Ivanna Scovino Angel, Operations Manager

Ivanna has been part of the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra and the Scarborough community for over 10 years. She first became involved with the SPO as a dedicated audience member, volunteer, and close friend to its musicians and patrons. Ivanna now serves as Operations Manager, directly supporting our Artistic Director Ronald Royer, Executive Director Michael Jones, all of our valued volunteer staff, box office management, concert and event logistics, community outreach and fundraising initiatives. With a background in business leadership, marketing, and music, Ivanna brings a thoughtful, community-focused perspective to SPO programming and content.
 

Throughout her life, Ivanna has been deeply committed to music education, community service, and expanding access to the arts. Classically trained in voice, piano, guitar, saxophone, composition, music history, and music theory through her studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Ivanna embraced her love of music beginning at the age of five. She later performed as both a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in local jazz bands and orchestral ensembles.

As a Venezuelan immigrant who has benefited from community supports throughout her own life, Ivanna is especially passionate about ensuring that classical music education and orchestral experiences remain accessible to immigrant families, minority communities, and audiences who have historically faced barriers to the arts. In her current role with the SPO, she is focused on supporting positive and meaningful experiences for both the Scarborough community and the musicians who serve it, while aiming to help create sustainable opportunities for musicians of all ages and backgrounds.

Through her studies at the University of Toronto, Ivanna continues to pursue her long-term goal of completing doctoral studies and becoming a child psychologist, with the hope of incorporating her lifelong love of the arts and music education into her future work with children and families. As Ivanna begins her work in prison ministry, she aims to utilize the arts as a means of supporting healing, reflection, and connection among the individuals she encounters. 

Working alongside Executive Director Michael Jones, and through ongoing training in arts administration, Ivanna continues to hone her skills in fundraising, grant writing, operations, and community-focused arts programming in order to better serve the SPO, its artists, and the broader Scarborough community.

Ivanna is deeply committed to removing barriers to music education and is always ready to lend a helping hand, whether by offering free music lessons, supporting volunteers of all ages through elevated customer service training, or helping patrons and community members access and learn more about SPO programming, resources, and opportunities. Ivanna welcomes detailed inquiries and can be reached by email at ivanna@spo.ca. 

 

Thomas Torok, piano

Thomas Torok

Celebrated for his imaginative playing and virtuosic stage presence, young Canadian pianistThomas Torok has already established himself as one of Canada’s brightest upcoming talents.The award winning artist has earned international recognition for his musicianship as a finalist in the MostArts Piano Competition 2014, and the New York International Piano Competition 2016, as well as being a silver medalist in the Vienna International Music Competition 2019. Most recently, Thomas was a finalist in the first ever series of Classicalia, a new televised competition aimed at promoting the best young classical artists across the globe. 


Already performing in such esteemed venues around the world such as Carnegie Hall and the Wiener Konzerthaus, recent performance engagements have taken him to renowned Canadian venues such as Toronto’s Koerner Hall and the Canadian Opera Company’s Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre. Thomas made his orchestral debut as a soloist at age fifteen, and has since then performed together with several orchestras including the Academy Chamber Orchestra, the Toronto Concert Orchestra, the Huronia Symphony, as well as the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, to name a few.

With his recent orchestral engagements, Thomas has collaborated and studied with some of Canada’s most preeminent conductors including Claudio Vena, Earl Lee, Oliver Balaburski, Ivars Taurins, Kerry Stratton and Jennifer Tung. Thomas’s performances have been broadcast on numerous radio and television stations across Canada and the United States, including WRTI Philadelphia, PBS SoCal, The New Classical 102.9 FM, and Yamaha Canada’s “Going Solo” podcast.

Born in Hungary in 1998 and raised in a culture where the love for music and the performing arts was predominant, Thomas began piano lessons at the age of six. After he and his family immigrated to Canada, Thomas began his formal musical education at the The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Young Artists Academy (Phil and Eli Taylor Academy for Young Artists) with renowned pianist Li Wang. He completed his Bachelors degree in 2022 at the Glenn Gould School studying with James Anagnoson, one of Canada’s most sought after pedagogues.

As an avid soloist in the international masterclass scene, Thomas has played for and studied with several world-renowned artists such as Stephen Hough, Emanuel Ax, Ronan O’Hora, John O’Connor, Andre Laplante, Marc Durand, Stephen Prutsman, Anton Nel, and John Perry. Additional summer studies have taken place at the Miami International Piano Festival, and the Philadelphia Young Pianists Academy at the Curtis Institute of Music. As a current full scholarship student, Thomas is pursuing his Artist Diploma at the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School.

Mitsuko Fernandes

Mitsuko Fernandes is a grade 11 student at the University of Toronto Schools. Despite a wide variety of interests, music is one of her main passions: she has played piano for over twelve years, and viola for six. She started composing from a young age, submitting early compositions to competitions just a few years after beginning piano. However, her love for composing was reignited in 9th grade after writing a song for a project in her music class. Her composition style is versatile, ranging from melancholy singer-songwriter to impressionist chamber music. She has played in multiple orchestras and chamber music ensembles, has held lead roles in multiple musicals, and is currently the lead singer of a band. She is currently studying piano with JUNO Award-winning pianist Angela Park and hopes to pursue music and composition in the future.

Leela Gilday, singer/songwriter

A passionate singer/songwriter and soulful performer, Leela Gilday has a voice that comes straight from the heart. Confessing her stories to her audiences with a gutsy voice and open stage presence, Gilday weaves her experiences as a northerner, a member of the Dene nation, and a traveler into a beautiful world that transports the
listener.


If you’re from the North, Leela’s music is home. If you’ve never been, it will take you there. Born and raised in the Northwest Territories, she writes about the people and the land that created her. The power in her voice conveys the depth of her feelings of love and life in a rugged environment and vibrant culture, as if it comes straight from
that earth. Leela’s family is from Délįne on the shore of Great Bear Lake and her rich vocals dance across the rhythmic beats of traditional Dene drumming as smoothly as a bass line onstage the largest venues in the country. And she has played them all. Leela has toured festivals and concert halls with her four-piece band through every province and territory in Canada. She has played in the United States, Greenland,
Australia, New Zealand and several countries in Europe. 

Her live shows are where she connects with fans who have followed her on a 20-year career and where new fans are born. She reaches into their hearts and feels the energy of every person in front of her as she guides them on a journey through song and experience. She believes music has an inexplicable effect on people. It is a place where she can share light and dark and the most vulnerable moments, with a clarity and genuine purpose that reassures her listeners through every word. She is a storyteller, and through this, reflects the world onto itself.Five years after her last album was released—five years of growth, healing and head-down work—Leela’s fifth album was released September 6 2019. It is more raw, more intimate and more Leela than anything you’ve heard from her before. Since then it has garnered a Canadian Folk Music

Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians visit Scarborough

When we were contacted by the US Consulate about a potential to assist with an Outreach event by members of the world-famous Philadelphia Orchestra, we knew we had to try to make it happen in Scarborough.  Planning time was really short but there’s a lot of “can do” attitude at the SPO and we knew that the community would really benefit.  A few Zoom meetings later and there was a busy couple of days set up for our visitors.  They met with Sistema community music students, coached and performed at Sir Oliver Mowat C.I. and then joined us on stage for a free public concert in a full to capacity house. 

What a whirlwind! 

Philadelphia Orchestra quartet with the Odin Quartet and members of the SPO

Ronald Royer, composer

With numerous performances, commissions and commercial recordings, Ronald Royer is a prominent Canadian composer who strives to connect with audiences.  Justin O’Dell of The Clarinet magazine writes: “Ronald Royer’s music is beautifully appealing and communicative”, while Stanley Fefferman of Showtimemagazine.ca contributes, “These masterful and witty pieces live up to Royer’s reputation for music that is both entertaining and imaginative.”

His concert music has been performed by more than 70 orchestras, including the international iPalpiti Orchestra in Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles, USA), Sinfonia Finlandia (Finland), Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), Athens La Camerata (Greece), Joensuu City Orchestra (Finland), and Members of the Wurttemberg Chamber Orchestra (Germany). Canadian performances have included the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Orchestra London, Niagara Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony and Symphony New Brunswick. The Ontario Festival Symphony Orchestra performed his composition Exuberance on tour in China (available on YouTube). He has served as the composer-in-residence for Sinfonia Toronto, Mississauga Symphony (supported by the Canada Council for the Arts), Toronto Sinfonietta, Scarborough Philharmonic and the Brantford Symphony.

 His music has been performed by such notables as French flute soloist and conductor, Patrick Gallois, Hungarian viola soloist and former Principal Violist of the Berlin Philharmonic Máté Szűcs, Canadian cellist Shauna Rolston, Canadian/Argentinian pianist Alexander Panizza, as well as ensembles such as the Gryphon Trio, St. Lawrence Quartet, and The Elmer Iseler Singers.

Mr. Royer has worked in film and theatre, and this includes (with co-composer Kevin Lau) the score for Gooby, starring Robbie Coltrane and Eugene Levy. He composed music for the theatrical production (and commercial recording) of The Storyteller’s Bag. He was commissioned to write a work for Canada Day celebrations at Niagara Falls. His work, Water and Light for live orchestra with fireworks was heard on July 1, 2006 by over 20,000 people.  

Mr. Royer’s music is featured on 15 commercial recordings, with 6 on the Cambria Master Recordings label (distributed by Naxos). He has consistently received positive and enthusiastic reviews for his music. Performers on recordings include the Los Angeles Studio Orchestra (Jorge Mester, conductor), Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, (Tomas Koutnik), iPalpiti Orchestra (Eduard Schmieder), Sinfonia Toronto (Ronald Royer), 13 Strings of Ottawa (Simon Streatfeild), Toronto Sinfonietta (Matthew Jaskiewicz), Odin Quartet, HornPipes Duo, Chamber Music Society of Mississauga, Triofus, flutists Louise DiTullio and Nora Shulman, oboist Sarah Jeffrey, clarinets Tibi Cziger, Kaye Royer and Jerome Summers, violinists Conrad Chow and Aaron Schwebel, cellists Coenraad Bloemendal, Yves Dharamraj and Simon Fryer, trumpeters Brunette Dillon, Barton Woomert and Steven Woomert, hornist Gabriel Radford, and pianists Aaron Dou, Rachel Kerr and Lydia Wong. His commercial recordings and live performance recordings are regularly heard on radio, including the CBC and The New Classical FM in Canada and a number of NPR stations in the USA.

Born in Los Angeles into a family of professional musicians, he began his career as a cellist, performing with such ensembles as the Toronto Symphony, Utah Symphony, Pacific Symphony, and American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, as well as working in the Motion Picture and Television Industry in Los Angeles during the 1980’s. Having been inspired by working with a number of concert and film composers, Mr. Royer began serious studies in composition in the 1990’s, receiving a master’s degree in composition from the University of Toronto in 1997. His principal composition teachers were Alexander Rapoport, Walter Buczynski and Lothar Klein. Mr. Royer has received commissioning grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, the Laidlaw Foundation and more. He is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.

In addition to composing, Mr. Royer is presently serving as the music director and conductor of the Scarborough Philharmonic and has guest conducted a number of orchestras. For 21 years, he worked as an Instructor of Music for the University of Toronto Schools. He continues to teach private lessons and be an advocate for music education. Mr. Royer is married to clarinetist Kaye Royer and has composed several works for her.

Shreya Jha, composer

Shreya Jha is a composer, lyricist, playwright, educator, and medical student at the University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine. She previously completed dual Bachelors degrees in neuroscience and music composition at the University of Toronto. She is keenly interested in music composition, musical theatre, music education, and interdisciplinary research.

Shreya’s first musical Statistics (book, music, and lyrics) premiered at the U of T’s Drama Festival in February 2019. It then went on to be win the Adams Prize for Musical Theatre at the Toronto Fringe Festival. It made its Fringe debut in 2022. Statistics was shortlisted for the Playwrights’ Guild of Canada’s Robert Beardsley Award and appeared in the 2021 shortlisted play bundle.

Shreya’s second musical Connections was premiered in November 2019. LUV, written as a collaboration, debuted as a cast Album in 2020-2021. 18 Palace Road debuted in fall 2021.

Shreya made her professional compositional debut with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in April 2021. Her piece, Just Tango With Me will be performed at an upcoming concert (TBD) The Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra has performed her pieces String Sonata Op. 8 Mvt 4 – Allegro Vivace, Adversity, Spring in the Step, Forgetting and her arrangement of a traditional Inuit song, This Child. In March 2017 and 2018, the Gryphon Trio premiered her pieces Vexation and Two Left Feet at their Trinity College coffeehouse. The Bold City Contemporary Ensemble selected her piece Journey Through A Daydream for programming in their 2017-2018 season. The Can-Am Trio will premiere her piece Tributes in an upcoming season.

Shreya continuously explores the intersections between music and science, including education and research. She developed a composition program at Sistema Toronto and remains an involved artist. She also works with the Music and Cognition Lab at the University of Toronto Mississauga, the Behavioural Cardiology Research Unit at Toronto General Hospital, and the Toronto Dementia Research Alliance in conjunction with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Shreya received her Associate of the Royal Conservatory (ARCT) in piano performance with honours in June 2016. She is an active violist and violinist and has played with both the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Rachel McFarlane, composer

Rachel “Ray” McFarlane is an exceptional upcoming composer whose extraordinary talent and achievements have propelled them to the forefront of the music industry at a remarkably young age.

She displays a level of artistry and craftsmanship that surpasses many seasoned composers. Her compositions demonstrate a remarkable fusion of classical sophistication and contemporary innovation, leaving audiences in awe of their maturity and depth.
Rachel is a dual major student at Berklee College of Music, majoring in Film Scoring and Video Game Scoring. She has studied under Kevin Lau and is currently a composer for Orchestral Tools, Spitfire Audio, Sonixinema, and The Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra.

Website: https://raymcfarlane.carrd.co/

Anika-France Forget

French-Canadian mezzo-soprano and composer Anika-France Forget has been noted for her exemplary stage presence, and for being playful and vocally impressive.  In 2022, she was the recipient of a Leverhulme Arts Scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, U.K., where she obtained a Master of Music in Voice Performance studying with soprano Marilyn Rees. In the same year, Anika-France was commissioned by Slow Rise Music and her work premiered during the Hanging by a Thread inaugural concert at the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto. Thanks to a mentoring partnership between the Diaspora Dialogues and the Orpheus Choir of Toronto, Anika-France’s choral piece “Prayer for Return” was commissioned and got its world premiere at the 2019 Raising Her Voice and 2019 Toronto’s Nuit Blanche. Her work received many praises: “Passion is at the core of Forget’s score, lush harmony, emotional questioning and a deeply felt synergy with Eskandani’s poem” (Robert Cooper, conductor). 


In the fall 2024, she will be working with the Myriad Ensemble and their artistic director, Elise Naccarato, towards the premiere of her SSA piece “Of A Demon In My View”. Continuing her musical journey, she will commence an Intensive Profile Masters of Music in Composition at the University of Ottawa in September, supported by a full Arts Merit Scholarship.

Website: https://anikafrance.com/