Peggy Hills

Artistic Director of The Chamber Music Society of Mississauga has a Bachelor of Music Degree in Violin Performance from The University of Western Ontario, has been a freelance chamber, orchestral musician and violin teacher for 45 years, and has a passion for sharing the joy of the musical experience to young people.

Peggy Hills, (Bachelor of Music in Performances from Western and student of Ivan Galamian @Juilliard) an accomplished violinist is first and foremost a remarkable and passionate educator. The most telling success stories are the ones where she has taken students with limited talent to playing levels that are beyond the ‘norm’. There are many examples of her accomplishments with ‘talented’ musicians. An obvious one is Adrian Anantawan. How Peggy was able to see the possibility of a one-handed player actually playing the violin is amazing. Through her inspirational leadership, he has now finalized a Masters at Yale and a Doctorate from Harvard after his undergraduate studies at Curtis. He is already being booked with major orchestras as a soloist and is playing an important role model for the disabled. The fact that she plays a continuing role with her students even after they leave for career or further study is evidence of Peggy’s excellence in teaching, commitment and in matters of personal understanding.

Peggy, a violinist for over 55 years, has an outstanding standard of performance for herself as well as her students and those who work with her. With her students and her own playing as inspiration she has created an organization that is a leader in the field of innovative programming for young audiences. Through sheer determination she has become successful at getting grants and has created fascinating programs that go well beyond the norm, becoming a model for similar organizations. Her imaginative children’s programs and CDs speak volumes about this violinist’s abilities as an arts manager, producer and artistic director.

Corey Lyle Gemmell

A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Corey has distinguished himself as a soloist and chamber musician with performances in Canada, Germany, the United States and China.  Concerto appearances include performances of such works as Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, Beethoven Triple Concerto, Beethoven Violin Concerto, Sibelius Violin Concerto, Brahms Violin Concerto and Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello.  20th Century solos with orchestra include Mozetich’s Affairs of the Heart for Violin and Orchestra and Vaughn Williams’ The Lark Ascending.

Mr. Gemmell is concertmaster of the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Hamilton Orchestra and the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has also performed in this role with the Boris Brott National Academy Orchestra, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Orchestra, and Esprit Orchestra.  He performs frequently with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra.

Julian Knight

A Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School in New York City in 1979. He gained professional experience working for the Hamilton Philharmonic and the Canadian Opera Company before moving to Paris in 1982.

The recipient of a Canada Council grant he continued his studies while also furthering his professional experience in various French orchestras. On his return to Canada, he began freelance activities that have seen him engaged by every major orchestral ensemble of the Toronto Region.

More recent interests have included live radio improvisation and improvisational work within the theatre and dance communities. Julian has appeared as a soloist with among others the Northern Music Festival Orchestra, the Oakville Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Mississauga, the Canadian Electronic Ensemble and the contemporary music trio, Resonance. He is also active teaching and coaching private students and various ensembles around Toronto.

Mary Katherine Finch

Mary Katherine holds Bachelor and Master degrees in performance from the University of Toronto. She performs frequently in recital with pianist Ron Greidanus and is a founding member of LUSH Cello Ensemble. Playing an authentic baroque cello, she has appeared with Aradia, Baroque Music Beside the Grange, Grand River Baroque Festival and Toronto Masque Theatre. In the area of new music, she regularly collaborates with the ensembles Toca Loca and Ergo, and has premiered several chamber works of Canadian composers. Mary-Katherine frequently plays with the larger ensembles of the Mendelssohn, Isler, Amadeus and Elora Festival Choirs.

Jennifer Tung

Jennifer is an acclaimed musician and versatile artist who performs and teaches vocal performance as well as piano. She completed her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and her Master of Music in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the Eastman School of Music.

The Hong Kong native began her music education at the age of nine, capturing numerous first prizes in voice and piano from national competitions in Hong Kong and China. Among her other distinctions are the Ann Fern Award for best vocal accompaniment at the Kneisel Competition and the Barbara M.H. Koeng Award for best vocal accompanist of the year at the Eastman School of Music. At the age of 16, she made her vocal debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for the opening celebration of the Hong Kong Cultural Arts Centre, giving the world premier of the Green Cantata by Swiss composer Heinrich Schweitzer, which was subsequently recorded for CD. She was soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Magnificat with the Rochester Chamber Orchestra and St. Paul’s Festival Orchestra, and she sang Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate with Sinfonia Mississauga.

Jennifer has performed at prestigious Canadian venues such as Roy Thompson Hall, the Muskoka Lakes Music Festival, and the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts, among others. She gave the world premiere of Shakespeare’s Aviary by Canadian composer Alexander Rapoport with the Mississauga Chamber Music Society at the Living Arts Centre. She also toured northwestern Ontario with the quartet Rhapsody Junction and performed with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. As a vocal coach, she was invited to be the music director with the Summer Opera Lyric Theatre for three consecutive years.

Jennifer is active as a vocal coach and accompanist with some of Toronto’s leading vocalists. She was invited to join the faculty as staff accompanist at leading summer festivals such as the Algonquin International Music Institute and International School for Musical Arts. Her students have successfully auditioned for entry to the University of Toronto, McGill University, Boston Conservatory, Indiana University, and Eastman School of Music. She was appointed the vocal program coordinator at the Young Artists Performance Academy of the Royal Conservatory in 2004.

Angela Fusco

Angela began her career in acting and music as a young child doing programs for both children and adults on CBC radio and television.  In her teens, she went on to spend three seasons at Stratford gaining experience under directors such as Michael Langham and Jean Gascon, and working with colleagues such as Douglas Rain, John Colicos and Kate Reid.

After receiving an Honours degree in English at the University of Toronto, Angela performed in theatres across Canada, including the National Arts Centre, the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, the Citadel Theatre, Sudbury Theatre Centre and Young People’s Theatre.  She played Alicia in Lady Audley’s Secret at the Shaw Festival.

Her rich mezzo soprano voice has brought her many varied roles in musical theatre, including the Dora award-winning Colette, The Colours of Love, which was written especially for her. Angela also garnered critical acclaim playing Mother Superior in Nunsense, and ran for nine months in the hit forties revue, Blue Champagne.

For 4 years Angela hosted the CBC classical music program Listen to the Music.  She also hosted Music for an Afternoon on CJRT, and has appeared as guest host on the CBC radio programs Sunday Morning, Stereo Morning, Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, and Arts National.  Angela is a very busy voice over artist, and has done countless television and radio commercials.

Lately, Angela has combined her theatrical and musical abilities to perform narration with music for several projects with Peggy Hills’s Chamber Music Society of Mississauga. These have included A Butterfly in Time, The Little Mermaid and The Snow Queen all of which were recorded for CD. A Butterfly in Time was nominated for a Juno award in 2005.

Recent film and television includes Alliance Atlantis’s The Morrison Murders and an episode of The Listener.  Angela has also played principal roles in The Third Miracle with Ed Harris, Focus with William H. Macy, and in New Blood with John Hurt.

As well as a season at the Blyth Festival in 1995, Angela’s latest Toronto theatre appearances were in the Actors Repertory Company’s 2003 Dora Awardwinning production of Edward Bond’s The Sea, and a remount of the 2002 Fringe Festival hit The Terrible False Deception.

Penny Johnson

Canadian pianist, Penny Johnson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music, as well as Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music.

Best known for her interpretations of the music of J. S. Bach, solo recitals have included the complete Inventions & Sinfonias, Goldberg Variations and Art of Fugue.  In 2013, she was a semi-finalist at the 8th International J. S. Bach Piano Competition held in Würzburg, Germany, and her passion for the music of Bach has also led her to participate in a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts, where she was a recipient of a grant from The Canada Council for the Arts.

Originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Penny resides in Mississauga where she serves on the Board of Directors for the Chamber Music Society of Mississauga.   In demand as a coach and clinician, her workshop, “From the Pianist’s Toolbox: Techniques for Effectively Practicing the Music of J. S. Bach” has been presented at various locations around the GTA including the Ontario Registered Music Teacher’s Association (ORMTA).

A former Product Manager for Steinway Piano Gallery Toronto and Contributing Author for The Glenn Gould Foundation, Penny is the creator of Glenn Gould 905: A Triple Birthday Multi-Media Celebration. For more information, please visit www.pennyjohnsonpiano.com