Communications, Author at Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra

Maghan McPhee

Maghan McPhee is a revered lyric coloratura soprano thanks to her sensitive artistry, precise musicianship, and luscious instrument. She is adept with standard rep and highly sought after for premiering new works by established contemporary composers such as Monica Pearce, Andrew Ager and Daniel Mehdizadeh. Her soaring soprano suits the difficulty and high tessitura of many Mozart roles including his concert arias and main characters from his most notable operas. Other signature roles include Micaela in Bizet’s Carmen, and Berta in Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia where she made her mark and “immediately had the public holding their
breath during her brief but remarkable solo”(LeDroit).

An accomplished concert performer, she has sung at Carnegie Hall, and with notable orchestras including Thirteen Strings, Symphony Nova Scotia, The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra. A regular with the National Art Centre Orchestra, she worked with Alexander Shelley in Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream along with acclaimed actor Colm Fiore, was the soprano soloist in their Messiah and was recently featured in their recent Christmas Playlist concert with Jean-Marie Zeitouni. Ms. McPhee launched her debut recording “Portrait” with pianist Parvaneh Eshghi, to great reviews: “[Maghan has] full command of her instrument, precise in her attacks, and stylish in her approach to the songs…” -Barcza Blog.

Maghan is a curious artist and forever dedicated to her passion for exploring the human voice’s power and possibility. She imparts the training she received in New York and holds a virtual studio with students all over the country and abroad. She is the founding executive director of Breno Italy International Music Academy. BIIMA is celebrating its 10th season enabling participants to awaken their artistry in an idyllic and nurturing setting in voice, piano, choral and composition. biimaperformance.com

Elienna Wang, composer

Elienna is a Toronto-based composer studying with Professor Norbert Palej at the University of Toronto. Her songs, choral works, and chamber music have been performed at the University of Toronto, the Women’s Art Association of Canada, the Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Church, and retirement homes across the GTA. This year, her art song, “Promise Me A Moment” premiered at the University of Toronto’s New Music Festival while her choral piece, “Wings,” was premiered by the Spirit Singers Choir at the “Come In From the Cold” fundraising concert this March. Her composition for piano solo, “Butterfly,” was performed at the University of Toronto’s Student Composers Concert and was awarded gold at the 2024 Toronto Kiwanis Festival. This April, her art song, “Rosé Leaves,” will be premiered by Daniel MacMillan as part of the New Generation Composers program, and her choral piece “Words Unspoken,” will be workshopped by the Elmer Iseler Singers at the CMC. Elienna is also a collaborative pianist, accompanying the University of Toronto’s Graduate Voice Pedagogy Program and the Spirit Singers Choir this year. At the same time, her work organizing concerts at retirement homes, including the Bradgate Retirement home and Richmond Hill Retirement Residence shows her passion for promoting well-being as a performer and composer. By sharing her musical voice, Elienna hopes to bring joy, hope, and belonging to her listeners. Elienna’s music is available through her Youtube channel, showcasing her work in the past 4 years.

Gilles Thibodeau, French Horn

Gilles Thibodeau grew up in the small Northern town of Kapuskasing, Ontario. Having discovered the horn at the age of 14, he instantly fell in love with the instrument, and never looked back. From the University of Western Ontario to the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory, he honed his craft and learned the ropes. An active orchestral freelancer, teacher and chamber musician, Gilles is also a senior administrator in the post-secondary education sector. Mr. Thibodeau would like to encourage everyone to speak up for the support of music in our public schools, without which he, and many of his colleagues, would have never discovered the magical world of classical music.

Matt Antal

Matthew Antal is a violist born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. He attended Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts where he began playing viola at age 12 because he was told “you look like a violist”. He holds a bachelor’s degree in viola performance from the University of Toronto under Katharine Rapoport and a master’s degree in viola performance from the University of Victoria under Joanna Hood. Matthew is a regular performer with several music ensembles including Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra/Opera Atelier, Theatre of Early Music, Elixir Ensemble, and Odin Quartet. He also holds an advanced certificate in early music performance from the University of Toronto where he studied with Patrick Jordan and Stefano Marcocchi.

Vanessa Yu, pianist

Named one of CBC Music’s top 30 emerging musicians under 30, Toronto-based pianist Vanessa Yu is establishing herself as a sensitive and vibrant musician. As the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Pacific Rim International Music Festival, she was invited to perform at Carnegie’s Weill Hall in New York City.

Vanessa has presented solo and chamber programs for the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra’s NewGen series, Confluence Concerts, Chautauqua Institution, and the University of Toronto’s Thursdays at Noon series. Most recently, Vanessa gave solo recitals for the International Holland Music Sessions in the Netherlands and the Nine Sparrows Arts Foundation in Canada. Other performances have taken her to Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria, the United States, and across Canada. Vanessa has had recordings nationally broadcasted on CBC Music, in addition to being featured on OMNI Television and 680 News. As a finalist at the Classicalia competition, her performance at the Vienna Konzerthaus was televised by PBS SoCal and Stingray Classica.

A seasoned concerto soloist, Vanessa has performed Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Rimsky-Korsakov concerti with the Central Texas Philharmonic, Vienna Opera Ball, Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber, Mississauga Symphony, Oakville Chamber, York Symphony, Burlington Symphony, North York Concert, and Etobicoke Philharmonic orchestras. Upcoming engagements include performances of Saint-Saëns’s Fifth Concerto with the Toronto Concert, Scarborough Philharmonic, and Kindred Spirits orchestras.
Garnering awards in Canada and beyond, Vanessa has received top prizes at the Chicago and Città di San Donà di Piave international competitions, among others. Recently, she was the youngest contestant and prizewinner at both the 2023 Eisemann International Young Artists Competition and the 2022 Thousand Islands International Piano Competition, as well as the Grand Prize winner of the 2023 International Music Festival and Competition held in Ontario.

Vanessa recently graduated from the BMusPerf program at the University of Toronto where she was a full merit scholarship student under the tutelage of Steven Philcox and formerly Enrico Elisi. She will be starting graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University this fall as a student of Boris Slutsky.

Inspired by her mentors, Vanessa enjoys teaching; her students have won awards at competitions including the OMFA provincials. She has recently taught masterclasses at the Orrett Music Academy and Berkovsky-Solomon Academy of Music, and adjudicated for the Ontario Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ORMTA)’s Central Toronto auditions.

As an avid designer, Vanessa is also a calligrapher and bullet journalist, and has taught workshops for partners including Google.

Yuhan Zhou

Yuhan is a Chinese-born composer and pianist based in Toronto. She recently won the Ann H Atkinson Prize in 2023 and currently serves as the composer-in-residence at the University of Toronto Wind Symphony and Chamber Choir. Her winning composition, performed with the Bedford piano trio, titled “The Not-yet,” premiered at the 2023 UofT New Music Festival. Yuhan’s work has been showcased across East Asia and North America, including soundtracks for visual media like Hulu’s 2021 id Artists showcase advertisement, as well as award-winning films such as “Oop” and “Gamble”. In 2021, she assumed the role of music producer and team lead at ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company in Beijing. Yuhan is presently pursuing a composition doctorate at the University of Toronto under the guidance of Professor Christos Hatzis.”

Patrick Wu, composer

Taiwanese-born Canadian, Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu, is an award-winning composer, violinist, and multimedia artist who is constantly on the search for musical language that bridges his multicultural
identity. Patrick’s music ranges from his own style of neo-romanticism to avant-garde soundscapes; fusing theatrical elements and improvisational techniques.

In the upcoming season of 2023-2024, Patrick will be launching his solo violin work “EN ROUTE” on Gillian Smith’s upcoming album with Leaf Music. Some highlights of the season include: a new string quartet for Boston-based Gaia Quartet, an aria for LYSISTRATA Reimagined to be premiered in
January 2024, and various chamber music works in Toronto and Boston.

Patrick has worked with renowned ensembles such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Hypercube Ensemble, The Julius Quartet, Loadbang, Alkali Collective, Neave Trio, Gaia Quartet, and nexbloom.

His works have premiered at highSCORE Composition Festival, Zodiac Music Festival, Uzmah Upbeat Composition Program, Atlantic Music Festival, Scotia Festival of Music, Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival, and most recently, Mostly Modern Festival. Patrick has worked with composers Jérôme
Blais, Alexandra du Bois, Vivian Fung, Amy Beth Kirsten, David Ludwig, and Dinuk Wijeratne.

In addition to composing, Patrick performs actively on the violin from solo performances to chamber music and orchestral repertoire. Patrick has studied the violin with I-Ching Li, Philippe Djokic, Mark Lee, Sean Wang, and Jesse Mills. In 2016, he served as concertmaster of the Evergreen
Symphony Orchestra Summer Festival in Taiwan, as well as concertmaster of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra.

Patrick is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and an affiliate member of the Canadian League of Composers. His music is represented by SOCAN and ASCAP. Patrick is currently pursuing his Doctoral of Musical Arts at the University of Toronto under the guidance of Dr. Norbert
Palej. Patrick holds his Master of Music in Composition and Violin Performance as well as a Graduate Diploma in Composition from Longy School of Music of Bard College. He earned his
Bachelor of Music from the Fountain School of Performing Arts, Dalhousie University.

https://www.patrickwumusic.com/

Daniel Mehdizadeh, composer

Described as a ‘hypnotic masterwork’ by Daniel Vnukowski of Classical Jukebox Radio, Daniel Mehdizadeh’s music captivates audiences worldwide. Holding a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Toronto, Mehdizadeh’s compositions are revered for their intricate, unpredictable, and haunting qualities. Based in the Greater Toronto Area, he currently serves as the music and choir director at Stouffville United Church, following his successful tenure as composer-in-residence for the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) from 2020 to 2023. With a global musical influence, Mehdizadeh’s works have garnered widespread recognition, with performances and appearances in prestigious festival series across Europe and North America. His compositions have been featured on CBC and Classical Jukebox Radio and have been featured on albums released by Akashic Classics, distributed by the Universal Group.

For more information visit https://www.danielmehdizadeh.com/

Origins of “Songs of Hope”

More than a year ago we applied to the Canada Council for the Arts with the following words:

“We are living through times challenged by pandemic, climate change and political unrest. As a collective of artists working within a creative circle associated with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, we have asked ourselves how artists can and should respond to the times we live in. Our answer has been the one word “Hope”. Drawing on various texts from the classical to the new, and set within our own musical styles, we will jointly conspire to infect our audiences virally with Hope.”

“This project will result in the composition of new works for mezzo soprano, soprano, and chamber ensemble by members of this collaborative. The works are unified by the theme of “Songs of Hope”.

The project was sparked by and evolved through conversations between mezzo-soprano, Danielle MacMillan and SPO Music Director and composer, Ronald Royer and the working group was expanded to include additional composers, Maghan McPhee, soprano and 7 performer collaborators: These include the four members of the Odin Quartet (Alex Toskov, violin / Tanya Charles Iveniuk, violin / Matt Antal, viola / Samuel Bisson, cello); plus Kaye Royer, clarinet; Lisa Tahara, piano; Gilles Thibodeau, French Horn.

The scope of work was conceived as a year long creative process developed by a group of composers/librettists, musicians, singers, and recording technicians who have experience working together successfully on various individual and collaborative projects coordinated by Ronald Royer, in partnership with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra over recent years.

We are exploring a new way of working that is arising out of our practice and we seek to explore further.

Composition is usually a solitary practice. As that solitary state is consistent with the way the pandemic locked us in our solitary lives, artistic practice is mirroring our recent shared history. This project is conceived to involve us in working more collectively, as we explore the theme of “Hope”.

Group creation is part of our organizational DNA. It is perhaps significant that SPO has presented a number of works composed by ICOT (Iranian-Canadian Composers of Toronto), who work collectively, a model of working arising out of the Persian musical tradition. Also, in recent years, SPO’s New Generation Composer program has “grown up:” attracting composers working at a more advanced level in their emerging careers; offering more workshops and mentorship; and building a multi-generational community of alumni who continue to work within our informal artistic collective. So, as we work on an artistic project with messages of hope for the audience, we also aspire to develop a new and hopeful way of working together.

This project also will bring together composers at different stages of their lives and careers, with a variety of lived experience and cultural perspectives.

Now after months of work we are nearly there on March 30, we will be holding a day-long workshop with composers, musicians and mentors in attendance.

On April 26th the full cycle will be presented at Heliconian Hall, with highlights on our subscription series on April 27th.