ARC Ensemble Members

Known for her "lively temperament, energetic individuality and warm and communicative tone" (Muzsika, Budapest), violinist Erika Raum continues developing a following here in her native country and internationally. Playing professionally since the age of twelve, Ms. Raum quickly rose through the ranks by taking first place at the 1992 Joseph Szigeti International Violin Competition in Budapest as well as the award for best interpretation of a Mozart concerto. She has returned on many occasions to perform in Hungary, Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Germany, England, Italy and France. She has appeared as guest artist with orchestras including the Budapest Radio Orchestra, the Szombathely Symphony Orchestra, the Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.

A distinguished musician abroad, Erika also performs frequently throughout her homeland with orchestral appearances in cities such as Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa, Victoria, Halifax, Laval and Edmonton. This season, Erika will return to her hometown, Regina SK, to perform a recital with pianist Lydia Wong. This program will also be featured in Toronto. Both a recitalist and chamber musician, some of her recent international highlights include the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw, the BargeMusic Festival in New York, and the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and most recently, the Festival Pablo Casals de Prades, France and the Clandeboye Festival, Ireland. Past invitations include the Budapest Spring Festival, Szombathely Festival in Hungary, Carnegie Hall as well as the Caramoor and Prussia Cove festivals. Her performances are often heard on an array of radio networks like CBC across Canada and the NPR in the USA.

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Best known as the concertmaster of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra (COC), Marie Bérard is also a sought-after chamber musician, soloist, recording artist and teacher. She is a former member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and has performed with a variety of smaller ensembles such as Amici, Array Music and New Music Concerts and is also a member of Trio Arkel as well as the ARC Ensemble which has toured in Europe, China and the United States and was twice nominated for a Grammy Award for their Sony recordings.

Highly regarded as an interpreter of contemporary music, Ms. Bérard has released a recording of a concerto by Henry Kucharzyk for violin and brass ensemble on the Opening Day label and can be heard on numerous CBC Records including the Meditation from Thais with the COC orchestra.

Ms. Bérard is a regular performer at numerous chamber music festivals, notably the Domaine Forget International Festival, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, The Blair Atholl Festival in Scotland, and holds the position of Associate Concertmaster of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.

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Steven Dann was born on Canada’s west coast, in Burnaby, British Columbia. From 1977 to 2000, he was successively principal violist of Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Zurich's Tonhalle Orchestra, Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He performed as soloist with these and other orchestras under eminent conductors, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir John Eliot Gardner, Jiri Belohlavec and Oliver Knussen, and as guest principal with other prominent orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Paavo Berglund, Ivan Fischer and Pierre Boulez. He also led the viola section of the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle for the opening of the Four Seasons Opera House under Richard Bradshaw. He is violist of the multi Grammy and Juno-nominated ARC Ensemble, the wonderfully eclectic Zebra Trio (with violinist Ernst Kovacic and cellist Anssi Karttunen) and a member of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society since 1990. He is a former member of both the Glinka Quartet and the Axelrod Quartet. His large chamber music and solo discography includes numerous award-winning recordings on numerous labels. He has commissioned and recorded many new works from composers such as Friedrich Cerha, Kaija Saariaho, Rolf Wallin, Hans Abrahamsen, Mirek Srnka, Peter Lieberson, R. Murray Shafer, Peter Oesterle and Christos Hatzis. Mr. Dann teaches viola and chamber music at the Glenn Gould School of Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. He directs chamber music programs at the Domaine Forget in Québec, Music by the Sea Festival in British Columbia, and with the Zebra Trio, Creative Dialogue France. Mr Dann alternates between two instruments. An early 19th century viola from the Gagliano family, and a viola commissioned from Joseph Curtin. 

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Joaquin Valdepeñas a prolific recording artist has recently won a second Juno Award for his recording "Levant" with his Amici Chamber Ensemble and his latest CD with the ARC Ensemble on the Chandos Label was released in June and features the Clarinet Quintet of Paul Ben-Haim. Mr. Valdepeñas was a Grammy Award nominee two years in a row in the chamber music category—both on the on Sony BMG label as part of his collaboration with the ARC Ensemble. He has also won a Juno award for best classical recording (for the Jacques Hetu Concerto). Mr. Valdepeñas was appointed principal clarinetist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra upon graduation from Yale University and makes international appearances as a soloist, chamber musician, and conductor and is considered one of the most distinguished clarinetists of his generation. Mr. Valdepeñas has made over three dozen recordings including a recording of the Mozart clarinet concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra.

He has performed with many distinguished artists such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Kathleen Battle, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Barbara Bonney, Joshua Bell, Vladimir Feltsman, Steven Isserlis, Cho Liang Lin, Yo Yo Ma, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, John O'Connor and Pinchas Zuckerman as well as collaborating with some of the world's finest string quartets such as the American, Calder, Emerson, Muir, Orion, Takacs, St. Lawrence, Ying and Zemlinsky, as well he has collaborated with the Kalichstein, Laredo Robinson Trio at the Y in New York City, The international Sejong Soloists in korea and The Chamber Society of Lincoln Center. Commissioning many works by Canadian composers, Mr. Valdepeñas gave the American première of Arias for Clarinet and Orchestra by Michael Colgrass with the Buffalo Philharmonic. His European début, a performance with the BBC Welsh Symphony, was broadcast on BBC Television conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.

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Cellist Thomas Wiebe is an Associate Professor of Violoncello at the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University in London, Ontario. He is also on the faculty of the Domaine Forget Summer Music Academy in Quebec. He has appeared with the ARC Ensemble at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, in Ferraro, Italy, Schoenberg Hall in Los Angeles, the Rockport Festival in Massachusetts, as well as in Toronto and Calgary. He also performed with Toronto’s Art of Time Ensemble, and the Domaine Forget International Festival in Quebec.
 
Thomas studied cello in his native Winnipeg with the Julie Banton. He later studied at the Eastman School of Music with Robert Sylvester and Steven Doane, and at Yale University and the Juilliard School with the late Aldo Parisot. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale.
 
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An artist that “leaves no question about his riveting presentation and technical finesse” (Seattle Times), Canadian pianist Kevin Ahfat is acclaimed to be “poised to become one of the young heirs of the classical piano realm, with a bold, boundary-pushing, millennial style matched by refined execution” (Vanguard Seattle). Possessing “a balanced mix of expressiveness and virtuosity” (Musical America), he “summons plenty of thunderpower in the big moments, but clearly values musicianship over mere showmanship” (American Record Guide).

Ahfat was named one of CBC Music’s 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30 in 2018 and subsequently released a live recording of Brahms from CBC’s Studio 211.  Highlights of recent seasons include engagements as soloist throughout North America and abroad, including at the Maison symphonique in Montreal, at the Toronto Centre for the Arts and Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Merkin Hall in New York, and with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles.  Further highlights include a return to the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall for its first-ever Shostakovich Concerto Festival, as well as a partnership with Richard Alston & Juilliard Dance in their recreation of Alston’s Sheer Bravado (2006) in New York.

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Julien Altmann, viola
James Anagnoson, piano
Peter Barrett, baritone
Carolyn Blackwell, viola
Benjamin Bowman, violin
Peter Cosbey, cello
Ian Deakin, narrator
Bryan Epperson, cello
Mark Fewer, violin
Carmen Flores, viola
Robert Gleadow, bass
Kara Huber, piano and celeste
Sarah Jeffrey, oboe
Kimberly Jeong, cello
Cherry Kim, cello
Leslie Kinton, piano
Lexie Krakowski, cello
Emily Kruspe, violin
Jamie Kruspe, violin
David Hetherington, cello
Miranda Hollingsworth, violin
David Louie, piano
Shyler Macaggi, viola
Richard Margison, tenor
Frank Morelli, bassoon
Alon Nashman, narrator
Se-Doo Park, cello
Robert Pomakov, bass
Joel Quarrington, double bass
David Liam Roberts, cello
Barry Shiffman, violin
Olenka Slywynska, mezzo-soprano
Cynthia Steljes, oboe
R.H. Thomson, narrator
Chris Pedro Trakas, baritone
Monica Whicher, soprano
Grace Wride, violin
Winona Zelenka, cello