This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en:
Français (French)
Since 1981, the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation has supported emerging classical musicians. In the foundation’s history, more than 200 musicians have received awards. Musicians compete for awards through video submission before moving on to a live audition round for a jury, which this year comprised flutist Camille Churchfield, violinist and violist Scott St. John, clarinetist James Campbell, soprano Rosemarie Landry, and pianist Stéphane Lemelin. In August, the foundation announced its 2025 laureates.
Previously recognized by the foundation in 2023, pianist Chloé Dumoulin recently completed her Artist Diploma at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama. In June, she released an album with violist Frédéric Lambert titled Nouveau Lyrisme. After beginning a Junior Fellowship at the Guildhall, Dumoulin will return to Quebec for a full autumn of recitals, in Laval (Oct. 29), Montreal (Nov. 1), Sherbrooke (Nov. 6), Sorel-Tracy (Nov. 9) and Val-David (Nov. 29). She will also perform at both the National Arts Centre (March 13 & 14) and Bourgie Hall (March 28 & 29) with baritone Olivier Bergeron and choreographers Diana León and Paco Ziel in a Schubert program this spring.
Bass trombonist Malena Lorenson is pursuing a master’s degree at the Hochschule der Künste Bern. Recently, she won both the Donald Yaxley Solo Competition and the ITA Quartet Competition at the 2025 International Trombone Festival, and was named to CBC’s 30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30 list in 2025. In the fall, she will perform John Williams’s Tuba Concerto (on bass trombone) with the Red Deer Symphony (Oct. 18).
Countertenor Kelan Lynch is pursuing a master’s at the Guildhall. He was recently a soloist with Bach op Zaterdag in the Netherlands, and performed a recital in Edmonton with pianist Shannon Hiebert. Lynch is also a member of podcast and social media group The Fearless Artist Mastermind, dedicated to career-building for musicians.
Juliana Moroz is a cellist who will spend this season as a Rebanks Fellow at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Moroz completed her master’s at Rice University. Recently, she was a fellow at the 2025 Toronto Summer Music Chamber Music Institute, a finalist in the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, and performed in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s Masterworks Series.
Soprano Sophie Naubert is a permanent ensemble member of Theater Lübeck in Germany. This season she will sing Cunegonde (Candide), Olympia (Les contes d’Hoffmann), and Poppea (L’incoronazione di Poppea). She was a member of the Atelier Lyrique of Opéra de Montréal from 2023 to 2025, and recently returned there as Zerlina in this season’s opening production of Don Giovanni.
Luca Ortolani
Oboist Luca Ortolani is currently enrolled in the Artist Diploma program at The Colburn School in Los Angeles. In 2024, he won the NAC Orchestra Bursary and Sturdevant Prize, and was named to CBC’s 30 Under 30 list. Recently, he performed with Music Academy of the West, the NAC Orchestra Mentorship Program, and at the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestral Symposium.
Violinist Daria Schibitcaia also appeared at the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestral Symposium. She is completing an Artist Diploma at The Glenn Gould School and is profiled further in this issue’s Rising Stars feature.
Cellist Michael Song is currently artist-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, and is a winner of the Kronberg Academy Landgrave of Hese Prize, and laureate of the Fondation Gautier Capuçon. This year, he will be touring in France, Belgium, the U.S., the U.K. and Japan.
Anna Štube
Anna Štube is a violinist who was previously awarded in 2024, won the OSM Competition in 2019, and was on CBC’s 30 Under 30 list in 2022. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Music at The Glenn Gould School and, in July 2025, gave a recital at Toronto Summer Music with pianist Philip Chiu. In April 2026, she will play the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Oakville Symphony.
Baritone Korin Thomas-Smith, previously awarded in 2022, was a COC Ensemble Studio member from 2023 to 2025, where he played Wagner (Faust), Second Apprentice (Wozzeck), Captain (Eugene Onegin), Officer (La bohème), The Poacher (The Cunning Little Vixen) and Malatesta (Don Pasquale). Recently, he was an apprentice artist at Santa Fe Opera, where he sang Schaunard (La bohème) and Count Ceprano (Rigoletto). This season, he returns to the COC as Mercutio (Roméo et Juliette) and will sing The Business Man (The Little Prince) at Dallas Opera.
Korin Thomas-Smith
Pianist Paul Williamson is currently completing his DMA at Northwestern University. In 2017, he won first prize in the 2017 CFMTA National Piano Competition and appeared on CBC’s 30 Under 30 list and, in 2023, released a solo album of Liszt for Naxos. He recently appeared at Music Academy of the West, and the Victoria Summer Music Festival.
This September, violist Emad Zolfaghari was named as one of eight semifinalists of the Concours de Genève Viola Competition. In 2025, he was artist-in-residence with Minnesota Public Radio and won third prize in the Tokyo International Viola Competition. In the fall, Zolfaghari will perform with the Jupiter Chamber Players (Oct. 27), Santa Cruz Symphony (Nov. 1) and Ars Classica International Competition Grand Final (Nov. 29).
This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en:
Français (French)
