Our WMC Scholarship Winners 2025

Congratulations to these six outstanding performers who earned a total of $11,500 at the Scholarship Competition on May 10, 2025. These winners will perform in WMC's Centre Stage Series on Monday, December 29, 7:30 pm at St. Andrew's River Heights United Church, 255 Oak St., Winnipeg.

Ari Hooker is an exciting up and coming composer and concert pianist from Winnipeg who has garnered many local awards. Ambitious and overflowing with ideas, Ari has already written a large amount of chamber music, and last fall he performed part of his Piano Concerto in C Major, Op. 5 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO). He was also their featured soloist for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. His latest project was a premiere recording titled New Works for the Piano, featuring three large scale pieces which he wrote in 2024/25: Eight Concert Etudes, Op. 8, Little Suite in G Minor, and Childhood Memories. This recording is available to stream on all major platforms. Ari’s wide-ranging musical interests span everything from classical performance to popular piano stylings, transcription and constructing electronic music. This fall he will enter his fourth year as a student of David Moroz at the University of Manitoba. 

Simon Proulx, clarinetist, was named one of CBC Music’s 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30 (2022). He completed a Bachelor of Music in Performance and French Language Literatures and Cultures at the University of British Columbia, studying with Jose Franch-Ballester, where he received the UBC Medal of Music for graduating at the top of his class. Simon has participated in summer festivals such as the Interplay-Chamber Music and Opera Program at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts (2024), and was selected to represent the Centre at the Music in Pyeongchang Festival in South Korea. Simon is also interested in historical musicology, and in 2024 presented research on 20th-century Greek popular music at an American Musicology Society conference. An advocate for music education opportunities, he recently helped launch the Vancouver Opera’s Orchestral Mentorship Program. Simon will be continuing his studies in clarinet performance at McGill University as a McCall McBain Finalist.

Taylor Burns received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario, where she won numerous awards including the Gold Medal in Performance. Now enrolled in a Masters program in Vocal Performance at the Desautels Faculty of Music, she studies with Monica Huisman. Twice named runner-up to the Winnipeg Music Festival’s Rose Bowl, she has sung with Polycoro and is active as a chorister with Dead of Winter and as a soloist and recitalist. Taylor was a formidable 2nd Lady in U of M's fall production of The Magic Flute, and demonstrated her love of new music in her recent recital featuring the incredibly challenging Tanzer Lieder by Ana Sokolovic. 

Winnipeg-born violinist Liana Fonseca recently completed her Master of Music in Violin Performance at the University of Michigan, studying with Danielle Belen. She previously earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Ottawa, studying with Yehonatan Berick, Timothy Chooi and Michael van der Sloot. Currently based in Winnipeg, Liana has been a member of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in Ontario, in addition to the Lansing and Adrian Symphony Orchestras in Michigan. She has worked under esteemed conductors Bramwell Tovey, Alexander Shelley, and Daniel Raiskin and is an alumna of the Winnipeg Youth Orchestra, where she served as both concertmaster and soloist. A prizewinner in various competitions in Winnipeg and Ottawa, she has also participated in prestigious programs including the NACO Mentorship Program, the NSO Summer Music Institute, and the VSO Orchestral Institute. Liana performs on a violin crafted by Winnipeg luthier Garth Lee and remains dedicated to a career in orchestral performance.

Shion Tamashiro studied at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, Belgium, before arriving in Winnipeg to study at the Desautels Faculty of Music, University of Manitoba, under the tutelage Oleg Pokhanovski. Her performance of Jean Sibelius’ violin concerto in the faculty’s 2025 concerto competition captured the top prize for its adventurous take on a piece that has been performed and recorded countless times over the years.

Winnipeg-born Kyle Briscoe (he/they) is an interdisciplinary vocalist exploring humanity through performance. A survivor of trauma and domestic violence, Kyle creates art to heal, uplift, and empower others - especially trauma survivors and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. Comfortable in opera, musical theatre, and pop, Kyle excels in interpreting Mozart, Rossini, Wolf, Chausson, Finzi, and Britten. Recent credits include leading roles in Opera McGill’s Imeneo, The Light in the Piazza, and Blond Eckbert. Kyle also debuted A Songbook for Survivors, a staged autobiographical song cycle, and presented REQUIESCAT; REBIRTH during Winnipeg Pride, raising funds for 2SLGBTQIA+ charities. Other highlights include Messiah soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Oscar in Rocking Horse Winner with Manitoba Underground Opera. Kyle is a Portfolio Artist Intern with Opera 5 and begins an Artist Diploma at McGill this fall as a Jacqueline Desmarais Opera Fellow. He holds a M.Mus. from McGill, a B.Mus. from the University of Manitoba, loves running and learning from those around him!