These outstanding musicians will perform in WMC's Centre Stage Series on Friday, December 27, 7:30 pm at St. Andrew's River Heights United Church, 255 Oak St., Winnipeg.
Angela Suet Kee Ng is in her second year at the University of Toronto, studying with Lydia Wong as recipient of the four-year Matheson Entrance Scholarship awarded to top undergraduates in piano performance. Recognized as an emerging powerhouse, Angela was one of the Grand Prize winners in the CANIMEX Canadian Music Competition (2017), making her debut with the Orchestre de la Francophonie. She also performed in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall as part of the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition (2017), and with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 2023. In the Winnipeg Music Festival’s 2021 season, Angela’s seven trophies included the Aikins Memorial Trophy. Angela’s aspiration as a musician is to share the joys of music, and she is grateful for her former teachers Ludwig Lee, Jane Petroni, David Moroz, and Jamie Parker.
Featured in CBC Music’s 2023 top 30 hot classical musicians under 30, River Sawchyn is a violinist and composer from Winnipeg. He attends the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, where he studies violin with Amy Schwartz-Moretti, Robert McDuffie and David Kim. At Mercer, River enjoys playing in solo recitals, performing in chamber groups and orchestra and records and performs original works regularly. This summer, he is excited to be participating in festivals in Halifax, Quebec and Rome.
Originally from Yellowknife, NWT, soprano Diana Rockwell has been a passionate performer since the age of 6. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music at the University of Manitoba, studying with Tracy Dahl. Claiming the Rose Bowl trophy with the Winnipeg Music Festival in 2024, Diana was also the First Prize winner in the 2023 CFMTA National Vocal Competition. She has appeared in both Edmonton Opera’s and Manitoba Opera’s Chorus in the last two seasons, and has sung the roles of Frederic from The Pirates of Penzance, La Contessa from Le nozze di Figaro with University of Alberta’s Opera Theatre, and Phoebe Dy’Squith with NUOVA Vocal Arts. Diana is a proud graduate of the BMus Vocal Performance program at the University of Alberta, where she studied with Canadian tenor John Tessier and vocal coach Shannon Hiebert.
Soprano Hannah Orr is entering her fourth year in the Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance, studying with Monica Huisman at the Desautels Faculty of Music, University of Manitoba. She recently won 1st place in the Zita Bernstein German Lieder Competition there, and sang the roles of the La Grande-Prêtresse in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie and Adele in Die Fledermaus in excerpts presented by the Opera Theatre Ensemble. Hannah has won Provincial Music Festivals in Alberta and Manitoba, including the Tudor Bowl with the Wpg. Music Festival. Vocal workshops have included Opera Nuova, the University of British Columbia’s summer vocal workshop, and the University of Lethbridge’s Southern Alberta Vocal Experience. This summer she will attend the 2024 Bel Canto Summer Opera School in Tuscany.
Born in Hefei, China, Yanzhi Zhang is currently completing his Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance under the guidance of Dr. David Moroz. He has performed multiple solo recitals at the University of Manitoba throughout the course of his studies, and is a prizewinner in numerous local and provincial competitions. In 2017 and 2020, Yanzhi played the finals in the Aikins Memorial Trophy class, Winnipeg Festival’s highest multi-disciplinary award for the most outstanding diploma-level instrumentalist. In 2022, he advanced to the final round of the U of M Concerto Competition and placed in the Associated Manitoba Arts Festival Provincial Finals where he represented Winnipeg.
Born in Winnipeg, Amanda Robertson is a graduate from the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba, currently completing her graduate studies at the UBC School of Music with renowned clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester. She has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, the Vancouver Island Symphony, and has attended summer institutes at the Orford Music Academy, the VSO Institute in Whistler, PRISMA, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Amanda is a recipient of the Adam N. Leckie Memorial Trophy and the Ihnatowycz Emerging Artist Scholarship at The Glenn Gould School. She is incredibly grateful for the support of the Manitoba Arts Council and Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg.