All of ARC's members are senior faculty members of
The Glenn Gould School of Canada's Royal Conservatory.

Marie Bérard, violin
In addition to her work as concertmaster of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and as assistant concertmaster of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, Marie Bérard is a sought-after soloist, chamber musician and teacher. She has also worked with Amici, ArrayMusic and New Music Concerts and has premiered sonatas by Bright Sheng and Anthony Davis as well as several new works with the Accordes String Quartet. Among her solo recordings are works by Alfred Schnittke (Concerto Grosso, No. 1 and Á Paganini), and the Meditation from Thaïs for violin and orchestra. Her recording of the concerto for violin and brass ensemble by Henry Kucharzyk was released in 2002. Ms. Bérard appears regularly at chamber music festivals, notably Ottawa, Speedside and Music in Blair Atholl, Scotland. She performs on a 1767 Pietro Landolfi violin.

Benjamin Bowman, violin
One of Canada's most dynamic and versatile musicians, violinist Benjamin Bowman has performed to critical acclaim throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He currently holds the position of Associate Concertmaster with the Canadian Opera Company orchestra, performs regularly as a soloist, and is a member or frequent guest artist for some of the country's best chamber music ensembles, including the twice Grammy-nominated ARC (Artists of the Royal Conservatory), Art Of Time, and Amici. He has acted as Guest Concertmaster with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Miami Symphony, and was recently invited to act as Concertmaster and Soloist with the National Ballet of Canada for the month of June 2010. Other collaborative work includes extensive immersion in contemporary/new music, improvisation, and performance with singer/songwriters. Bowman's performances have been recorded for radio broadcast in Canada with the CBC, in the USA, the UK, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Korea. His discography is quickly growing with imminent new chamber-music releases on the ATMA and Sony/RCA Red Seal labels. Bowman received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In his spare time, he also composes and arranges music, and writes electronic music as a hobby.

Steven Dann, viola
One of North America’s most distinguished and versatile violists, Steven Dann has served as principal viola with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Zürich’s Tonhalle and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. In concerto appearances he has collaborated with Sir Andrew Davis, Jirí Belohlávek, Sir John Elliott Gardiner, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Steven has also been a guest principal of the Boston and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras under Sir Simon Rattle, and with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, with whom he also recorded. He has been a member of the Smithsonian Chamber Players in Washington D.C. and a featured performer on their Sony Classical recording series. Steven has a great interest in both early and contemporary music and has commissioned concerti from Alexina Louie and Peter Lieberson as well as chamber works from R. Murray Shafer, Frederick Schipitsky and Christos Hatzis. Last season he recorded Luciano Berio’s Sequenza No. 6 (Naxos). His teachers include Lorand Fenyves, Bruno Giuranna, Zoltán Székely and William Primrose. He is faculty member of the Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music.

Bryan Epperson, cello
One of Canada’s most charismatic chamber musicians, Bryan Epperson is principal cellist of both the orchestra of the Canadian Opera Company and, during the summer, that of the Santa Fé Opera. He made debuts in Milan, Venice, Siena and Florence at the recommendation of Claudio Abbado and, since then, has received regular invitations to perform throughout Europe and North America. Collaborations include performances with such legendary musicians as David and Igor Oistrakh, Christian Ferras and Tibor Varga. Bryan has recorded on the Naxos and Musica Viva labels and broadcast on NPR, BBC and the CBC. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Bryan’s initial studies were with Leonard Rose, André Navarra and George Neikrug. He subsequently served as an assistant to Antonio Janigro at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Bryan is devoted to both a 1752 Paulo Antonio Testore cello and a 928S Porsche of almost equivalent vintage.

David Louie, piano
The pianist and harpsichordist David Louie, described as“A pianistic sensation” (Rhein Zeitung, Germany), was born in British Columbia. A winner of several international piano competitions (CBC Radio; Santander, and Sydney) he made his New York debut with the venerable Peoples’ Symphony Concerts and since then has performed at major series in Chicago (the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts); Mose Festwochen, Germany, and the National Auditorium, Madrid. He has appeared with the Vancouver Symphony; the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa; the Gulbenkian Chamber Orchestra, Lisbon; and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and has collaborated with many distinguished artists, including the Takács Quartet. David Louie completed graduate studies at the University of Southern California. His principal teachers include Boris Zarankin and John Perry whom he now assists at The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music. Away from the keyboard, he enjoys languages, literature, art, film and the great outdoors.

Erika Raum, violin
Erika has played the violin professionally since the age of 12. Since winning the Joseph Szigeti International Violin Competition in 1992, she has been invited to Europe on many occasions, most recently to Portugal, Austria, Germany, England, Italy, France and Hungary, where she appeared with the Budapest Radio Orchestra, the Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra. Erika has performed throughout Canada and the US: at the Parry Sound, Ottawa, Vancouver and Caramoor chamber festivals and regularly at the Banff Centre. In Europe she has appeared at festivals in Budapest and Prussia Cove. She is much in demand as a chamber musician and performs regularly with the distinguished pianist Anton Kuerti, with whom she recorded a landmark CD of Czerny’s piano and violin works (on CBC’s Musica Viva label). She teaches at The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould school.

Joaquin Valdepeñas, clarinet
One of the most distinguished clarinetists of his generation, Joaquin Valdepeñas has performed with the BBC Welsh and Toronto Symphonies, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio at the 92nd Street “Y”, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Festival appearances include Edinburgh, Marlboro, Banff, Casals, Evian, Mostly Mozart, Nagano, and Aspen, where he is a faculty member and the conductor of the wind ensemble. A founding member of Amici, one of Canada’s premiere chamber ensembles, Joaquin has also collaborated with the Quartetto Latinoamericano, the American, Ying, and Muir Quartets and with members of the Cleveland, Vermeer, Guarneri, and Tokyo String Quartets. With recordings on the CBC, Summit, Centrediscs and Sony labels, his most recent releases are Contrasts and a CD of the Brahms Clarinet Sonatas. In addition to his teaching work at The Royal Conservatory of Music, Joaquin has conducted the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on several occasions, and for ten years conducted the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Dianne Werner, piano
After initial training at The Royal Conservatory with Margaret Parsons-Poole, Dianne Werner continued her studies with Peter Katin, György Sebök and Alicia de Larrocha. She went on to win a number of major prizes in the Young Keyboard Artists Association Competition in the United States and the Silver Medal at the prestigious Viotti-Valsesia International Piano Competition in Italy. Dianne also received a number of major awards in Canada, including three Canada Council Grants and a Floyd Chalmers award from the Ontario Arts Council. An exceptional soloist, accompanist and chamber musician, her collaborations include a national tour and recordings with soprano Nancy Argenta and a wide array of performances with the principal players of the Toronto Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. Acclaimed for her lyrical and poetic style she has given solo and concerto performances across Canada. She is a faculty member of The Royal Conservatory of Music.

Simon Wynberg, Artistic Director — ARC
Simon Wynberg enjoys a diverse career as a guitarist, chamber musician and artistic director. He has programmed chamber-music festivals in Scotland and the Carribbean and was artistic director of Music at Speedside and the Guelph Spring Festival in Canada from 1994 to 2002. His entry in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes him as “not only a virtuoso performer of distinction but one of the guitar’s foremost scholars”. He has edited over 60 volumes of hitherto unknown guitar music and his many recordings (on Chandos, ASV, Hyperion, Narada, Stradivari, Vox and Naxos) have received glowing reviews and awards, including a Penguin CD Guide Rosette; a Gramophone Critics’ Choice, and a Diapason Award. He has performed at the Newport. Bermuda, Sitka, Ann Arbor, Santa Fé and Ottawa chamber music festivals, at New York's Bargemusic and throughout Europe, and has collaborated with many celebrated artists; including the English Chamber Orchestra, the flautist William Bennett, the Gabrieli String Quartet and the violinists Mark Peskanov and Martin Beaver. He is the curator of ARC’s musical projects, including the current “Music in Exile”series, and is executive producer of ARC's recordings.

Carolyn Blackwell, viola
Originally from Calgary, Carolyn Blackwell has performed with the Art of Time Ensemble, Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, and the ARC Ensemble, which includes her on its latest recording, Two Roads to Exile, from Sony's RCA Red Seal label. Carolyn completed her studies under the tutelage of Canadian violists Steven Dann and Nick Pulos, and performs regularly with the Canadian Opera Company. A great lover of chamber music, she has also performed as acting violist of The Aviv String Quartet, collaborated with the Vienna Piano Trio, and was recently invited to trial with the Australian String Quartet. Carolyn has been a principal of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland and participates in IMS Prussia Cove Seminars in Cornwall, UK. She made her American debut at the 2011 Spoleto Festival to much critical acclaim, performing alongside members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet among others. Carolyn was recently invited by Steven Isserlis to tour England as part of the International Musicians Seminar and will be making her Wigmore Hall debut in October of 2012.

David Hetherington, cello
A native of St. Catharines, Ontario, David Hetherington is currently assistant principal cellist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). He received his musical training at The Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto and furthered his studies in New York, Italy and Germany with Claus Adam, André Navarra and Paul Tortelier. A member of the TSO since 1970, Mr. Hetherington is on the faculty of The Glenn Gould School and is also music director of the Inter-Provincial Music Camp near Parry Sound, Ontario. As a soloist, he has performed with the TSO, the Niagara Symphony and the Symphony Orchestra of Canada. As a chamber musician, he has toured Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Europe. He is a founding member of the Amici Chamber Ensemble and the Accordes string quartet. Accordes’ recording of Harry Somers’ String Quartets, released by Centrediscs in 2001, received a Juno nomination. Mr. Hetherington has also appeared on other recordings for the CBC and Centrediscs, with whom he made the Canadian premiere recording of Talivaldis Kenins’ prize-winning cello sonata. He has also recorded nine discs with Amici for Summit Records, Naxos and CBC Records.