani

Cassie Forzani
Cassie Forzani

As an actor, singer, composer, and dancer/choreographer, Cassie is a well-versed member of the world of the performing arts. Through her work in film scoring and acting, Cassie has had the amazing opportunity to take on larger roles in the world of film such as writing and directing (“Today’s the Day”). You can see some of Cassie’s work as an actor and dancer in music videos with Canadian artist Valerie Pascale (“Legends Never Die”, “Mollywood”, “Na Na Na”) and as a composer in House of Actors short film “Enlightenment”.

Cassie on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13227025/

Emily Hiemstra

Emily Hiemstra (b.1991) is a real life viola mom. She is a violist, composer and mom to three boys under 5. 

A JUNO nominated composer with music that has been deemed “superb” and “extremely resonant” (George Elliott Clarke, Canadian Poet Laureate), she has had her music performed at festivals throughout the UK, USA and Canada. Such festivals include the Impulse New Music Festival (Los Angeles, USA) and the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology (Cambridge, UK). Her orchestral and operatic background as a performer has deepened her understanding of colour and texture which she readily applies in her compositions to create clear and innovative works. Her desire is to create relevant and engaging music for the next generation and future generations to come.

A dedicated community member, Emily creates opportunities for new music such as the New Works for Solo Viola Project. She also strives to bring new music to a wider community through the In The Shadow of Your Wings concert series and performing family-friendly chamber concerts around the GTA. She also on the board of the Association of Canadian Women Composers as the Outreach & Publicity Officer. 

As a violist she has been heard on CBC Radio’s About Time with Tom Allen (2022), performed at festivals around the world including Banff Centre for the Arts (Banff, CAN) and the German-Scandinavian Youth Orchestra (Berlin, GER). She performed the Stamitz Viola Concerto with the Charis Collective in 2017, and has played with ensembles such as the Canadian Opera Company and the Magisterra Soloists.

You can find her playing concerts around London, ON or writing music when her boys are napping.