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Artists
Stephanie Morin joined the NAC Orchestra as Second Flute and Piccolo in 2020 and is currently on faculty at the University of Ottawa. In addition to her teaching at uOttawa, Stephanie has been a guest speaker and teacher at programs such as OAcademy, Fluture Music Studio and Flute On The Edge. She is also an active chamber musician and has performed in NAC chamber music concerts and at Ottawa Chamberfest.
Before her tenure at the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Stephanie was Assistant Principal Flute with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Principal Flute of the Laval and Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean orchestras. She has also performed with ensembles such as Les Violons du Roy, the Orchestre Métropolitain, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.
Stephanie pursued her music studies in Montreal, first at Marianopolis College with Carolyn Christie, then at McGill University with Denis Bluteau, and finally at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, where she completed a Master's in Flute Performance with Marie-Andrée Benny.
Stephanie is a prize-winner at the OSM Competition, the Canadian Music Competition, the Prix d'Europe, and the Orchestra Toronto Concerto Competition.
Yosuke Kawasaki currently serves as Concertmaster of the NAC Orchestra and Guest Concertmaster of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. 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 the Mito Chamber Orchestra, the Saito Kinen Orchestra, and the 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.
Yosuke’s current regular ensembles are Trio Ink and the Mito String Quartet. His passion for chamber music led to his appointment as Music Director of the Affinis Music Festival in Japan. He is also an artistic advisor to the chamber music festival Off the Beaten Path in Bulgaria.
As an educator, Yosuke has given masterclasses and performed alongside 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 age 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.
Yosuke began his violin studies at age six with his father, Masao Kawasaki, and Setsu Goto. He was subsequently accepted into The Juilliard School Pre-College Division, where he furthered his education. He graduated from The Juilliard School in 1998 under the tutorship of Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Felix Galimir, and Joel Smirnoff.
Described as a "pure chamber musician" (The 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 NAC Orchestra in Ottawa and Co-Artistic Director of the "5 at the First" Chamber Music Series in Hamilton and Orleans, Ontario. Rachel plays with the Mercer-Park Duo, the St. John-Mercer-Park Trio and the Ironwood Quartet, and was cellist of the JUNO award-winning piano quartet Ensemble Made In Canada (2008-2020), the AYR Trio (2010-2020), and the Aviv Quartet (2002-2010). She has given masterclasses across North America, South Africa and Israel and talks on performance and careers in music.
An advocate for new Canadian music, Rachel has commissioned and premiered over 30 works, including cello concerti by Stewart Goodyear and Kevin Lau, as well as solo and chamber works by Vivian Fung, Andrew Downing, Alice Ho, David Braid, Kelly Marie-Murphy, John Burge, and Jocelyn Morlock. Recent chamber and solo albums include Kevin Lau: Under A Veil of Stars (Leaf Music), Our Strength, Our Song (Centrediscs), John Burge: One Sail (Naxos), Alice Ho: Mascarada (Centrediscs), and from 2012, the complete Bach Suites (Pipistrelle) with the 1696 Bonjour Stradivarius Cello from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. Rachel currently plays a 17th-century cello from Northern Italy.
Frédéric Lacroix has performed in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist. As such, he has performed with many important musicians, including Branford Marsalis, Johannes Moser, Kathleen Battle, Alexander Rudin and some of Canada’s most noted musicians. He has made regular radio appearances on the Canadian CBC and SRC or the American NPR. Frédéric is also active as a composer, having composed for the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Society of American Music, the Canadian University Music Society, the Choeur Classique de l’Outaouais and other noted Canadian musicians.
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