ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Katherine Chi

Katherine Chi, firmly established as one of Canada’s most sought-after pianists, has performed throughout Europe and North America to great acclaim.

As noted by the New York Times, “Ms. Chi display[s] a keen musical intelligence and a powerful arsenal of technique.” While hailed for her interpretations of Mozart, she is also acclaimed for performances of major romantic and twentieth century concertos. The Globe and Mail described Chi’s performance as “… the most sensational but, better, the most unfailingly cogent and compelling Prokofiev’s Third I have heard in years.”

With her energy, character, and spunk, Chi has been described as a “shining star” (Lake Superior News) known to “bring the house down” (The Chronicle Journal), performing concerto repertoire ranging from Bach to Bartók to Liszt to Schoenberg.

Nicole Gomes

Crowned as Canada’s Top Chef by Food Network’s Top Chef Canada: All-Stars, Nicole Gomes fought her way to the champion spot to become the first female winner. She was also a finalist on Iron Chef Gauntlet, Season 2 in the United States and, most recently, appeared as a judge on Food Network Canada’s Firemasters BBQ cooking competition show.

With over 25 years of professional culinary experience, Gomes has cooked across the globe aside many accomplished chefs, notably in Sydney, Hong Kong, at Vancouver’s West, and Catch in Calgary, before opening Mercato as Executive Chef, one of Calgary’s top restaurants during her tenure in Calgary. She has also travelled extensively as a guest chef including the James Beard House in New York City.

In 2016, Gomes partnered with her sister to open Cluck N’ Cleaver, a crispy fried and French-style rotisserie chicken take-out joint, priding itself on all natural, made from scratch menu items that provides good wholesome food, fast. The business has expanded in Calgary and is soon-to-be expanding across Western Canada.

Kimberley Sundell

Kimberley Sundell is a piano teacher, adjudicator, and examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music, with ARCT pedagogy / performance diplomas and a M.A. in piano pedagogy from the University of Ottawa Piano Pedagogy Laboratory. She is also a certified sommelier, with WSET 3 and Wine Scholar Guild Champagne Masters certifications.

On a study trip in Champagne, Sundell was introduced to Krug’s wine and music pairings. She then discovered Oxford University’s Cross-Modal Research Lab and its studies into multi-sensory perceptions—how the senses interact and influence each other—and was hooked.

Using these studies she developed The Sound of Wine: pairings with the aim to be much more than just drinking wine while listening to music. These unique and educational experiences blend the experience of a recital and a wine tasting.