Artists

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  flute Joanna G’froerer

  

  flute Joanna G’froerer

  Praised by critics for the beauty, clarity and fluidity of her sound, impeccable phrasing and consummate musicality, Joanna G’froerer enjoys an exciting career as an orchestral player, chamber musician, soloist and educator. Principal Flutist of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra since 1992, she was appointed to that position at the age of 20, one of the youngest musicians ever to be hired by the NACO.

  A native of Vancouver, Canada, Ms. G’froerer comes from a family of professional musicians. She studied flute in Vancouver with Kathleen Rudolph, and in Montreal with Timothy Hutchins, earning a Licentiate in Music from McGill University in 1993.  Her education also included orchestral training at the Interlochen Arts Camp and with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

  Joanna performs regularly as a soloist with the NACO, having appeared as soloist in over thirty different programs since joining the orchestra. She has also performed concerti with many of Canada's other fine ensembles, including the symphony orchestras of Vancouver, Victoria, and Quebec City. Joanna G’froerer is a past first-prize winner of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition.

  Among Ms. G’froerer’s acclaimed recordings are a CBC disc of Mozart’s Flute Quartets with Pinchas Zukerman, Martin Beaver and Amanda Forsyth, named Best Canadian Chamber Music Recording of 2002 by Opus Magazine. A Naxos recording of Rodrigo’s Flute Concerto and Fantasia Para un Gentilhombre with the Asturias Symphony under Maestro Maximiano Valdes was “exquisitely played by the Canadian virtuoso Joanna G’froerer” (Anthony Holden, The Observer). Also for Naxos, Saint-Saens, Music for Winds was an Editor’s Pick for Gramophone Magazine in 2011. A new recording of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, with Jens Lindemann, James Ehnes, Jon Kimura Parker and Charles Hamann, was nominated for a Juno Award in 2021.

  Joanna G’froerer has been featured in the chamber music festivals of Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa, at the Scotia Festival and at Brazil’s Campos do Jordao Festival. She is a member of the National Arts Centre Wind Quintet, and the G’froerer Gott Duo, with harpist Michelle Gott.

  Joanna was a co-founder of the Classical Unbound Festival in Prince Edward County, Ontario, and served as Co-Artistic Director during its first three seasons.

  As an educator, Ms. G’froerer has taught flute at the NAC Summer Music Institute, at Domaine Forget and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and has presented masterclasses at universities and conservatories throughout Canada, as well as in the US, Europe and Asia. Joanna is presently on faculty at the University of Ottawa and at McGill University in Montreal.

  Joanna G’froerer is a Wm. S. Haynes Artist, playing a custom 19.5 K gold Haynes flute with lightweight silver mechanism and headjoints in 19.5K and 14K gold.

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  violin Blake Pouliot

  

  violin Blake Pouliot

  Described as “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned,” (ArtsAtlanta) violinist Blake Pouliot (pool-YACHT) has anchored himself among the ranks of classical phenoms. A tenacious young artist with a passion that enraptures his audience in every performance, Pouliot has established himself as “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime” (Toronto Star).

  Pouliot ventures into a spectacular 2022/23 season highlighted with debuts at the symphonies of Arkansas, Bangor, Elgin, North Carolina, Oregon, Tacoma, and Westmoreland. He returns to the stages of the Madison and Milwaukee symphonies as well as the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal performing the works of Beethoven, Saint-Saens, and Paganini. Pouliot also brings his recital programming to Temecula, Paris and to his debuts in Boston and at Toronto’s Koerner Hall; He widens his artistic lens in the Boston performance by commissioning the world premiere of Derrick Skye’s solo for violin and electronics, entitled “God of the Gaps”. A prolific collaborator, Pouliot rounds out this season with his debut at the Seattle Chamber Music Society and a return to La Jolla Summerfest. He also returns to the National Youth Orchestra of Canada to embark on his second year as Artist-in Residence, following last season’s inaugural residency in which the organization welcomed him to cultivate a curated program for students and faculty.

  Recent highlights include debuts with the Boise Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Plano Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra and Winnipeg Symphony; and being named Artist-in-Residence at Orchestre Métropolitain where he deepened his relationship with the orchestra’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

  Pouliot released his debut album on Analekta Records in 2019 to critical acclaim including a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine as well as a 2019 Juno Award nomination for Best Classical Album. Adding to his accolades that year, Pouliot won both the Career Development Award from the Women’s Club of Toronto and the Virginia Parker Prize Career Grant from the Canada Arts Council. He has been featured twice on Rob Kapilow’s What Makes it Great? series and was NPR’s Performance Today Artist-in-Residence for the 2017-18 season in Minnesota the 2018-19 season in Hawaii, and the 2021-22 season across Europe. In 2016, he was awarded the Grand Prize at the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition and was named First Laureate of both the 2018 and 2015 Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.

  Since his orchestral debut at age 11, Pouliot has performed with the orchestras of Aspen, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Madison, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, and Seattle, among many. Internationally, he has performed as soloist with the Sofia Philharmonic in Bulgaria, Orchestras of the Americas on its South American tour, and was the featured soloist for the first ever joint tour of the European Union Youth Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Canada. He has collaborated with many musical luminaries including conductors Sir Neville Marriner, David Afkham, Pablo Heras-Casado, David Danzmayr, JoAnn Falletta, Marcelo Lehninger, Nicholas McGegan, Alexander Prior, Vasily Petrenko and Thomas Søndergård.

  Pouliot studied violin in Canada with Marie Bérard and Erika Raum, and he completed his training as an associate of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He graduated from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Robert Lipsett, the Jascha Heifetz Distinguished Violin Chair.

  Pouliot performs on the 1729 Guarneri del Gesù on generous loan from an anonymous donor.

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  violin Yosuke Kawasaki

  

  violin Yosuke Kawasaki

  Yosuke Kawasaki currently serves as Concertmaster of the NAC Orchestra. His versatile musicianship allows him to pursue a career in orchestra, solo, and chamber music. His orchestral career began with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra and soon led to Mito Chamber Orchestra, Saito Kinen Orchestra, and Japan Century Orchestra, all of which he led as concertmaster. His solo and chamber music career spans five continents, collaborating with artists such as Seiji Ozawa, Pinchas Zukerman, and Yo-Yo Ma, and appearing in the world's most prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Royal Concertgebouw.

  Kawasaki's current regular ensembles are Trio Ink and the Mito String Quartet. His passion for chamber music led to his appointment as Music Director to the Affinis Music Festival in Japan. He is also an artistic advisor to a new chamber music festival, Off the Beaten Path, in Bulgaria.

  As an educator Kawasaki has given masterclasses and performed side by side with students in schools across Canada. Well versed in the string quartet literature he was entrusted by Seiji Ozawa as the youngest faculty member of the Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy at the age of 26. He was also an adjunct professor of violin at the University of Ottawa School of Music from 2013 to 2022 alongside the beloved pedagogue Yehonatan Berick.

  Kawasaki began his violin studies at the age of six with his father Masao Kawasaki and Setsu Goto. He was subsequently accepted into The Juilliard School Pre-College Division and further continued his education and graduated from The Juilliard School in 1998 under the tutorship of Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Felix Galimir, and Joel Smirnoff.

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  violin Noémi Racine Gaudreault

  

  violin Noémi Racine Gaudreault

  A dedicated champion of contemporary music, Montreal-born violinist Noémi Racine Gaudreault is renowned for the virtuosity and sensitivity of her playing. She has performed as a soloist in orchestras across Canada, in the United States, France and Turkey. In addition to her career as a soloist, she is much sought-after chamber musician, playing regularly in contemporary and chamber music festivals. She has been principal second violin of the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and solo violin of the SMCQ, the ECM and Quartango Ensemble. She holds a First Prize with Great Distinction from the Montreal Music Conservatory and an Artist Diploma from McGill University. Noémi currently lives in the National Capital Region. She is assistant concertmaster of the National Arts Centre Orchestra. 

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  viola David Marks

  

  viola David Marks

  In 2014, after 12 years living abroad, violist David Marks returned to Canada to accept the position of Associate Principal with the NAC Orchestra.  Born in Vancouver, David grew up in Virginia in the heart of a musical family.  From an early age he experimented with composing, writing, drawing and painting; these passions have resulted in dozens of original songs, paintings and murals.  Viola studies took him across the US and Europe for lessons with Roberto Diaz, Atar Arad, Karen Tuttle, Gerard Caussé, Thomas Riebl and Nobuko Imai, to the Banff Centre, L'Académie de Musique Tibor Varga and Prussia Cove.  

  In Europe, David performed as Principal Viola with L'Orchestre de Montpellier and L'Opera de Bordeaux, La Orquesta de la Ciudad de Granada, Holland Symfonia and Amsterdam Sinfonietta.  He was Principal Viola of the London Philharmonic under the batons of Vladimir Jurowski, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nezet-Seguin and Marin Alsop.  As a fixture on the contemporary music scene, he performed across Europe with the Asko/Schonberg Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Mondriaan Quartet, Fabrica Musica and Nieuw Amsterdamse Peil.  He was a member of the avant-garde Dutch contemporary music group, Nieuw Ensemble, with whom he toured China and recorded over 40 works.

  As a folk musician, David has toured Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia singing his songs with The History of Dynamite.  His folk-opera, The Odyssey was performed at the Banff Centre and subsequently at Theater de Cameleon in Amsterdam.  He plays fiddle and guitar and has performed with Van Dyke Parks, Bill Frisell and Patrick Watson.  

  He lives with his wife and 4 children in Wakefield, QC.

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  viola David Goldblatt

  

  viola David Goldblatt

  Violist David Goldblatt is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he received both his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees. His teachers have included James Dunham, Lillian Fuchs, William Lincer and chamber music coaches from the Guarneri, Juilliard, Sequoia and American string quartets. David has been a member of La Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia (Spain) and was the assistant principal violist of L'Orchestra Sinfonica DellEmilia Romagna (Italy) during the 1987 Toscanini International Conducting Competition. In New York, he performed with the New Jersey Symphony and the New York City Ballet Orchestra. Formerly the principal violist of the Hamilton Philharmonic, David joined the NAC Orchestra in 1996 as assistant principal viola.

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  cello Rachel Mercer

  

  cello Rachel Mercer

  Described as a "pure chamber musician" (Globe and Mail) creating "moments of pure magic" (Toronto Star), Canadian cellist Rachel Mercer has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across five continents. Grand prize winner of the 2001 Vriendenkrans Competition in Amsterdam, Rachel is Principal Cello of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and Artistic Director of the "5 at the First" Chamber Music Series in Hamilton. Rachel regularly collaborates with her longtime duo partner, pianist Angela Park, and was cellist of JUNO award-winning piano quartet Ensemble Made In Canada (2008-2020), AYR Trio (2010-2020), and the Aviv Quartet (2002-2010). Rachel has given masterclasses across North America, South Africa and in Israel and has given talks on performance, careers and the music business. An advocate for new Canadian music, Rachel has commissioned and premiered over 25 solo and chamber works, including cello concertos by Stewart Goodyear and Kevin Lau. She can be heard on the Naxos, Naxos Canadian Classics, Centrediscs, Analekta, Atma, Dalia Classics and EnT-T record labels, and released a critically acclaimed album of the Bach Suites on Pipistrelle in March 2014, recorded on the 1696 Bonjour Stradivarius Cello from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. Rachel plays a 17th century cello from Northern Italy.

  www.rachelmercercellist.com

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  celle Leah Wyber

  

  celle Leah Wyber

  Leah Wyber is a native of Medicine Hat, Alberta.  Her introduction to the cello began in a school strings program at the age of eight.  She received her advanced musical training at the University of British Columbia and the Banff Centre.  Eric Wilson, Paula Kiffner, and George Kiraly are among her most influential teachers.

  Leah is a former member of La Pieta of Montreal, Thirteen Strings of Ottawa, the Atlantic String Quartet, and Joe Trio of Vancouver.  She was also principal cello of the Newfoundland Symphony for several years.  Some of the many festivals and programs she participated in include the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Scotia Festival, the Whistler Mozart Festival, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra.

  Leah has been a member of the National Arts Centre Orchestra since 1993.  In addition to performing alongside the wonderful cellists in the orchestra, she enjoys playing chamber music and teaching.  Other interests include gardening, hiking, cross-country skiing, and curling.

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