Solo performance, chamber music, and collaboration with orchestra are all essential for concert pianists. These elements are therefore integral to Honens’ search for the Complete Artist.
For the 2022 Honens International Piano Competition, Semifinalists perform solo works and collaborate with a violinist. Finalists perform with a string quintet, a soprano, and with orchestra. The choice of collaborating musicians allows for both a meaningful musical partnership and a mentorship opportunity for all Competition pianists.
Semifinals
Martin Beaver
Violin
Canadian violinist Martin Beaver was first violin of the world-renowned Tokyo String Quartet from 2002 until its final season in 2013. As such, he appeared to critical and public acclaim on the major stages of the world including New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and the Sydney Opera House. Concerto and recital appearances have taken him to North and South America, Europe, and Asia with orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège (Belgium), the Montreal Symphony, and the Sapporo Symphony (Japan), and with conductors including Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Gilbert Varga, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Chamber music collaborations include eminent artists such as Leon Fleisher, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Sabine Meyer, and Yefim Bronfman. Beaver is a founding member of the Montrose Trio with pianist Jon Kimura Parker and cellist Clive Greensmith.
Beaver’s teachers include Victor Danchenko, Josef Gingold, and Henryk Szeryng. A laureate of the Queen Elisabeth, Montreal, and Indianapolis Competitions, he has subsequently served on juries of major international violin and chamber music competitions including the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium) and the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition (Japan). A devoted educator, Beaver has conducted masterclasses on five continents. He has held teaching positions at the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto); the University of British Columbia; Peabody Conservatory, and NYU (US). More recently, he was Artist in Residence at the Yale School of Music (US). He currently serves as Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the Colburn Conservatory of Music and Colburn Music Academy in Los Angeles.
Finals I
Krisztina Szabó
Mezzo-soprano
Hungarian-Canadian, mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó is highly sought after in both North America and Europe as an artist of supreme musicianship and stagecraft. She is known for her interpretation of Baroque music as well as her promotion and performance of contemporary Canadian works.
Szabó has performed with San Francisco Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, and Wexford Festival Opera. In 2018, she made her Royal Opera and Netherlands Opera débuts in George Benjamin’s new opera, Lessons in Love and Violence, the recording of which received a Grammy nomination for Best Opera Recording.
Szabó’s career has seen her on all the major opera and concert stages across Canada. She regularly performs with the Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Tapestry Opera, Early Music Vancouver, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
She has been nominated for Outstanding Performance by the Dora Awards twice, and was in Kopernikus (Claude Vivier) with Against the Grain Theatre (Toronto) which won a Dora Award for Best Ensemble.
Her discography includes New Jewish Music, Vol. 3 (Analekta), Ana Sokolovic – Sirens (Naxos), and Talisker Players Where Words and Music Meet (Centrediscs).
Digital projects include Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle (Judith) with Canadian Opera Company, Tafelmusik’s The Voice of Vivaldi, Festival of the Sound’s Arias and Antics, Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder with Vancouver Opera, An Italian Baroque Festive Celebration with Early Music Vancouver; performing in recital for the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts and Behind the Keys with Vancouver Bach Choir, and Tapestry Opera’s S.O.S. Sketch Opera Singers.
Szabó is Assistant Professor of Voice and Opera at the University of British Columbia School of Music.
Viano String Quartet
Praised for their “huge range of dynamics, massive sound and spontaneity” (American Record Guide), the Viano String Quartet won First Prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition and top prizes at the Osaka (Japan) and Wigmore Hall (England) International Chamber Music Competitions, where they also received the Haydn Prize and Sidney Griller Award.
Formed in 2015 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where they were Ensemble-in-Residence during the 2020 / 2021 season, the Quartet has performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall (England); Segerstrom Center for the Arts, SOKA Performing Arts Center, and the Cerritos Center
for Performing Arts (US and with with world-class musicians such as pianists Emanuel Ax and Elisso Virsaladze, violist Paul Coletti, and violinist Martin Beaver. The quartet was named the Nina von Maltzahn string quartet-in-residence at the Curtis Institute of Music for 2021 / 2022 season.
The name “Viano” was created to describe the four individual instruments in a string quartet interacting as one. Each of the four instruments begins with the letter “v”, and like a piano, all four string instruments together play both harmony and melody, creating a unified instrument called the “Viano.”
Sam Loeck
Bass
Sam Loeck joined the Calgary Philharmonic as Principal Bass in 2016. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Sam earned his bachelor’s degree in music performance from the University of Nebraska. He then earned a master’s degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Bruce Bransby and was named winner of the IU Bass Concerto Competition. Sam has participated in numerous music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, Moritzburg Festival, Pacific Music Festival, and the Banff Centre International String Quartet Festival. He has performed extensively as guest-Principal Bass with the London Symphony Orchestra (UK), and served as a substitute bass with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony.
Sam performs on a beautiful bass made in 2014 by Aaron Reiley. When he’s away from the instrument, Sam is an avid woodworker and enjoys solitude in the mountains.
Finals II
Jeffrey Kahane
Conductor
Equally at home at the piano or on the podium, Jeffrey Kahane is recognized around the world for his mastery of a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach and Mozart to the music of our time. First Prize winner at the 1983 Rubinstein Competition and a finalist at the 1981 Van Cliburn Competition, he has appeared as soloist with major orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Chicago and San Francisco symphonies among many others, and is a popular artist at all of the major US summer festivals. In August 2016, he was appointed Music Director of the Sarasota Music Festival and is also the Artistic Adviser of the Sarasota Orchestra.
Kahane made his conducting debut at the Oregon Bach Festival in 1988. Since then, he has guest conducted many of the major US orchestras including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Indianapolis, and New World symphonies among others. In May 2017, he completed his 20th and final season as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He also served as the Music Director of the Colorado Symphony from the 2005 / 06 season through the 2009 / 10 season and for ten seasons was Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony, where he is now Conductor Laureate.
Jeffrey Kahane is currently a Professor of Keyboard Studies at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) is a pillar of Calgary’s vibrant arts community and since 1955, has grown to be one of Canada’s most celebrated live music ensembles. Each Season, the CPO presents classical masterworks, pop favourites, bold collaborations, and cutting-edge new works. Led by Music Director Rune Bergmann, the CPO consistently attracts world renowned guest artists and dynamic conductors. The Orchestra welcomes over 100,000 visitors annually and, in 2017, launched its live-stream initiative—an immersive, digital concert experience for audiences around the world.
Julie Nesrallah
Host
Julie Nesrallah performs for leading opera companies, symphonies, festivals, and chamber music ensembles across Canada and around the world. Miss Nesrallah sang God Save the Queen for Will and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, for Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill in a performance that was viewed by millions. She also sang for An Evening for Peace for Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan in Montreal.
Miss Nesrallah is the host of Tempo on CBC Music and is also the executive producer and star of Carmen on Tap which performs Georges Bizet’s Carmen as dinner theatre. Miss Nesrallah has been the recipient of several distinguished awards including the Canada Council for the Arts Emerging Artist Award & Mid-Career Grant, and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her cultural contribution to Canada’s performing arts.
