Strings

Ben Bolt-Martin

Ben Bolt-Martin, cello, is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University (‘96) in orchestral performance, studying with Paul Pulford of the Penderecki Quartet, and also of the University of Western Ontario (2004), studying with Tom Wiebe. He also studied at the graduate level at University of Wisonconsin, Milwaukee’s Institute of Chamber Music with Wolfgang Laufer of the Fine Arts quartet. Ben has played cello with the Stratford Festival since 2001. He is also principal cello with the Georgian Bay Symphony and plays with the Georgian Bay String Quartet. Ben lives in Waterloo with his wife Liz and three cats.

Dr. Caitlin Boyle

Dr. Caitlin Boyle​, a Hamilton based violin and viola pedagogue, began her musical training at the Hamilton Suzuki School when she was three years old. Since that time she has received subsequent training at the New England Conservatory, The Glenn Gould School, McGill University, and most recently at the University of Toronto where she researched nonverbal communication in chamber music for her doctoral thesis. Inspired by the Suzuki philosophy, Dr. Boyle completed Every Child Can! and Violin Unit 1 at the Southwestern Ontario Suzuki Institute in 2017. Her passion for music education has led her to teach at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, Mooredale Youth Orchestras, Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts, Taylor Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Festival of the Sound Music Scores Program, Toronto District School Board, Central Okanagan School District, in addition to teaching students across the US, Spain, UK, Italy, and the UAE. She also co-found Xenia Concerts, events tailored for and welcoming of families living with autism. A JUNO-nominated performing artist, Dr. Boyle concertized extensively for thirteen years with the Cecilia String Quartet. She has won several international awards including Banff, Bordeaux, and Osaka String Quartet Competitions. Currently a member of Sinfonia Toronto and the Niagara Symphony, Dr. Boyle is building a private Suzuki studio in Hamilton.

Linda Choi

Linda Choi, violin, was born in Toronto and was a scholarship student at the Young Artists Program Academy in Toronto with Victor Danchenko and Atis Bankas. She graduated from McGill University with a Licentiate in Violin Performance and was a graduate student at the Cleveland Institute of Music. With a passion for teaching young children, she is a certified Suzuki Violin Teacher with the Oakville Suzuki Association. Linda performs with many orchestras and smaller ensembles in Ontario including the Hamilton Philharmonic and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and is a Mentor for the Young Artists program with the Oakville Symphony.

Paul Earle

Paul Earle, principal violin, began his musical training at age thirteen. He earned his Artist Diploma in performance from the University of Western Ontario and continued studies at the Royal Conservatory. He has played for the Kitchener-Waterloo, Windsor, London, and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestras and currently is a regular with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been soloist with the Windsor Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra, and the Northern Ontario Music Festival Orchestra. Paul is, at present concertmaster of the Georgian Bay Symphony in Owen Sound. He has played on recordings for radio broadcast, and also plays electric violin for several pop groups. Paul makes his home in Guelph.

Megan Jones

Megan Jones earned a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the University of McGill in the year 2000, graduating with high distinction. Ms. Jones currently plays as a substitute violin with the Kitchener Waterloo, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and several other symphonies across Ontario. She has been an Associate Mentor for several years with the National Academy Orchestra under maestro Boris Brott, and is the orchestra manager and librarian for the Brott Music Festival. Ms. Jones began teaching at the International Music Academy in Mississauga, in 2003 and purchased the Academy from the original owner, Lois Wells-Bernard, in 2008. She teaches piano, violin, voice and all levels of theory at the Academy as well as maintains the school and its 9 other teachers. In the past few years, Ms. Jones has performed several solo concertos with the Deep River Symphony Orchestra and the Timmins Symphony. Ms. Jones has been fortunate enough to play in the opera Salome with the Canadian Opera Company.

Jeffrey Komar

With his background in the life sciences, Jeffrey Komar is not your typical classical performer. After completing a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, he switched gears to pursue a career as a violist. Jeffrey holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music. He has studied with Philippe Djokic at the Fountain School of Performing Arts of Dalhousie University and with Sharon Wei at the Don Wright Faculty of Music of Western University. Currently, he is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Viola Performance at Western. His research examines the various roles that performers play in the creation and dissemination of contemporary musical works.

Jeffrey has been a young artist in music festivals across Canada, including the Domaine Forget International Music Festival (St. Irenée, QC), the Tuckamore Festival (St. John’s, NL) and the Scotia Festival of Music (Halifax, NS). Since beginning his graduate studies at Western, he has performed several times in the Don Wright Faculty of Music Concert Series, sharing the stage with such esteemed faculty as Sharon Wei, Scott St. John, Mel Martin, Joe Lanza, and Thomas Wiebe. Jeffrey is a founding member of London-based chamber music groups Trio Moyen and Quartet Di Altezza. He is also a 2019 roster musician with Magisterra Soloists, with whom he has toured nationally and internationally.

Jeffrey is a dedicated music educator, too. From 2011-2015, he worked as the Upper-Strings Faculty Member of the Halifax Music Co-op, where he provided one-on-one lessons to co-op members. In January 2016, Jeffrey joined the faculty of El Sistema Aeolian as a teacher/conductor. There he provides free instruction in violin, viola, and junior choir to underprivileged children from London and the surrounding areas. He is also on the faculty of Forest City String School, where he coaches chamber music and senior orchestra. In his spare time, he enjoys drinking coffee, cooking, and listening to podcasts.

Veronica Lee

Veronica Lee, viola. Korean-Canadian violist Veronica Lee has been an active chamber musician throughout North America.  Performing in acclaimed chamber music festivals, Veronica has worked with some of the world’s leading musicians.  Veronica has been featured as a fellow in Toronto Summer Music Festival for the past three years.  During this time, she has performed publicly with acclaimed string musicians as Martin Beaver, Chris Costanza, Dong-Suk Kang, Mark Fewer, Sharon Wei, Laura Samuels, Ernst Kovacic, Ian Swensen and Brandon Vamos.

As a devoted chamber musician, Veronica has performed in numerous string ensembles at various festivals, including the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, Toronto Summer Music Chamber Music Institute, McGill International String Quartet Academy, Banff Chamber Music Residency and the Scotia Festival of Music.

Veronica has completed her Bachelor of Music with honours in Viola Performance at University of Western Ontario.  She also holds Master’s Degree in Chamber Music Performance at the McGill Schulich School of Music, under the guidance of André Roy, Philip Dukes, and Wolfram Christ.  In 2015, Veronica Lee Goering graduated from the Artists Diploma Program at the GGS under the guidance of Steven Dann.  Currently she is playing in orchestras in the Greater Toronto Area including Toronto Concert Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Jennifer Martyn

Dr. Jennifer Martyn, violin, enjoys a busy career as performer, teacher, and researcher. Her performance career has taken her across Canada, as well as to Europe and Asia. Martyn has performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Kingston, Ottawa, and Windsor Symphonies, the Talisker Players, l’Ensemble Prisme, and Duo Felice, and has been a guest concertmaster with several orchestras, most recently the North York Concert Orchestra and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. A sought-after teacher and adjudicator, Martyn especially loves to work with children. She currently teaches at the University of Toronto and the North York Suzuki School of Music, and directs the young children’s choir at Metropolitan Church in Toronto. Martyn holds degrees in violin performance from the University of Toronto (DMA, BMus), and Mannes College (MMus) in New York City.

Iain McKay

Iain McKay was born in Brantford and began to play the violin at the age of 4. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from the University of Toronto, studying with Annalee Patipatanakoon. He has toured extensively throughout Canada and the United States as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the National Academy Orchestra of Canada. As a freelance musician in the Toronto area he has performed with many chamber groups and ensembles including the Brantford Symphony, Toronto Concert Orchestra and Orchestra London. In 2015, Iain won the position of Principal Second Violin with the Thunder Bay Symphony, and he currently resides in the Toronto area where he teaches and performs regularly.

Sonya Nanos

Canadian cellist Sonya Nanos Hodgson charms audiences with her impassioned, imaginative playing. Her diverse career has included performances with ensembles such as the Orlando Philharmonic and Quartetto Gelato, as well as artists like Michael Bublé and Andrea Bocelli.

Sonya has been featured in The Walleye Magazine, the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, and has been broadcast nationally on CBC Radio. Her recording highlights include the JUNO-nominated album of Canadian works with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and an album of chamber orchestra works by American composer Paul Reale, where she can be heard as a soloist. 

As an active chamber musician and recitalist, Sonya has been featured on the Lumina series, Symphony in the Barn, Consortium Aurora Borealis, and as a guest on Western University’s faculty chamber series. She has also premiered several chamber works by composers such as Greg Sandow (in Suk Hall, Prague), and Scott Wheeler. 

Sonya is committed to inspiring students of any age or background to find joy and community through music. She has instructed at El Sistema Aeolian in London, ON and has also taught at Lakehead University, adjudicated local and provincial festivals, and the Festival Internacional de Música in Loja, Ecuador. This fall, Sonya begins her third season as a member of the Niagara Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she was section cellist with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. 

Sonya holds a Master of Music from Lynn University where she was awarded the M. Elizabeth Maddy Cumpton Endowment Award for the “outstanding conservatory student of strings”, an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School, and a Bachelor of Music from McGill University.

Erika Nielsen

A chamber musician known for delivering wholehearted, committed performances, Erika generously shares her whole self with audiences and cultivates a warm, authentic connection with her musician colleagues. 

Recent performances include Brahms’ String Sextet No.1 and Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor at Music at 100, as well as Brahms and Tchaikovsky’s Sextets, Schubert’s Trout Quintet, and Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet with fellow faculty at National Music Camp of Canada. 

Erika has also frequently appeared with Westwood Concerts at Gallery 345, in new music series such as Soundstreams, Spectrum Music, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Bicycle Opera Project, and with the minimalist sextet Muskox. She has been on faculty at National Music Camp of Canada since 2018, a role she has also played at the ArtsAhimsa Chamber Music Festival in Lenox, MA.

Erika was principal cello of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra from 2011–13, where she acted as a concerto soloist, presented recitals, performed with the SSO String Quartet, and was an instructor at the SSO Conservatory of Music. She continues to lead cello sections with numerous orchestras across Ontario.

Born to a musical family in Lahr, Germany, and raised in Kingston, ON, Erika began her cello studies at the age of nine, later completing her Bachelor of Music at Queen’s University with Wolf Tormann and her Artist Diploma at the Glenn Gould School with David Hetherington. She has studied at numerous summer festivals such as The Banff Centre, le Domaine Forget, Toronto Summer Music, Schloss Beuggen International Music Festival in Germany, and has honed her abilities as a Baroque cellist at the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute and the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance. 

Erika performs on a gorgeous Parisian cello made by JB Collin-Mézin in 1885, and a bow made by Bernard Walke in Ottawa, in addition to her Baroque and carbon fibre instruments.

David Rehner

Violinist, educator and conductor David Rehner holds degrees in Music from the University of Toronto and in Education from OISE/UT. An experienced orchestra leader, he is the concertmaster of the Rose Orchestra Brampton and the Oakville Chamber Orchestra, and principal second violinist with the Oakville Symphony. David has appeared on many occasions as concertmaster with local ensembles including the Etobicoke Philharmonic, Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, Masterworks of Oakville, and Arcady among others. He also remains active as a guest soloist having performed many concerti with orchestra including those of Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Vivaldi and more. In 2011 David was recognized as Brampton’s Arts Person of the Year for his work bringing music education programming to community youth, a worthy cause he continues to support through his role as Music Director and Conductor of the Rosebud Orchestra Training Program. For over 20 years, he has taught Strings and Mathematics for the Peel District School Board at the QE Arts Regional Learning Choice Program in south Mississauga. David always looks forward to sharing the stage with our wonderful Oakville Symphony, and this weekend’s performances are no exception!

Filip Stasiak

Filip Stasiak, double bassist, holds a Diploma in Chamber Music from Wilfrid Laurier University, a MMus in Literature and Performance from the University of Western Ontario, and a BMus from Wayne State University in Detroit. His primary instructors have included the late Detroit Symphony Bassist Maxim Janowsky, members of the Penderecki String Quartet, and UWO professor Jeffrey Stokes.  In addition to university training, Stasiak has spent multiple summers at the Orford Arts Centre studying with world renowned double bass virtuoso Joel Quarrington. As a performer, Stasiak is currently a member of the Niagara Symphony and the International Symphony, and works as a freelance player with orchestras, chamber ensembles, and music theatre productions throughout Ontario. A recent interest in period performance has led Stasiak to study with Tafelmusik at both their Summer and Winter institutes, and subsequently to perform with Toronto’s Talisker Players and the Aradia Ensemble.  As an educator, Stasiak maintains a large private studio in London Ontario and is a double bass instructor in the Music Education Department at Western University.

Miriam Stewart-Kroeker

Miriam Stewart-Kroeker is a young, emerging cellist based in Kitchener-Waterloo, and recent graduate of McGill University with a Master’s degree in cello performance under the direction of Matt Haimovitz. Miriam has collaborated with a number of orchestras and choirs, both as a soloist and orchestral musician, but her passion remains rooted in chamber music. Miriam performs regularly for several chamber music series, including the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, Guelph Connections Chamber Music Series, Conrad Grebel Noon Hour series and more. In 2013, Miriam completed a winter residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in solo and chamber music. Miriam’s chamber ensembles were the recipients of the Penderecki String Quartet Chamber Music Prize for two consecutive years (2009-10), and won the Canadian Music Competition in 2011 with the Zwickau Piano Quartet. She has participated in summer chamber music and orchestral programs, including QuartetFest, the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival in Newfoundland, and the National Academy Orchestra with conductor Boris Brott. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Miriam has had the opportunity to study with a number of renowned cellists, namely Paul Pulford and Matt Haimovitz. Miriam is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University, receiving an Honours Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance as well as a Diploma in Chamber Music Performance.  She currently holds the position of principal cellist with the Georgian Bay Symphony.

John Wiebe

John Wiebe, violist,​ performs regularly with London Symphonia (formerly Orchestra London), the Nota Bene Baroque Players, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, and many other groups within Southwestern Ontario. This season marks his first joining the creative director team of the Nota Bene Baroque Players. In addition to performing, John is committed to music education, maintaining a private studio in London, working as a clinician with local high school string programs, and coughing with the the London Youth Symphony. He also is a teacher/conductor and program administrator with El Sistema Aeolian, a free after-school strings program through Aeolian Hall in London. John also enjoys non-classical performance, playing guitar in a multi-genre cover band.