OTTAWA’S
YOLANDA BRUNO
WINS FIRST PRIZE OF THE
ISABEL OVERTON BADER CANADIAN VIOLIN COMPETITION
April 30, 2017, Kingston ON …. Ottawa’s Yolanda Bruno was awarded the First Prize and the Audience Choice Prize at the inaugural Isabel Overton Bader Canadian Violin Competition, organized by theIsabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts at Queen’s University. Katya Poplyansky of Toronto was awarded the Second Prize, and Lucy Wang of Vancouver was awarded the Third Prize. Biographies are attached. This national competition was open to Canadian violinists from the age of 18 to 29.
The link to Yolanda Bruno’s Competition performance of the Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2 can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWRkREFRHJw (start time at 2 hr., 54 min.). Finalists also performed one movement of a Mozart violin concerto and were required to compose their own cadenza.
THE PRIZES
FIRST PRIZE:
Yolanda Bruno was awarded:
- The Marion Overton Dick Memorial Violin Prize for $20,000 CAD
- A future engagement to perform with the Kingston Symphony, and
- A future engagement to perform a recital at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts that will be recorded by CBC Radio 2 for national broadcast.
SECOND PRIZE:
Katya Poplyansky was awarded The Clifford Overton Prize for $4,000 CAD.
THIRD PRIZE:
Lucy Wang was awarded The Marg Foster and Heather Dick Prize for $2,000 CAD.
AUDIENCE CHOICE PRIZE:
Yolanda Bruno was awarded the Bader Family Audience Prize for $1,000 CAD.
All finalists and semi-finalists were offered professional advice sessions with Andrew Kwan of Andrew Kwan Artists Management.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWRkREFRHJw
ABOUT YOLANDA BRUNO
Yolanda Bruno performed the demanding Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2 in the final round on the 1700 Taft Stradivari on generous loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. She has been praised for “total control of her instrument, articulation and perfect intonation with infinite variety in the sound palette” (La Presse), and was recently named on CBC’s “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30.” Raised in Ottawa, she has performed across North America and Europe including solos with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, L’Orchestre Métropolitain, Youth Orchestra of the Americas and the London Mozart Players. A devoted chamber musician, Yolanda has collaborated with Pinchas Zukerman, Menahem Pressler and Levon Chilingirian. She is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, most recently winning the Canada Council’s Virginia Parker Award (2015) as well as the grand prize at the OSM Standard Life Competition (2013) and best performed work by a Canadian composer. She has also been a recipient of the Sylva Gelber Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Yolanda has undertaken postgraduate studies with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK after completing undergraduate studies with Jonathan Crow at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. Additional studies have included the International Musicians’ Seminar Prussia Cove, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Toronto Summer Music Festival among others.
“Yolanda is a brilliantly talented young violinist, with a vast range of expression and maturity far beyond her years. Her performance was magnificent. All the finalists demonstrated mastery of their instrument and intense musicality. It was a very emotional evening, as it is clear that the future of classical music in Canada and beyond is bright with this outstanding level of talent and musical commitment. We are all so inspired by the performances of these gifted musicians,” stated Tricia Baldwin, Director, Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts.
THE JURY
The Isabel is grateful to the distinguished Canadian jurors who are committed to supporting the next generation of outstanding talent. Preliminary, Semi-Finalist and Finalist round jury members include:
Martin Beaver—CA (soloist, Montrose Trio member, Co-director of the Chamber Music Program at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, California);
Jonathan Crow—ON (Toronto Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, soloist, New Orford Quartet member, TSO Chamber Soloists concert curator, Associate Professor at the University of Toronto);
Gisèle Dalbec-Szczesniak—ON (Kingston Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, Isabel Quartet member, Adjunct Lecturer in Violin and Viola at Queen’s University);
Eric Friesen—ON (music broadcaster, writer, and former interim Artistic Director of Honens International Piano Competition);
Gwen Hoebig—MB (Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, Hoebig/Moroz Trio member, former faculty member at the University of Manitoba, Visiting Artist at Mount Royal University);
Jeanne Lamon—ON (director and violin soloist, Music Director Emerita Tafelmusik, Adjunct Professor of Baroque Violin at the University of Toronto);
Evan Mitchell—ON (Music Director of the Kingston Symphony);
Barry Shiffman—ON & AB (Executive Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, co-founder of St. Lawrence Quartet, Associate Dean of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music);
Terence Tam—BC (Victoria Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, chamber musician, winner of the International Pierre Lantier Competition in Paris and the OSM Standard Life Competition); and
Andrew Wan—QU (OSM concertmaster, soloist, New Orford Quartet member, Assistant Professor at McGill University).
About the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts
The new, award-winning Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts is a beautiful venue with exceptional acoustics. It opened in September, 2014. The Isabel presents internationally acclaimed artists on its presentation series, and the building supports Queen’s music, drama and film undergraduate educational programs. The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts recently collaborated with Queen’s Dan School of Drama and Music to create two new graduate programs: the M.A. in Arts Leadership and the Graduate Diploma in Arts Management.
The Isabel Overton Bader Canadian Violin Competition was made possible through the generosity of Alfred and Isabel Bader, whose vision, imagination and generosity will enable gifted emerging musicians to learn, inspire, perform, and develop their careers.
For further information about the Isabel Overton Bader Canadian Violin Competition, click here for the link to the Competition house program:
FINALISTS
ISABEL OVERTON BADER CANADIAN VIOLIN COMPETITION
YOLANDA BRUNO
Violinist Yolanda Bruno has been praised for “total control of her instrument, articulation and perfect intonation with infinite variety in the sound palette” (La Presse), and was recently named on CBC’s “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30.” Raised in Ottawa, she has performed across North America and Europe including solos with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, L’Orchestre Métropolitain, Youth Orchestra of the Americas and the London Mozart Players. A devoted chamber musician, Yolanda has collaborated with Pinchas Zukerman, Menahem Pressler and Levon Chilingirian. She is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, most recently winning the Canada Council’s Virginia Parker Award (2015) as well as the grand prize at the OSM Standard Life Competition (2013) and best performed work by a Canadian composer. She has also been a recipient of the Sylva Gelber Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Yolanda has undertaken postgraduate studies with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK after completing undergraduate studies with Jonathan Crow at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. Additional studies have included the International Musicians’ Seminar Prussia Cove, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Toronto Summer Music Festival among others. Yolanda performs on the 1700 Taft Stradivari on generous loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.
KATYA POPLYANSKY
Canadian violinist Katya Poplyansky’s recent solo performances include the Kurt Weill Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra under Joaquin Valdepeñas at the Glenn Gould School, Royal Conservatory of Music in November 2016. She received second prize at the Tunbridge Wells International Competition (UK) in April 2016. She has participated in music festivals such as the Banff Masterclass Program, IMS Prussia Cove, Sarasota Music Festival, Taos School of Music, and Music from Angel Fire. Katya is a grateful recipient of the Temerty Family Foundation Scholarships.
Katya Poplyansky completed her Master of Performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London UK in 2016 studying with David Takeno and her Bachelor of Music at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2014, studying with Shmuel Ashkenasi, Victor Danchenko, Ida Kavafian, and Joseph Silverstein. She is currently pursuing her Artist Diploma at the Glenn Gould School, under the tutelage of Paul Kantor and Barry Shiffman.
LUCY WANG
Lucy Wang made her solo debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bramwell Tovey in 2014, and has since been featured with the orchestra numerous times. She was featured in the VSO’s 2015 season finale after becoming the Grand Prize Winner of the VSO School’s Standard of Excellence Competition. She has been a prizewinner in numerous competitions, including the Canadian Music Competition, the Shean Competition in Edmonton, the OSM Manulife Competition in Montreal, and the Seattle Young Artists’ Competition. In previous years, she has participated in the National Arts Centre’s Young Artists’ Program and Morningside Music Bridge in Calgary. As an orchestral player, she has performed as part of the Colburn Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and in the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She has performed in the Gibson Dunn Rush Hour Concert Series in LA as well as the Colburn Chamber Music Society Concert Series. Lucy Wang was on CBC Radio’s list of “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” in 2014. She was also a featured soloist on CBC Radio’s Young Artist Series and NW Focus Live on King FM in Seattle.
Lucy Wang is a Bachelor of Music degree candidate at the Colburn School, where she studies with Martin Beaver. Originally from Vancouver, Lucy began her violin studies at the age of three and later studied with Gerald Stanick and Carla Birston. She has been a fellow at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara as well as the Aspen Music Festival. Lucy Wang has performed in the masterclasses of musicians including Ida Kavafian, Jonathan Crow, Ning Feng, Martin Chalifour, Glenn Dicterow, Karen Gomyo, and James Ehnes. As a chamber musician, she was coached by Gary Hoffman, James Dunham, Sylvia Rosenberg, and by members of the Tokyo String Quartet, the Opus One Piano Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet, the Guarneri String Quartet, and the Calidore String Quartet.
