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ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Rivka Golani, Viola - Music Director

Rivka Golani is recognised as one of the most outstanding violists of modern times. She has greatly contributed to the advancement of viola technique and inspired many composers to write for the instrument. More than 350 works have so far been composed for Rivka, including over 90 concertos, a record matched by no other violist in history. Rivka trained at the Music Academy of Tel Aviv with the great violist and composer Oedoen Partos and moved to Canada in the mid-1970s, where she began her solo career. Her present home is in London, England. She is also an inspiring teacher who draws students from all over the world to her classes at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Rivka has performed as a soloist with many of the world’s most prominent orchestras and has also performed as a soloist at the Proms in London three times, including at the last night of the Proms. As the artistic director of Fort MacLeod Music Festival, Alberta, Canada, she developed a special collaborative relationship with the Canadian First Nation Blackfoot. In 2016 she was made a member of the Blackfoot, and was given a name: Itspanhskiakii, "A woman who sings from a high place".

Rivka has recorded countless albums and is currently working towards several recording projects.

Rivka is also a painter whose works have been exhibited in Israel, Austria, Germany, the UK, USA and Canada.

Financial Times: ‘Rivka Golani (is)... a supreme viola virtuoso - white-hot in delivery, kaleidoscopic in tone colours, electrifying in rhythmic attack.’ 

Tadasuke Iijima, Violin

Tadasuke Iijima was born in Japan, and has previously studied under the guidance of Hitoshi Maezawa, Boris Kuschnir, Toshiya Eto, Zakhar Bron and Mayumi Fujikawa. He is currently studying under the direction of Rivka Golani at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

He has won numbers of competitions, including the highest award at the Tokyo’s “New Stars of Music” Competition, First Prize at the Toshiya Eto Violin Competition, First Prize in the Soloist Competition with the Hamamatu Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Special Prize for performing a Contemporary Piece at the Heifetz International Violin Competition, and First Prize at the Uralsk International Violin Competition. He also awarded the Harold Craxton Prize, and David Martin Concerto Prize at Royal Academy of Music, and the Vera Kantrovich Prize, Vivian Joseph Classical Concerto competition, and the trinity laban Soloist's Competition at Trinity College. Tadasuke has also appeared as a soloist alongside the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo New City Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Kanagawa Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, and West Kazakhstan Orchestra. He also attended the masterclass by Ida Haendel and Edith Peinemann.

Shauna Rolston, Cello

Award-winning Canadian cellist Shauna Rolston is considered by peers and fans alike to be one of the most compelling and unique musical voices on the stage today. Since receiving a mini cello for her 2nd birthday, Shauna has appeared around the world, performing with such distinguished artists as Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir Andrew Davis, Robert Spano, Marin Alsop, Keith Lockhart, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Hans Graf, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andrey Boreyko, and Menahem Pressler, as well as undertaking innovative collaborations with Veronica Tennant, Evelyn Hart, and Peggy Baker. She has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls including Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and was the featured artist at the 1988 Olympics. Praised for her blazing technique and her ability to captivate the imagination and touch the heart of each audience member, Shauna continues to astonish and delight with her concerts, recordings, and world premieres. Her passion for the music of our time has led to the commission and creation for her of more than 50 new works for cello, including several concerti by Canada’s leading composers. She has also given the Canadian and North American premieres of works by Gavin Bryars, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Osvaldo Golijov, John Tavener, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Augusta Read Thomas, among many others.

A recording artist since the age of 16, her most recent CDs include “Dreamscape”, featuring Shauna as soloist with cello orchestra in arrangements of popular classical favourites, and “Icicles of Fire”, featuring the music of Heather Schmidt written for Shauna with the composer at the piano.

The diversity of Shauna’s artistry is reflected in the many honours she has received throughout her professional career including an invitation to join the Governor-General’s State Delegation to Finland and Iceland, her appointments as Ambassador for the Canadian Music Centre and for Sistema Toronto, and most recently, the Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance.

In addition to her busy concert and recording career, Shauna is a devoted educator much in demand as a guest master class artist. Currently Professor of Cello at the University of Toronto, Shauna earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Yale University and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music where she studied with the distinguished cellist and pedagogue, Aldo Parisot.

Angela Park, Piano

Angela Park has established herself as one of Canada’s most sought-after pianists. Praised for her “stunningly beautiful pianism” (Grace Welsh Prize, Chicago), “beautiful tone and sensitivity” (American Record Guide), and for performing “with such brilliant clarity it took your breath away” (Chapala, Mexico). Angela’s versatility as both soloist and chamber musician has led to performances across Canada, as well as in the United States, Europe, Japan and Mexico. She has performed for such notable series as Montreal’s Pro Musica, Ottawa Chamberfest, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Parry Sound’s Festival of the Sound, Winnipeg Virtuosi, Debut Atlantic and Prairie Debut Tours, Orchestra London Canada, Sinfonia Toronto, Stratford Symphony, and the Northern Lights Music Festival in Mexico. In 2010 Angela earned her DMA in Performance from the Université de Montréal, and previously received her MMus and BMus degrees from the University of Toronto. From 2011-2014, Angela was Visiting Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano-Woodwinds at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. She has given masterclasses and educational outreach workshops for universities and communities across Canada, as well as at SUNY New Paltz, Stanford, and Indiana University in the United States. Angela has been Assistant Professor of Piano and Collaborative Piano at Western University since 2019. She is a regular guest teacher at Music at Port Milford, a summer chamber music academy for high school students. Angela is currently co-Artistic Director of 5 at the First Chamber Music Series in Hamilton, and sits on the board of the Stratford Summer Music Festival. 

Peter McGillivray, Baritone

Originally from Saskatchewan, baritone Peter McGillivray has recently relocated to Toronto after a decade living in Northern Ontario. He has been described in the national press as “a gifted comic actor,” with a “rich, flexible and strong voice.” In recent seasons he has been seen on opera and concert stages from coast to coast, specializing in comic roles such as Dr. Bartolo in Barber of Seville, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sir Joseph Porter in HMS Pinafore and Stubb in Moby Dick. He also excels in interpreting more dramatic fare such as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Don Pizarro in Fidelio and concert performances of Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen,” Haydn’s Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Orff’s Carmina Burana.

He has performed lead roles with the Canadian Opera Company as well as opera companies in Dallas, Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Manitoba, Hamilton, Ottawa and Quebec City. Additionally, he spent the 2010-11 season on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera in New York in productions of La Bohème and Strauss’ Capriccio. His recent and upcoming seasons include appearances with Manitoba Opera, Vancouver Opera, his reprise of the role Bassest in Rocking Horse Winner with Tapestry Opera, and, his return to Pacific Opera Victoria as Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro.

McGillivray first leapt to international attention in 2005 by winning top prizes at both the Montreal International Musical Competition and the Queen Sonja Competition in Oslo, Norway. He was previously the winner of the 2003 CBC/Radio-Canada Young Performers Competition and is an alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio program. Since then he has appeared with many prestigious ensembles in concert, among them, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Orchestra symphonique de Québec, Royal Liverpool, Oslo and Calgary Philharmonics, and symphony orchestras in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Windsor and Montreal.

He is particularly proud of his longstanding association with Tapestry Opera having created several roles for productions including Morris Panych and James Rolfe’s The Overcoat, Omar Daniel’s The Shadow, Juliet Palmer’s Shelter and Gareth Williams’ Rocking Horse Winner. Along with the Gryphon Trio and Elmer Iseler Singers, he is a featured soloist on the 2017 JUNO-nominated recording of Andrew Staniland’s Dark Star Requiem. His discography also includes Summer Schemes, an album with pianist Liz Upchurch that the Toronto Star called, “a rich art-song tapestry of summer-themed enchantments,” as well as a more recent 2016 Centrediscs release, Cloud Light: The Songs of Norbert Palej.