VSMF 2024 PERFORMERS
Dover Quartet
Joel Link, violin
Bryan Lee, violin
Julianne Lee, viola
Camden Shaw, cello
Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine, the two-time GRAMMY-nominated Dover Quartet is one of the world’s most in-demand chamber ensembles. The Dover Quartet is the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music and holds additional residencies at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University and the Walton Arts Center’s Artosphere festival. The group’s awards include a stunning sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Its honors include the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award.
The Dover Quartet’s 2023-24 season includes a North American tour with Leif Ove Andsnes, performances with Haochen Zhang and David Shifrin, and a tour to Europe and Israel. A sought-after ensemble, recent collaborators include Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnaton, Ray Chen, the Escher String Quartet, Bridget Kibbey, Anthony McGill, Edgar Meyer, the Pavel Haas Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, and Davóne Tines. In 2022, the quartet premiered Steven Mackey’s theatrical-musical work Memoir, alongside arx duo and actor-narrator Natalie Christa. They also recently premiered works by Mason Bates, Marc Neikrug, and Chris Rogerson.
The Dover Quartet’s highly acclaimed three-volume recording, Beethoven Complete String Quartets (Cedille Records), was hailed as “meticulously balanced, technically clean-as-a-whistle and intonationally immaculate” (The Strad). The quartet’s discography also includes Encores (Brooklyn Classical), a recording of 10 popular movements from the string quartet repertoire; The Schumann Quartets (Azica Records), which was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance; Voices of Defiance: 1943, 1944, 1945 (Cedille Records); and an all-Mozart debut recording (Cedille Records), featuring the late Michael Tree — long-time violist of the Guarneri Quartet. Voices of Defiance, which explores works written during World War II by Viktor Ullman, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Simon Laks, was lauded as “undoubtedly one of the most compelling discs released this year” (The Wall Street Journal).
The Dover Quartet draws from the lineage of the distinguished Guarneri, Cleveland, and Vermeer quartets. Its members studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. They were mentored extensively by Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, Kenneth Goldsmith, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, and Peter Wiley. The Dover Quartet was formed at Curtis in 2008; its name pays tribute to Dover Beach by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber.
The Dover Quartet’s faculty residency at Curtis integrates teaching and mentorship, a robust international performance career, and a cutting-edge digital presence. The innovative residency allows Curtis to reinvigorate its tradition of maintaining a top-quality professional string quartet on its faculty, while providing resources for the ensemble to experiment with new technologies and engage audiences digitally. Working closely with students in the Nina von Maltzahn String Quartet Program, the Dover Quartet coaches and mentors the most promising young string quartets to nurture a new generation of leading professional chamber ensembles.
The Dover Quartet plays on the following instruments and proudly endorses Thomastik-Infeld strings:
Joel Link: a very fine Peter Guarneri of Mantua, 1710–15, on generous loan from Irene R. Miller through the Beare’s International Violin Society
Bryan Lee: Riccardo Antoniazzi, Milan, 1904; Samuel Zygmuntowicz, Brooklyn, 2020
Julianne Lee: Robert Brode, 2005
Camden Shaw: Joseph Hill, London, 1770
Pamela Highbaugh Aloni
Praised for her “meltingly beautiful solos” (The Detroit News) and performances of “depth and insight” (Times Colonist), Pamela is a founding member of the prize-winning Lafayette String Quartet. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Victoria where she has been teaching cello, chamber music and string pedagogy since 1991.
The Lafayette quartet celebrated over 37 years of musical life together with the same four members and took their final bow together in August 2023. Highlights of their years include a celebration in 2000 performing all sixteen of Beethoven’s string quartets, a 30th anniversary Shostakovich Cycle, a Second Viennese School project, commission of five new quartets by women composers quartets, and the initiation of the Lafayette Health Awareness Forum. Their CBC recording “Death and the Maiden” was awarded “Outstanding Classical Recording of the Year” by the Western Canada Music Awards.
An enthusiastic and devoted teacher, Ms. Highbaugh Aloni served for ten years on the faculty at the Courtenay Youth Music School and Festival and has been the coach for the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra cello section since 2004. She performs both as a soloist and recitalist and has been a guest artist with the Vetta Ensemble of Vancouver, Victoria Chamber Orchestra, Victoria Summer Festival, Festival of the Sound, Sooke Philharmonic, Eine Kleine Summer Music, Chamber Music San Juan, and served as principal cellist with the Galiano Ensemble from 2000-2018. Pamela plays on a George Craske cello made in England, 1850.
Yariv Aloni
Violist Yariv Aloni is acclaimed by critics for his “impeccable technical accomplishments, exquisite phrasing and superb viola playing”, and as having “a huge, singing tone and a rare depth and nobility of feeling”.
He is the Music Director of the Victoria Chamber Orchestra, the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra, the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, and the principal guest conductor of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra in Vancouver.
Former violist of both the Penderecki String Quartet and the Aviv Quartet, he has performed in many European and North American concert halls, including Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York, the Louvre in Paris, and the Tonhalle in Zürich. He has recorded for the United, Marquise, Tritonus, CBC, and independent labels. He regularly performs Chamber Music in numerous chamber-music concerts, festivals, and recital series.
Yariv was a finalist at the François Shapira competition in Tel Aviv. He earned the Israel Broadcasting Authority award for chamber music performance and numerous awards and scholarships from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation.
Born on a kibbutz in Israel, Yariv began studying the violin and subsequently turned to the viola, which he studied with David Chen at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem; Daniel Benyamini, principal violist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; and Michael Tree, violist of the Guarneri Quartet. With an emphasis on chamber music, Yariv also studied at the Jerusalem Music Centre with members of the Tel-Aviv Quartet and at the University of Maryland with the Guarneri String Quartet.
Müge Büyükçelen-Badel
Müge Büyükçelen is a passionate violinist known for her multi-genre versatility. Few highlights of her performances include the premier of Jared Miller’s violin concerto dedicated to Müge, the Beethoven violin concerto, a concert tour through Australia and New Zealand, performances of new works by Jennifer Butler, Paul Frehner, Michael Finnissy, as well as various concerts with the Emily Carr String Quartet. The ECSQ recently launched their latest album “ Beloved of the Sky” , works composed by Canadian composers Iman Habibi, Tobin Stokes, Jocelyn Morlock and Jared Miller. Her recording, "Spanning Tree," has been nominated for "Best Classical Album in 2022" by Western Classical Music Awards.
She is a current member of the Victoria Symphony, Emily Carr String Quartet and the Aventa Ensemble as well as an active violin teacher at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Müge has been a featured soloist with numerous orchestras around the world. She has premiered many works such as “Archimedes’ Codex’ a Canadian work dedicated to her by composer Michael Oesterle,Cameron Wilson “Canadian Four Seasons” to name a few. She has served a jury member for “The Eckhardt - -Gramatte National Competition”,”Friends of Canadian Music Award” , “BCArts Council” and has adjudicated at many music festivals. She holds a Masters degree in music performance from Bilkent University, in Ankara Turkey, an associate teaching diploma from the Victoria Conservatory of Music and was a teaching assistant student at the Toulouse National Conservatory, France.
Philip Hansen
Called “a master cellist” by the Calgary Herald, Philip Hansen’s commitment to diverse musical genres, education, and community have earned him distinction as a performer and innovator in the arts. His intensely personal and colourful playing is showcased in performances from baroque to jazz and in the major works written for solo cello with orchestra. As a USA Department of State Cultural Ambassador to Russia, Phil was featured in concert halls from Moscow to the Far East. He has been guest artist-in-residence at both the Beijing and Shanghai Central Conservatories and was a longtime faculty member of the Académie Internationale Musicale in Provence, France. Phil has also performed extensively throughout Brazil, where he is Principal Cellist of the internationally-acclaimed Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra.
Phil recorded for CD the six unaccompanied Suites by J. S. Bach on baroque instruments, and his CD of tango music, Bragatissimo, was researched and performed in Argentina and broadcast coast to coast on CBC and NPR. Phil founded and hosted for many years “Phil’s Café,” a Calgary-based concert series with a mission of philanthropy.
New Zealand String Quartet
Helene Pohl, violin
Peter Clark, violin
Gillian Ansell, viola
Rolf Gjelsten, cello
Paule Préfontaine
Paule Préfontaine has had a musical career spanning 40 years that has taken her to many different countries. She has played in the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Bergen Norway since 2011. From 1988 to 1993, she was Assistant Concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic. She has been a guest Principal Second Violin and Associate Concertmaster in the Porto Symphony Orchestra in Porto, Portugal.She has also played in the Oslo Philharmonic and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.
She played regularly in the National Arts Centre Orchestra from 2002 to 2014 and participated in many tours with NACO. While living in Ottawa, she was a member of 13 Strings (principal second), and guest Concertmaster of the Ottawa Symphony from 2007 to 2014. In addition, she was Concertmaster of the Hull Chamber Orchestra.
As a pedagogue Paule was Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa for more than 10 years. She was a string coach for the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy and directed the summer Academy Program.
Mrs Préfontaine also has expertise in baroque period performance practice. She was a full-time member of Tafelmusik in Toronto and performed with Arion Ensemble in Montréal, Les Violons du Roy in Québec City, the Bergen Barokk Ensemble, Stavanger Barokk Ensemble in Norway, and was Concertmaster of the Musikbarok Ensemble in Winnipeg. She was also a founding member of the Ottawa Baroque Consort.
Mrs Préfontaine has been a violin pedagogue in music summer Academies such as the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Orford Music Academy, Summer Music on the Shannon, in Ennis, Limerick and Galway in Ireland, and the Courtenay Youth Music Centre in Courtenay, BC.
She has been an active chamber musician, performing in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Music and Beyond, 1st violin of the Prisme Ensemble (Gatineau), Sysman Suvisoitto (Finland), Bergen Kammermusikk (Norway), and the Georgian House series in Limerick, Ireland. Paule is also a founding member of the Quatuor Lumière and Voces Intimae.
Arthur Rowe
Canadian pianist and Steinway Artist Arthur Rowe is a critically acclaimed recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician. Having previously taught at the University of Iowa and the University of Western Ontario, Arthur Rowe has been a Professor at the University of Victoria since 1992, also serving as Acting Director of the School of Music and, Acting Associate Dean of Fine Arts.
Several years after the founding of the VSMF, Arthur Rowe accepted the offer of board member John Shandro to become Artistic Director; a position he has maintained for nearly two decades.
As a highly respected chamber musician, Mr. Rowe regularly collaborates with artists and chamber ensembles across North America, and enjoys the opportunity to bring many of these to the VSMF. He has recorded with various artists for the Crystal, ebs, Innova, GM and Fanfare labels and in 2007, he released an all Schubert recording on the Centaur label (available on iTunes). Fanfare magazine’s review says, “Rowe’s reading (of the posthumous B flat Sonata) is one of the most beautiful I have heard… The D. 899 Impromptus are equally impressive…his purling right-hand runs recall Schnabel’s velvety sound…. every harmonic change is underscored by a delicate nuance of color change. This kind of expression cannot be taught; it is in the bloodstream and the soul.