Trumpet, Brass Techniques – Timothy White
BMus, MMus: Michigan; BEd: Toronto
A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Timothy White played in the Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the McMaster Symphony before beginning his studies at the University of Michigan. There he studied trumpet with Ramon Parcells (Detroit Symphony) and Armando Ghitalla (Boston Symphony). His conducting teachers included Donald Shlieker and Gustav Meier. He has played in the Hamilton Philharmonic, Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Niagara Symphony. Mr. White performs throughout southern Ontario as a soloist, freelance trumpeter, and clinician, and with his quintet, the Rondeau Brass. He is the trumpet instructor at Brock University and McMaster University and lives in Hamilton with his wife Lauren, and their three children, Ian, Alex and Evan.
Timothy Phelan
MusBac: Toronto; BEd: UWO
Timothy Phelan is a classical guitarist, conductor, composer, arranger and educator based in Niagara. He made his CBC recording debut at the age of eighteen as concerto soloist with Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, and he has since been heard in solo, concerto and chamber music performances over CBC Radio and Television, Radio France, Radio Caribbean, and Cuban National Television and Radio.
An accomplished conductor who has collaborated in concerto performances with Canadian guitarist Liona Boyd, Tim has served as Instructor/Conductor/Arranger of Guitar Ensemble at the University of Toronto and has appeared in the CBC/Rhombus Media film Guitar. Tim’s work as a composer has focused primarily on increasing the repertoire for classical guitar with choral ensembles. He has received numerous choral commissions, and has worked with Chorus Niagara, the Niagara Vocal Ensemble, Oriana Women’s Choir of Toronto, the Toronto Orpheus Choir, and the Woodstock-Fanshawe Singers. He recently premiered a new work for guitar, choir and orchestra with Chorus Niagara and the Niagara Symphony conducted by Robert Cooper.
Tim has more than twenty years experience as a secondary school music educator, and he has adjudicated guitar competitions in Edmonton, Niagara and Toronto. He currently teaches classical guitar at Brock University and Mohawk College, in addition to maintaining a private studio and an active performing schedule.
Piano – Karin Di Bella
Organ – Lesley Kingham
BMus: UWO; MA: Notre Dame
Ms. Kingham graduated with a Masters in Pipe Organ Performance and Literature from the University of Notre Dame. She is currently the organist and music director at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in St. Catharines.
Piano – Erika Reiman
BMus: Mt. Allison; MMus: McGill; MA, PhD: Toronto
Dr. Reiman studied piano at Mount Allison and McGill Universities and earned a PhD in musicology from the University of Toronto. She is the author of Schumann’s Piano Cycles and the Novels of Jean Paul, published by the University of Rochester Press in 2004. In addition to her piano teaching duties at Brock University, she is active as soloist, accompanist, and chamber musician throughout Southern Ontario. In 2008, she was the soloist in the premiere performance of David Fawcett’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.
Devon Fornelli
BMus UBC; MMus Toronto
Percussionist Devon Fornelli has extensive experience as a soloist, an orchestral percussionist, and as a chamber instrumentalist. His range of talent covers all the diverse areas of percussion and drums from the orchestral percussion section to contemporary art music, and most traditions in-between. Mr. Fornelli has been heard on CBC radio, on film and television, and has taught percussion at the College and University levels.
Violin – Vera Sherwood
Vera Sherwood (violin) first studied violin at the Perm Music School in Perm Russia, then at Moscow Gnessin High College and finally at the M. Glinka Nizhny Novgorod Conservatory where she received a Diploma of Orchestra Artist, Artist of Chamber Ensemble and Teacher, as well as Diploma of Quartet Performance Artist. She was assistant concertmaster of the Academic Philharmonic Orchestra of Nizhny Novgorod and both principal second violin and resident soloist in the Moscow Chamber Orchestra “The Seasons.” Vera has toured extensively throughout Europe as a soloist and chamber musician, was a member of the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra until 2011 when she moved to Canada where she played with the Glenn Gould Quartet and in 2012 she joined the Niagara Symphony Orchestra. Vera is currently teaching at her private studio and is a violin instructor at Brock and McMaster Universities.
Violin – George Cleland
BMus: Ottawa; MMus: Akron
Violinist/violist George Cleland is the Music Coordinator for the Niagara Suzuki Association and the viola coach for the Niagara Youth Orchestra. He has been an instructor for Brock University since 2004. A performer, teacher and conductor, George is a founding member of the Luthien Ensemble, and he performers frequently as a chamber and orchestral musician with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, and the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival. Prior to moving to the Niagara region, George was a violin instructor for the Medicine Hat College Conservatory of Music and Dance, and the conductor of the Medicine Hat Junior String Orchestra and the founder and director for the Medicine Hat Community Orchestra.
Violoncello – Gordon Cleland
BMus, MMus: Boston
Principal cellist of the Niagara Symphony, Gordon Cleland has performed across North America. He has appeared as soloist with the Niagara Symphony and for the Debut Series in Montreal. He has extensive experience as a chamber musician, notably with violinist Atis Bankas at the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival and with pianist Karin Di Bella at Brock University. Gordon has broadcast frequently for CBC FM Radio and has performed on TV5, the international French television network. Gordon is the cello instructor at Brock University. He has been a featured performer for the Concertino Program of Jeunesses musicales, whose artists are carefully chosen for their pedagogical skills and their ability to communicate with young people. Gordon has adjudicated music festivals across Canada and runs a private studio in the Niagara region.
Flute – Patricia Dydnansky
BMus: McMaster; MMus: UWO; PGDipl: Royal Northern College, UK
Patricia Dydnansky currently holds the position of Second Flute & Piccolo with the Niagara Symphony and teaches at Brock University & Ridley College. She is also an active freelance musician, often playing with the Talisker Players, theStratford Festival Orchestra, the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, theKitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Hamilton Philharmonic, Windsor Symphony and Orchestra London. Patricia has a Bachelor of Music (Music History & Theory) from McMaster University, a Master of Music (Performance) from the University of Western Ontario and a Postgraduate Diploma (Performance) from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Following her studies in England, she participated in the Professional Residency Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Her teachers include Peter Lloyd, Patricia Morris, Paula Elliott, and Camille Churchfield, and she has participated in masterclasses with Geoffrey Gilbert, Jeanne Baxtresser, Wissam Boustany and Ian Clarke. Patricia has been a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the National Academy Orchestra of the Boris Brott Music Festival. Recent summer activities include teaching woodwinds at the Niagara SymphonySummer Camp and being an active participant in the Scottish International Flute Summer School, held in St. Andrew’s, Scotland.
Clarinet; Saxophone; Woodwind Techniques; Wind Ensemble – Zoltan Kalman
Performer’s Diploma: Franz Liszt Academy
The Hungarian-born clarinetist Zoltan Kalman received his training at the Liszt Academy of Music. After graduation, he spent a year as principal clarinetist with the Hungarian State Orchestra, where he played under the baton of such luminaries as Sir George Solti, Giuseppe Patane and Leonard Bernstein. From 1983 to 1989, he served as principal with the Budapest Opera Orchestra. He was a founding member of one of Hungary’s foremost wind quintets, Aquincum. His achievements in the musical field include second prize at the Prague International Clarinet Competition, and several awards with the Aquincum Wind Quintet. These include first prize in the 1986 International Chamber Winds Competition in Ancona, Italy, as well as the Jury’s special award in the 1987 competition in Colmar, France. The French National Television produced a documentary program featuring the Quintet.In 1988 he received the Hungarian Cultural Ministry’s award “Musician of the year”. He had several solo and orchestra performances throughout Europe, including Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Since arriving in Canada in 1989, he has appeared as guest soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles in the area, including the Georgian Bay Symphony, Symphony Hamilton, Niagara Symphony, the Boris Brott Summer Music Festival Orchestra and the Gallery Players. He joined Trio Canada for a performance of the Weber Clarinet Quintet which was broadcast by Toronto’s CJRT. Mr. Kalman is currently principal clarinetist with both the Niagara Symphony, Symphony Hamilton and appears regularly with the Brantford Symphony, Mississauga Opera Company and Scarborough Symphony. In collaboration with the Niagara Symphony and the St. Catharines based Carousel Players, he performed with the Theatre Company in Winnipeg, in the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Vancouver. In addition to his career as a musician, he also teaches clarinet, saxophone, Woodwind Techniques Course, conducts the University Wind Ensemble at Brock University in St. Catharines and teaches clarinet at McMaster University in Hamilton as well as Clarinet Performance Studies at University of Western Ontario in London. He coaches and conducts the woodwind section of the Niagara Youth Orchestra. October 2006 marked the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising, a defining moment in both Hungarian and Canadian history. Mr. Kalman was selected by the National Arts Centre as one of the 50 Hungarian-Canadians who have made singular contribution to Canada. His special portrait has become part of the permanent collection at the Portrait Gallery of Canada.