Ross Edwards is principal clarinet of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Canadian Chamber Ensemble. He has held principal clarinet positions with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, Orchestra London Canada and the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. He frequently appears as a soloist and as chamber musician and has been a featured artist at the Ottawa, Vancouver and Scotia music festivals. A versatile performer, he often collaborates with composers, commissioning and premiering new works. Ross Edwards was a fellowship student at Tanglewood and received Canada Council awards to study in Paris and Chicago. He has been a member of the part-time faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University since 1994. In addition, he has presented recitals, master classes and workshops throughout Canada.

A native of Quebec, Roddy Ellias studied guitar and composition in Ottawa, Toronto, New York and Philadelphia. He completed a master’s degree, specializing in composition under the guidance of André Prévost and Massimo Rossi, at the Université de Montréal. Since 1980, he has taught composition, guitar and improvisation at several Canadian universities and is currently at Concordia University in Montreal where he is Graduate Program Director and heads the composition area. His compositions have been performed and recorded by many renowned artists including American violin virtuoso Anne Akiko Meyers, and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal. He has written orchestral works, chamber pieces for various ensembles and many pieces for solo guitar, guitar trio, and guitar with other instruments. He writes music for the Ottawa Guitar Trio of which he is a founding member. As a performer, he is an accomplished classical guitarist and improviser and has appeared throughout Canada and the United States and in Europe.

John Ellis has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. A versatile performer and teacher, he has collaborated with various ensembles and artists, including the Canadian Brass, US Army Brass Band, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Calgary Philharmonic, Moody Blues, and Grammy Award winners Diana Krall, Tony Bennett and Anne Murray. He performs frequently with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and has been heard internationally on CBC and PBS broadcasts. He has presented clinics and recitals at prestigious institutions and festivals including the Juilliard School, Cincinnati Conservatory, International Trumpet Guild, the International Horn and Trombone festivals, Banff Festival, and Raphael Mendez Brass Festival. He is Principal Trumpet of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Northern New York, and a member of Capital BrassWorks and the Potsdam Brass Quintet. John Ellis holds a Doctor of Music from Arizona State University and is Professor of Music at The Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam, NY.

The Elmer Iseler Singers, Canada’s foremost professional chamber choir, also has an enviable international reputation. Now conducted by Lydia Adams, the choir was founded in 1979 by the late Elmer Iseler, the dean of Canadian choral conductors. The choir has set the standard in Canada and internationally for excellence in choral singing, in creation and performance of new works, and has led the way in touring, broadcasting, recording and performing throughout large and small centers of Ontario, in Canada and the United States. With a discography of over 50 recordings (eight released during the past nine years), the choir has had a major impact internationally in providing conductors and choirs a bedrock for repertoire development. The choir presents a concert series in Toronto, mounts 40 to 60 other engagements annually through collaborations, networking and cross-promotion with Toronto, regional and national arts groups. Walter Pitman’s biography Elmer Iseler, Choral Visionary, documenting the epic journey to develop and promote professionalism in choral music in Canada, will be launched in Fall 2008, with the opening of the choir’s 30th anniversary season.

Ensemble Caprice, under artistic direction of Matthias Maute and Sophie Larivière, is acclaimed for innovative interpretations of Baroque music. Formed in Germany in 1989 and now based in Montreal, the group's frequent performances in Europe include the early music festivals in Bruges and Utrecht, Händel Festspiele in Halle, Stockstadt Recorder Festival, and Early Music Rencontres in Heidelberg. Since its 2005 acclaimed debut in the Boston Early Music Festival concert series, Ensemble Caprice has performed across the United States and toured Israel and Taiwan. Appearances in Canada include the Domaine Forget and Ottawa festivals and Festival Montreal Baroque. The Ensemble also organizes the Journées de la flûte à bec festival and the international recorder competition in Montreal, and presents a concert series at McGill's Redpath Hall. The group has received several nominations for the prestigious Prix Opus in the best early music concert and recording categories. In 2007, Ensemble Caprice released two albums, one a recording of music by Baroque composers, and the other linking works by Vivaldi and a unique, anonymous collection of early music (1730) form Eastern Europe.

Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan, Canada's first gamelan, will mark its 25th anniversary season in 2008-09. The Toronto-based ensemble performs on a collection of bronze and wooden instruments collectively known as a gamelan, the traditional instrumental ensemble of the Indonesian archipelago. One of the foremost exponents of contemporary gamelan music on the world stage, Evergreen Club has toured widely across Canada, the United States, Europe, Japan and Indonesia. The ensemble has recorded eight CDs and has been featured many times on CBC radio and television. Evergreen Club musicians number among Toronto's finest professional percussionists, guitar and wind players. The current ensemble includes Blair Mackay (artistic director), Mark Duggan, Graham Hargrove, Paul Houle, Bill Parsons, Richard Sacks, Ryan Scott, Debashis Sinha and Andrew Timar. The Evergreen Club's program at Chamberfest '08 features new works for gamelan and string quartet as well as repertoire for the eight-member ensemble.