John Abberger, one of North America’s leading performers on historical oboes, is principal oboe of Tafelmusik in Toronto and the American Bach Soloists in San Francisco. He has performed extensively in North America, Europe and the Far East with these ensembles, and appears regularly with other prominent period-instrument ensembles, including the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Voltaire, Handel and Haydn Society, and Aston Magna. He records regularly with many of these orchestras, and can be heard on numerous recordings, including the highly acclaimed recording of the Concerto for Oboe by Alessandro Marcello with Tafelmusik. He teaches at the University of Toronto and University of Western Ontario, and has taught at the City College of New York. A native of Orlando, Florida, he received his training at the Juilliard School and Louisiana State University, and also holds a Performers Certificate in Early Music from New York University.

Lydia Adams has been conductor and artistic director of the Elmer Iseler Singers since 1998 and of the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto since 1981. She became pianist of the Elmer Iseler Singers in 1981 and worked with its founder for 17 years. Under her direction, the annual concert series presented by the choirs in Toronto have garnered highest praise from critics and audiences alike. She has led the choirs on extensive tours and on dozens of acclaimed recordings. Her work with leading Canadian composers, including R. Murray Schafer, Harry Somers, Srul Irving Glick, Christos Hatzis, premiering and presenting their work in concert, on recordings and broadcasts, is recognized as an outstanding contribution to Canadian choral music. A graduate of Mount Allison University, London’s Royal College of Music and National Opera Studio, she worked with leading conductors, composers and arrangers in England. Her numerous awards include an honorary doctorate from Mount Allison University for her service to music in Canada.

Kati Agócs recently joined the composition faculty of the New England Conservatory. On awarding her the 2008 Charles Ives Fellowship, the citation of the American Academy of Arts and Letters praised her music for its "soulful directness", "naturalness of dissonance", for reaching "the hearer through melody, drama, and clear design". Other awards include Tanglewood's Leonard Bernstein Fellowship, Fulbright and Javits Fellowships, and honours in ASCAP's Young Composers Awards. Recent commissions include the CBC Radio Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, American Composers Orchestra and the Budapest Autumn Festival. Bridget Kibbey plays two pieces for solo harp, Every Lover is a Warrior and Love is Come Again, on her CD Love is Come Again listed by Time Out New York on its 2007 Top Ten Recordings. Kati Agócs holds a doctorate and master's from the Juilliard School, and is an alumna of the Aspen Music School, United World Colleges, and Sarah Lawrence College. Her main composition teachers were Milton Babbitt, Robert Beaser and George Tsontakis.

Tom Allen hails from Montreal where he played trombone in high school and studied music at McGill. He moved to Boston, then New Haven and then New York. Along the way he picked up music degrees, stories, an excellent fedora and attitude. Then he lost the hat, sold out to the man, and moved to Toronto. Once there, he wrote books, won awards, became a dad, hosted radio programs on the CBC, stressed about things that didn't matter, became aware of what did, fell in love, learned to play hockey, remarried, and got a dog. Now he's an occasional trombonist, author and broadcaster, concert host and co-creator of a really cool music festival in Detroit, a little too busy and very happy. In 1998, he left the stressful world of Current Affairs Radio, and moved to a calm, predictable place that would be free of protest or controversy: CBC Radio Two. He's not at liberty to say anything else about that.

German pianist Hinrich Alpers, Second Laureate of the 2006 Honens International Piano Competition, wants you to listen: "I want to inspire others to enjoy and think about music. Music is one of the most direct and powerful ways of communicating and listeners depend on honest and inspired performers." Alpers has performed in recital, as soloist with orchestras and as collaborator in chamber music and lieder throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. His performances are often recorded for radio and television broadcasts. The recipient of the 2008 Juilliard William Petschek Piano Debut Recital Award, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in March 2008. This fall, he will tour with the TinAlley String Quartet, winner of the 2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition, and will perform as soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2009, he will make his recital debut at the Berlin Philharmonie. His first solo CD, recorded at The Banff Centre, will be released in the fall.

Founded 31 years ago, the Amadeus Choir, under direction of conductor and artistic director Lydia Adams since 1987, is in its 13th season as choir-in-residence at the George Weston Recital Hall, Toronto Centre for the Arts. Regarded as one of Canada's pre-eminent choral groups, the 100 auditioned voices present a concert series at the Recital Hall and perform at downtown venues, presenting noted artists in works by Canadian and international composers, including major works with instrumental ensembles or full orchestra, and a cappella performances. The Choir regularly performs benefit concerts and is actively involved in fundraising efforts. The annual Christmas Carol and Chanukah Song Writing Competition, created by Dr. Adams in 1987, draws submissions from composers worldwide. The Choir's first CD, Ring-a the News!, features winning carols from the competition. Other CDs include award-winning Songs of the Spirit (composers Eleanor Daley, Srul Irving Glick and Barry Peters, and a newly-discovered work by Andrea Gabrieli), Voices On High with the Hannaford Street Silver Band (composers Bramwell Tovey, Harry Somers and Stephen Chatman), and Everlasting Light with the Elmer Iseler Singers (composer Christos Hatzis).

Entering the third decade of an already remarkable history, the legendary Anagnoson & Kinton piano duo has enchanted audiences throughout Canada, in the United States, Europe, and recently in China. Critically acclaimed for their virtually seamless sound, James Anagnoson and Leslie Kinton continue to seek new artistic horizons. In addition to performing with major orchestras in Canada, the duo's innovative reach includes, for example, performing Stravinsky's Rite of Spring alongside Ballet BC, and playing, in 2006, in the multi-genre premiere of Into the Labyrinth by Ray Luedeke staged by Tom Diamond and narrated by Colin Fox. The duo's discography includes works for two pianos, two pianos with orchestra, and one piano four hands. In 2006, in celebration of their 30th season, a special compilation CD, Stages, was released to great acclaim. James Anagnoson, a graduate of the Eastman School and the Juilliard School, was recently appointed Dean of the Glenn Gould School at Toronto's Royal Conservatory. Leslie Kinton, recipient of the University of Toronto's Forsythe Graduation Award, teaches at the Glenn Gould School and the University of Western Ontario.

Thomas Annand is acclaimed for his technical mastery, uncompromising musicianship and engaging stage presence. A competition laureate, he has given recitals across Canada, the United States and Europe, has been featured on CBC Radio and National Public Radio in the United States, and has recorded several discs. Appointed Director of Music at historic St. Andrew’s Church in 1992, he quickly became one of Ottawa’s leading musicians. He is organist and harpsichordist for the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Thirteen Strings, and co-founded Capital BrassWorks that he conducted for six seasons. He has been featured at the International Congress of Organists, Carmel Bach Festival, and Boston Early Music Festival. In 2005/06, he presented the Bach Harpsichord Masterpieces series in Ottawa, performing all Bach’s major keyboard works, and also hosted for two seasons Encounters with Bach, a program of organ recitals, at the National Arts Centre. Thomas Annand is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists.

Born in Algeria, raised in France, a Curtis Institute graduate, California resident, former concertmaster, winner of the International Menuhin Competition and hailed "the violinist of the 21st century" by Lord Menuhin, Gilles Apap performs worldwide as soloist with leading orchestras and is internationally admired for incorporating music styles as diverse as American bluegrass and Gypsy fiddling with standards of the classical repertoire. Recent performance highlights include Alban Berg's violin concerto with Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, a musical voyage from Bach and Ysaÿe to Irish gigs and American folk music in solo recitals throughout Europe and the United States, and a 2006 US tour with Irish fiddler Kevin Burke. Since their concert series at the prestigious Chatelet Theatre in Paris in 2000, his ensemble, Colors of Invention, has dazzled audiences worldwide with virtuosic renditions of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and other classical favourites intertwined with traditional folk and gypsy tunes. With accordionist Myriam Lafargue, he forms the duo Gilles & Mimi.

One of Canada’s most respected tuba players, Nicholas Atkinson has played with the National Arts Centre Orchestra since 1976. He has performed with all the major Canadian orchestras and was principal tuba with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for the 1989 season, beginning a long association that included many tours and recordings. He has also performed and recorded extensively with the Hannaford Street Silver Band. As a chamber musician, he is a prominent member of the Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet, Ragtime Brass and Capital BrassWorks. A graduate of the University of Calgary, he later studied extensively with the legendary Arnold Jacobs in Chicago. He taught at the University of Ottawa from 1977 to 2004 and is a well-known brass coach, giving clinics at major music schools and attracting students from all over Canada. He has been a member of the teaching staff of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada since 2006.

Born in France into a Sephardic Jewish family, Françoise Atlan studied at the Saint-Étienne and Aix-en-Provence conservatories and Université d'Aix-Marseille, and pursued vocal technique and lyric repertoire with Andréa Guiot at Opéra de Paris. As a member of the Chœur contemporain she shone in works of Maurice Ohana, and was first soloist of the contemporary music vocal ensemble Musicatreize. Her Judeo-Berber roots inspired a passion for traditional music, particularly music from the Mediterranean Basin, and from 1990 to 1998 as a singer of the group Aksak she delved into Arab-Andalusian and Judeo-Arab repertoire. She released her critically acclaimed debut album, Romances Sefardies in 1992, and Entre la Rose et le Jasmin received the 1994 Diapason d'Or. On winning the 1998 Prix Villa Médicis, she worked for three years on Arab-Andalusian repertoire from Fez (Morocco) and recorded Nawba M'Cherqi with Mohammed Briouel. Since 2003, Françoise Atlan has performed worldwide from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East to North America and Japan.