Duality

Described as a violinist with ‘chops to burn, and rock solid musicianship’ (The Whole Note, TORONTO), Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu enjoys an exciting career as a soloist, chamber musician, and music educator. Recent engagements have taken her throughout Europe and Asia, and she continues to work extensively with composers. Her CD ARGOT was recently featured on a BBC series dedicated to the music of Lutoslawski, and receives frequent airplay in the US. Recent highlights include the Canadian premiere of Marc-André Dalbavie’s violin concerto with Esprit Orchestra, a performance of John Corigliano’s Chaconne during the composer’s 80th birthday celebrations, the release of a second CD with pianist Stephanie Chua, and numerous recitals throughout North America.

Véronique has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Asia, Europe, South Africa, South America, and the United States. She is a prizewinner of the 2012 Eckhardt-Gramatté Contemporary Music Competition, the 2010 Krakow International Contemporary Music Competition, and a three-time winner of the Canada Council Bank of Instruments Competition. Ms. Mathieu holds the David L. Kaplan Chair in Music at the University of Saskatchewan where she serves as an Associate Professor of Violin. She previously served on the faculty at the University of Kansas and State University of New York, in Buffalo.

An avid contemporary music performer, she has commissioned and premiered numerous works by American, Brazilian, and Canadian composers, and has worked with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Heinz Holliger, and Krzysztof Penderecki. She recorded for the CD series New Music at Indiana University, the label of Radio-Canada, Centrediscs, PARMA, Naxos, and Pheromone. Current projects include the commission of a large-scale solo violin work by Odawa First Nations composer Barbara Croall and a set of 12 pedagogical pieces written in collaboration with 12 internationally renowned composers with the support of the SSHRC and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Stephanie Chua is an expressive and versatile Canadian pianist devoted to presenting and performing contemporary works through musical insight and innovative programming. She has been broadcast across Canada on CBC Radio 2 and in Europe on Rondo Classic FM and has performed in solo and chamber recitals across Canada, Europe and Asia.  Recent highlights include being a featured performer in Soundstreams’ sold-out season opener ‘Six Pianos’ at Koerner Hall (Toronto), solo recitals at SOUL Live Music Project in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) in partnership with Saigon Classical, New Music Edmonton, and Music Toronto’s Discovery Series; along with performances at Shanghai New Music Festival, Impuls Contemporary Music Festival (Graz, Austria), and Sound Symposium (St.John’s, NFLD). 

As a much sought after collaborative pianist, Stephanie has performed in some of Canada’s most important contemporary ensembles including Contact Contemporary Music, Continuum Contemporary Music, Trio Fibonacci, and Toca Loca. In 2009, Stephanie co-founded junctQín keyboard collective with Elaine Lau and Joseph Ferretti.  junctQín is a trio of pianists committed to performances of contemporary music and commissioning new works for their unique instrumentation.  Since its inception, the group has commissioned and premiered over 30 new works from emerging to internationally established living composers. Stephanie performs regularly as a duo with violinist, Véronique Mathieu.  The duo recently released their debut recording ‘True North’ on the Centrediscs label.

Stephanie completed her Master of Music from the University of Toronto and her Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music.  She was also Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and earned her Bachelor of Music from the University of Victoria.  Her main teachers were Robin Wood and Marietta Orlov.  Stephanie has also pursued private studies with pianist/musicologist Ian Pace in London, England.

Darren Miller is a composer of research-based art music, hailing from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Treaty 6 territory. His practice embraces both conventional instrumentation and its extension through technological means. Darren’s work has been presented in a variety of diverse, international venues; ranging from traditional concert halls and radio broadcasts, to art galleries and experimental music collectives. Studies in Saskatoon, Victoria, Banff, Darmstadt, and Buffalo have led to a PhD in music composition for work on the topic of audio morphing software. Darren was formerly co-founder and co-director of Sask New Music and the annual Strata Festival of New Music.