The Glenn Gould School Chamber Competition

Pianist Bernadene Blaha is internationally recognized as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician. Lauded by Piano and Keyboard Magazine for her "integrity" and "total clarity of line," Blaha began her musical journey in Canada before gaining prominence with top awards at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, Lugano Switzerland Masterplayer’s International Competition, and New York City's International Piano Competition. These prizes led to acclaimed recitals at Carnegie Recital Hall and the Lincoln Center Library in New York City.  

She was also featured at the XXIX International Chopin Festival in Marianske Lazne, followed by appearances at such distinguished venues as the Concertgebouw, Salle Cortot, Phillips Collection, National Arts Center, and Disney Hall. In 2009, Blaha co-founded the piano trio Latitude 41 with Livia Sohn and Luigi Piovano. The group’s debut album, featuring Schubert's monumental Trio in E flat, received high praise. With a rich discography, Blaha has recorded for CBC, Centaur, Analekta, Eloquentia, and Naxos. Her most recent album of Polish Violin Sonatas (Noskowski and Zelenski) with Swiss violinist, Laurence Kayaleh was released in December 2023 on the Naxos Label.   

Currently based in Los Angeles, Bernadene Blaha is a professor at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.  

David Harding has an extensive solo and chamber music career, having performed throughout Europe, the United States, Canada, Central America and Australia, in such venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.   

Noted for his “eloquent viola playing” (The Scotsman), David has performed at music festivals around the world, including Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and most recently, the Edinburgh International Festival and Philip Glass’ “Days and Nights Festival” in Big Sur, California. His live performances have been broadcast on CBC Radio (Canada), BBC (UK), NPR (USA), ABC (Australia) and Deutschland Radio. With flute, viola, harp ensemble, Trio Verlaine, David has recorded two CDs, “ Fin de Siècle, the music of Debussy and Ravel” and “Six Departures” featuring works by Bax and Jolivet alongside new commissions by R. Murray Schafer and Jeffery Cotton. Other notable recording projects include Philip Glass’ String Sextet and Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” on Orange Mountain Records, Bach’s Goldberg Variations with the string trio Triskelion for CBC records, the music of Aaron Jay Kernis with the Chester Quartet, and Brahms’ Viola Sonatas for Skylark Music.   

A devoted teacher, he is currently Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. A graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, David was the winner of the Sir John Barbirolli award at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. He performs on violas made by Nicolas Gilles, Montpellier, France and Pietro Antonio della Costa, Treviso, Italy.  

Christopher Millard has had a distinguished career as a performer and educator.  He recently retired from his position as Principal Bassoonist for Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. Prior to his tenure with the NACO, Mr. Millard served 29 years as principal bassoon for both the Vancouver Symphony and the CBC Radio Orchestra.   

In addition to his work at the University of Ottawa, he was a bassoon professor at Northwestern University for 7 years.  He gave regular masterclasses at the National Orchestra Institute, Rice University, the Curtis Institute, Indiana University, Manhattan School of Music, and the New World Symphony.  He was the bassoon instructor for Canada’s National Youth Orchestra for 20 years and taught for many summers at the Orford and Domaine Forget Academies.  His ensemble coaching has included Gold Medalists at the Fischoff International Competition. A Juno award winner, his recordings span a broad range of repertoire including a volume in the prestigious OrchestraPro series of orchestral excerpts. Mr. Millard’s students occupy orchestral positions in the Metropolitan Opera, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Saskatoon, Houston, Indianapolis, Omaha, Memphis, National Symphony, Cleveland and others.   

In addition to his work with the NACO, Mr. Millard was the Principal bassoon for the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra and made annual appearances at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. He was the creator and host of the NAC’s classical musical podcast and has served on executive director and music director search committees for the NAC. Mr. Millard was a student of the legendary Sol Schoenbach at the Curtis Insitute.