Alice Ping Yee Ho is a distinguished Chinese Canadian composer renowned for her versatile and expansive body of work, she seamlessly blends genres including opera, orchestral, chamber music, dance, and theatre. Ho’s compositions are marked by their innovative approach, emotional depth, and striking originality, earning her numerous prestigious awards and accolades.

Among her many honors, Ho is the recipient of the 2024 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music, the 2022 Symphony Nova Scotia Maria Anna Mozart Award, the 2022 Barlow Endowment Commissioning Award, the 2019 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize, and the 2013 Mavor Dora Moore Award for her opera The Lesson of Da Ji.

A two-time JUNO Award nominee, Ho has released 10 solo albums under her name. Her works have been performed by renowned ensembles and orchestras worldwide, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Finnish Lapland Chamber Orchestra, the Polish Radio Choir, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony, and the Luxembourg Sinfonietta.

Her cross-cultural operas, The Lesson of Da Ji, The Monkiest King, and Chinatown, transcend cultural boundaries and highlight her unique voice. Ho’s artistry continues to inspire and engage listeners, reflecting both her deep cultural roots and her universal appeal.

Website: www.alicepyho.com

COMING SOON. 

Artistic Director and Founder of Zata Omm and W Zento Productions, William Yong has dedicated over two decades to breaking new ground by collaborating with artists, scientists, and engineers in visionary, technology-driven performance projects. William’s artistic journey began with music as a member of the Hong Kong Children’s Choir and later as the lead singer and songwriter for the band Fundamental, which was signed by a major record label in Hong Kong/Asia. His passion for the arts expanded into an illustrious 30-year career spanning dance, theatre, acting, directing and filmmaking. Trained at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and London Contemporary Dance School, William graduated with a master’s degree with distinction. He performed with some of the world’s most influential choreographers and companies, including Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance and Matthew Bourne’s Adventures in Motion Pictures, touring 76 cities across 15 countries.

As a choreographer and director, William has created over 150 acclaimed works, including innovative productions such as vox:lumen, Steer, and Eden Planted. In 2024, he became the first Asian choreographer commissioned by the National Ballet of Canada for UtopiVerse, performed at Toronto’s prestigious Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts—a groundbreaking achievement in Canadian ballet. William’s contributions to the arts have earned him numerous accolades, including the “I love dance/J’aime la danse” Award for Innovation and a Dora Mavor Moore Award for performance. His stage works have garnered eleven Dora nominations, most recently for Outstanding Original Choreography for UtopiVerse. In film, William’s work as a director, cinematographer and editor has received international recognition, winning awards for Best Cinematography, Award of Excellence, and Best Experimental Short at eleven esteemed film festivals worldwide. With a passion for pushing artistic boundaries and a commitment to innovation, William Yong continues to redefine storytelling for the stage and screen in the technological age.

A celebrated singer, conductor, and educator, Teri Dunn has been the Music Director of the Canadian Children’s Opera Company since 2015.  Besides choral programmes, she has prepared the Children’s Chorus and soloists for numerous Canadian Opera Company productions including La Bohème, Carmen, The Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel, and The Cunning Little Vixen. She has led several operas with the CCOC including the world premieres of Alice Ho’s The Monkiest King (recorded for CMC), Serouj Kradjian’s The Nightingale of a Thousand Songs and a European tour of Hans Krasa’s Brundibar.

She also holds the position of Dean of Choral Studies at the St. Michael’s Choir School, where she conducts three of their internationally acclaimed choirs.  Her choirs have toured internationally, and been invited guests  at Carnegie Hall, at the Vatican, at the Toronto International Choral Festival, and been awarded first prize in the National Competition of Canadian Amateur Choirs. Teri is a recipient of the Leslie Bell Prize in Choral Conducting.

Chelsea Woolley is a playwright, staging director, and arts educator. Her playwriting work includes: Paint Me This House of Love (Tarragon Theatre, USA Premiere, North Carolina), Enormity, Girl, and the Earthquake in Her Lungs (Nightwood Theatre’s Groundswell Festival), and The Mountain which toured Eastern/Central Canada with Geordie Theatre, and later with Spinning Dot Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Chelsea’s work has been featured at the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., and at the “Shakespeare is Dead” Festival in Leuven, Belgium. 

She is the founder of the Mixed-Arts Performance Partnership Program connecting young artists living in precarity to professional mentorship, and co-wrote a script titled, One Day with teens living at Red Door Shelter. As an arts educator she has worked with: Etobicoke School of the Arts, Cawthra School of the Arts, TDSBcreates, The WeeFestival, and the Harbourfront Centre’s Powerplant Program in partnership with Boys and Girls Club Toronto.

Chelsea has a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Lethbridge where she won the 2024 Young Alumni Award. She is also a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s prestigious Playwriting Program. 

COMING SOON. 

COMING SOON. 

COMING SOON. 

Perseus Rebelo (he/him) is a costumer, writer, and enthusiast of all things creative, born and based in Toronto. A York U alum, he has done costume work for over ten years, for many theatre productions, short films, and cosplay. He is super excited to be with the CCOC once again for this production of The Monkiest King!

Aislinn Ritchie has enjoyed producing and operating projected titles for CCOC since 2017, and is surtitles assistant at the COC since 2018. Aislinn has also had the pleasure of working in titling for Toronto City Opera, Against the Grain, Loose Tea Music Theatre, UofT Opera, and GGS.

Noah Feaver is a Dora Award nominated lighting designer. He works frequently in Dance and Opera and has designed for companies such as: The National Ballet of Canada, Edmonton Opera, Toronto Dance Theatre, Tapestry Opera, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Holla Jazz, Citadel + Compagnie, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Against the Grain Theatre, and Rock Bottom Movement. Noah holds a BFA from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Performance Production program and spent two summers as a lighting design practicum at The Banff Centre. He works as a Lighting Design Coach at The National Theatre School of Canada. Noah is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada.

Barney Bayliss studied photography and film production at Ryerson University in Toronto before starting a career in set design for motion pictures.  In 1991 he became the Scene Shop Supervisor for the Canadian Opera Company, and for ten years supervised the construction of many opera sets.  The new millennium saw him working as a Technical Director for the COC during the planning and construction of the Four Seasons Centre.  In 2016 he accepted the position of Technical Director for the National Ballet, and was promoted to Director of Production in 2019. In June 2023 Barney left the National Ballet to start his own Production Management/Technical Direction service, BB TD.

Pianist and composer Stéphane Mayer has established himself as one of Canada’s premier collaborative piano artists. A graduate of the COC ensemble, Stéphane has served as a rehearsal pianist and member of music staff for Carmen, The Magic Flute, Norma and Arabella among many other productions at the Canadian Opera Company. He has also served as an opera répétiteur for productions of Les dialogues des Carmélites and Flight (Glenn Gould School), La Bohème (Edmonton Opera), Louis Riel (Opéra de Québec), Missing (Pacific Opera Victoria) and The Rocking Horse Winner (Tapestry Opera). An accomplished art-song recitalist, having studied German Lied extensively at the Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, Stéphane has appeared on stages across the country with many of Canada’s leading vocal artists. For the past 4 years, Stéphane has been a member of music staff for Highlands Opera Studio. There he served as head coach and répétiteur for their productions of Don Giovanni, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Eugene Onegin and L’elisir d’amore. A graduate of McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, Stéphane also worked as a vocal coach and accompanist at Western University. 

Claire Harris is a Toronto-based collaborative pianist, specialising in opera and contemporary repertoire.

Claire is Associate Director with Opera by Request, Toronto, and acts as Music Director for productions during their season. She is also pianist with Crossing Borders, a company performing works by living composers in Canada and internationally. Claire is the co-producer and pianist for Opera Revue, a Toronto-based company bringing opera to casual venues. She also works regularly as a répétiteur and coach with companies such as No Strings Theatre, Windsor Symphony, Mississauga Symphony as well as continuing vocal coaching work at the University of Toronto.

Prior to moving to Toronto in 2018, Claire was a staff accompanist at the Royal College of Music, London, as well as working with companies including English Touring Opera, the Rossini Young Artists’ Festival, Opera Alumnus, and the Academie de La Roche D’Hys annual opera workshop in France.

Originally from New Zealand, Claire holds a Bachelor of Music from the New Zealand School of Music and a Masters from the Royal College of Music, London, England.

For the past year, she has been the pianist for Amarras, a Toronto-based contemporary Argentinian Tango ensemble.

COMING SOON. 

Lina Cao is a world-renowned guzheng virtuoso and a double laureate of China’s most prestigious music awards, the Golden Bell Award (2012) and the Wenhua Award (2008). Celebrated for her mastery of Chinese traditional music and her innovative fusion of Eastern and Western traditions, Lina’s performances have taken her across Asia, Europe, and North America, gracing iconic stages such as Carnegie Hall (New York), Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing), captivating global audiences.

Trained under China’s top guzheng masters, including Wang Wei, Ren Jie, Yan Aihua and Li Meng, Lina holds degrees from the Nanjing University of the Arts and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She has collaborated with leading ensembles like the China Broadcasting Film Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphonia, Canadian Arabic Orchestra and the Canadian Children’s Opera Company, earning accolades such as the “World Peace International Appreciation Award” and a nomination for “Outstanding Chamber Performance” at the 40th Dora Mavor Moore Awards in Canada (2017). Her performances have been broadcast on CBC Music (2020) and Chicago’s WFMT Radio Network (2014), further amplifying her international presence.

As the founder and music director of the Toronto Guzheng Ensemble, Lina has elevated guzheng chamber music, premiering innovative works at venues like Carnegie Hall and the Isabel Bader Theatre at the University of Toronto. A dedicated educator, she is the first guzheng instructor at Wilfrid Laurier University and frequently lectures at universities around world. In 2024, Lina received funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, underscoring her ongoing contributions to the arts. Through performances, recordings, and teaching, Lina continues to bridge cultures and redefine guzheng artistry on the global stage.

Patty Chan is a second-generation Chinese Canadian erhu musician, educator, composer, and author. She is the Concertmaster and past Music Director of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra (www.TorontoChineseOrchestra.com), Co-founder of PhoeNX Ensemble (www.PhoeNXEnsemble.com) with harpist Sanya Eng, and the Founder of the Centre for Music Innovations (https://musinno.com). As an erhu musician, Patty has collaborated and premiered new works with many ensembles and organizations, including New Music Concerts, Strings of St. John’s, Red Snow Collective, the Toronto Masque Theatre, and the Canadian Children’s Opera Company. Her composition, Redemption: The Chan Kol Nidre (2015) for erhu and viola da gamba has been added to the archives at the Beit Hatfutsot in Tel Aviv, a museum for the Jewish people.

Patty has taught erhu and Chinese music at York, Toronto Metropolitan, and Carleton universities. She teaches erhu locally and internationally through the Centre for Music Innovations. She has written several books about the erhu that have sold in over 30 countries, and a children’s storybook about Chinese instruments with narration in three languages and music recording. Her documentary about the Chinese orchestra and identity, Finding Belonging (2022), was recognized in the Canada Short Film Festival (2024). She completed her MA in ethnomusicology at York University, with a focus on Chinese orchestras in the diaspora, and creating cultural connections through music.

COMING SOON. 

COMING SOON. 

Internationally renowned violinist Jerzy Kapłanek has established himself as a chamber musician, member of the celebrated Penderecki String Quartet, soloist, dedicated teacher, adjudicator, and lately as a jazz violinist

He performs throughout Europe, Asia, and North and South America over 80 concerts each season. His album of works by Karol Szymanowski with pianist Stéphan Sylvestre was highly praised by The Strad magazine as “an outstanding release”. His discography with the Penderecki Quartet comprises over two dozen CD’s (Marquis, Eclectra, CBC, CMC, EMI, Decca labels), including the highly acclaimed recording of the complete string quartets of Béla Bartók.

Mr. Kaplanek has collaborated with such notable musicians as pianists David Braid, Leopoldo Erice , Vladimir Feltsman, Janina Fialkowska Francine Kay, Lev Natochenny, Jamie Parker, Stéphan Sylvestre, cellists Marc Johnson, Antonio Lysy Paul Pulford, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, and clarinetist James Campbell amongst many others. He is frequently heard on CBC Radio and NPR. He has made solo appearances with the Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton, Peterborough and CBC Vancouver Symphonies and was a featured soloist at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Jerzy Kapłanek is presently a Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where since 1991 he has been teaching violin and chamber music. He frequently gives master classes in Canada and abroad.

Mr. Kaplanek performs on a 2016 Samuel Zygmuntowicz violin made in New York City.

COMING SOON. 

Violist Christine Vlajk has performed extensively in North and South America, Europe, China, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand. Some of the concert halls where she has performed with the Penderecki String Quartet have included Weill Concert Hall at Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, Kennedy Center, REDCAT Hall in Los Angeles, and the Hong Kong Academy.

In 2013, Vlajk was the recipient of the “Woman of the Year for Arts and Culture”. She has held the positions of violist of the Penderecki String Quartet and Artist-in-Residence in viola and chamber music at Laurier University since 1997. She has received Prizes at the Banff, Coleman, Yellow Springs, Carmel, and Evian Chamber Music Competitions. She was granted the Friedlander Fellowship from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory and Scholarships to attend the Aspen Center for Advanced Quartet Studies, The Julliard and Cleveland Quartet Seminars, all helping to pave the road for a life as a chamber musician.

Originally from Denver, Colorado, Vlajk has Bachelor degrees in Viola Performance (B.M.) and Music Education (B.M.E.) from the University of Colorado-Boulder and a Master’s degree in Viola Performance (M.M.) from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Her teachers have included Oswald Lehnert, Jerry Horner, Denes Koromzay and members of the Cleveland, Julliard, LaSalle, Takacs, and Fine Arts Quartets.

She has been guest soloist with the West Virginia Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Peterborough Symphony, and the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra where she has premiered two viola concertos by Peter Grella-Mozejko and Karol Gostyniski. As an orchestral player she held the position of principal violist of the West Virginia Symphony and was a member of the New Hampshire Music Festival.

Dedicated to the education of young people, she has performed children’s concerts across the United States and Canada. She has given master classes at Lynn Conservatory, Indiana University’s String Academy, Florida State University, University of Toronto, SUNY Fredonia, the Glenn Gould Professional School and many places in Mexico, China, and New Zealand.

As a member of the Penderecki String Quartet and the Montclaire Quartet, Vlajk has recorded nearly 30 recordings for the Koch, Leonarda, Eclectra, Marquis Classics and EMI labels. When she is not performing with her quartet or teaching, she enjoys nature, yoga, and cooking.

Cellist Katie Schlaikjer has been a member of the Penderecki Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario since 2013. She was a member of the Colorado String Quartet from 2009 to 2013, and prior to that, cellist with the Avalon Quartet, award winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Melbourne Chamber Music Competition and the Concert Artists Guild (NY). Of Ms. Schlaikjer’s many solo appearances, engagements have included the premiere of J. Mark Scearce’s cello concerto “Aracana” with the University of Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, and Haydn’s D major cello concerto with the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra in China. Guiding young artists and cultivating a vibrant studio of award-winning students has been a career objective as well as a passion, with several of her pupils continuing to advanced institutions such as the Glenn Gould School, Yale, Eastman, Indiana University and Juilliard.  She has taught at the University of Connecticut, the Hartt Music School, Bard Conservatory and the New England Conservatory, and conducted masterclasses at the renowned UNAM (University) in Mexico City, Lynn University in Florida, the Cleveland Institute, the Colorado Quartet’s Soundfest, and Charles Castleman’s Quartet program.  Ms Schlaikjer received her Doctoral and Master’s degrees from Stony Brook University and her Bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory where her teachers included Timothy Eddy and Laurence Lesser.