Featuring

Victoria Del Mastro Vicente

​Victoria Del Mastro Vicente is a classical singer and actor, who currently attends the Vocal Performance Degree Program at the Glenn Gould School. She is a graduate of the Vocal Program at the Taylor Performance Academy at The Royal Conservatory of Music, and also a graduate of Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts where she majored in voice. She has been under the tutelage of opera singer and professor, Jean MacPhail, and this past summer, performed at the Saarburg Music Festival in Germany. Victoria has been studying vocal music, piano, and theatre for over 10 years and has her RCM piano and vocal certifications. She was recently in the Glenn Gould School production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, portraying the role of 1st spirit. Victoria has performed as a featured singer and as lead role in many musical productions, operas, concerts, and fundraisers.
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Ethan Chen

Ethan Chen, 20, is currently a 3rd year Honours Physiology student at McGill University, hoping to pursue a career in medicine. He has won numerous regional, provincial and national competitions, most recently the Canadian Music Competition in 2018. The year before that, he completed his Licentiate exam at the Royal Conservatory of Music, scoring the highest mark across Canada. He has also performed with several orchestras across the GTA region, such as the Greater Toronto Philharmonic and the Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra.
In his spare time, Ethan enjoys playing badminton, reading books and continuing to perform music for his Classical Music Club and for patients at the hospital.

Bill Vu

11 year old Bill Vu was born in Laval, Quebec, and started learning the piano after being discovered by world renowned pianist Dang Thai Son at the young age of 5.  Having previously studied under Richard Raymond at the Montreal Conservatory of Music, Bill is currently a scholarship student at the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy, under the studio of Dr. Michael Berkovsky. Bill made his orchestral debut at the age of 10 with the Canadian Sinfonietta Orchestra, at the CBC Glenn Gould’s Studio.  He also performed with  the CAST Youth Orchestra and the Kitchener Waterloo Community Orchestra. Bill has also been a top prize winner and scholarship recipient at many music festivals and competitions, including the Montreal Classical Music Festival, Ontario Music Federation Association, the Kiwanis Music Festival, the Canadian Music Competition, and more.
In addition to music, Bill enjoys video games very much. One of his favourite past times is playing video games and fooling around with his 3 brothers.  

Harry Kang

Harry Jihun Kang was born in Korea, raised and educated in Canada and the United States. Harry was also a scholarship student and alumnus of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Phil and Eli Taylor Academy in Toronto. He has also received numerous awards from the Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, North York Music Festival, Burlington Music Festival, and many more. 
Currently, Harry is studying under Violinist Dennis Kim, and will be studying with violinist Chen Zhao at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music School in the fall of 2019, having received a full time enrolment award
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Emily Bosenius

A native of Edmonton, Emily Bosenius first picked up the violin when she was three years old.  She made her orchestral debut at the age of twelve with the Koffler Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Jacques Israelievitch. Emily is a graduate of the Taylor Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music, as well as an alumna of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and currently studies with Jonathan Crow, Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where she holds principal and concertmaster positions within the University of Toronto Symphony and Opera Orchestra. Emily regularly performs as a violist in solo, chamber, and orchestral settings, and has studied under Theresa Rudolph and Nicolò Eugelmi. Having won this year’s Grand Prize at the Guelph Symphony Orchestra: Under 23 Concerto Competition, she will be performing the Korngold Violin Concerto as a soloist with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra next spring​

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Huy Dang

Born in 2003 in Toronto, Huy Dang started learning piano at the age of 6. In 2015, he began studying at the Taylor Academy, under the studio of Dianne Werner, and in 2017, he began studying with Michael Berkovsky. Huy has performed in masterclasses with Li Wang, David Louie, Leslie Kinton, Lang Ning Liu, Michael Berkovsky, and John Perry. 
Huy has also placed highly in many competitions, such as achieving 2nd place at the 2018 International Chopin Competition in Hartford, as well as many top prizes at the Ontario Music Festivals Association. As a volunteer, he has performed at many seniors’ residences and hospitals.
Huy listens to all kinds of music, and enjoys playing basketball and volleyball in his spare time.

Ella Xu 

Ten year old Ella Xu has been playing the piano since age four, and the cello since age five. Over the years, she has participated in a wide variety of competitions in Canada and the US.  Ella has won numerous awards, trophies, medallions, and scholarships from various music festivals, namely The Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, Arts Richmond Hill, Markham Music Festival, and North York Music Festival. In 2016, she obtained second place at The American Fine Arts Festival Romantic Competition for piano, and second place at The American Protégé Piano and String Competition for cello. She has also won third place in the Canadian Music Competition, in the ages 8 and under category. Recently, in 2018, she achieved first place at the Steinway Piano Competition 9 year old category, and in 2019, achieved third place at the Chopin International Competition in Hartford. She currently studies piano under the tutelage of Tania Tkachenko. As well, Ella is currently a second year scholarship strings student at The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, under the tutelage of Paul Widner. She enjoys playing chamber music and participating in orchestral performances. She is dedicated to outreach performance through performing for and organizing fundraising concerts, and has donated to the Cancer Society of Canada.

Merdeka Korunovski

11 year old Merdeka Korunovski is currently a student in the Junior Strings Program at The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists. Merdeka began playing the piano at 3 years of age, and the violin at age 4. She has participated and has won many awards in piano competitions, including the Kiwanis Music Festival, Chinese Cultural Centre Music Festival, the Unionville Festival, the North York Music Festival, and the OMFA. In June 2019, Merdeka will be playing at the CMC Finals, held in Calgary. Aside from music, Merdeka enjoys math, gymnastics, badminton and swimming.

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Jeff Tian

Jeff Tian is currently in the 5th grade, and also a junior program student at the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy, at the Royal Conservatory of Music, studying piano with Dr. Michael Berkovsky. His favourite composers include Bach, Mozart and Chopin.
Jeff enjoys sharing his performances and love for music with his schoolmates, friends and all classical music fans. He has been awarded various prizes and scholarships for piano in both Canada and China. He is also a provincial level competitive swimmer, and an active basketball player on his school’s team.

Naoko Sakata

Founder, MDA (GUEST PERFORMANCE)

Naoko Sakata is pursuing her undergraduate studies in piano performance at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec in the studio of Suzanne Beaubien. Prior to her studies in Quebec, she was a full-scholarship student at the Taylor Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music under the studio of Li Wang. She has received numerous scholarships and awards. Recent performance highlights include performing as a soloist with the Violons du Roy Chamber Orchestra, as the recipient of the Beaudoin Cup and the Violons du Roy Prize at the Concours de musique de la Capitale. She has played in masterclasses for renowned artists including James Anagnoson, Michel Beroff, Marietta Orlov, Stephen Kovacevich, Till Fellner, Marc Durand, and John Perry. In the realm of chamber music, her duo received the SOCMI Prize in 2016 which enabled them to participate in the Rolston/Szekely Program for Young Musicians at the Banff Centre on full scholarship, where they were taught by pianist Jon Kimura Parker and cellist Joel Krosnick (founding member of the Juilliard Quartet). Naoko is also the founder of Musicians’ Dream Aid, a charitable organization that provides financial aid to young musicians.