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Performers

Eric Guo, piano

Eric Guo was born in Toronto in 2002. He started playing piano when he was four years old, and he is the recipient of the Anne Gillis Conway full scholarship at The Taylor Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music. He has been in the studio of Li Wang for five years.

Recently, Eric was a featured performer at the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind 12th Annual NeuroMusic Conference held at McMaster University. Earlier this year, he also performed live on Classical 96.3FM.

Eric has won a number of prizes at prestigious competitions including the grand prize at the Canadian Music Competition national finals, which enabled him to perform with the Drummondville Symphony Orchesto. He also won the junior division of the Oakville Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition as well as the Taylor Academy Concerto Competition.

During his three years at the Taylor Academy, Eric participated in many master classes lead by renowned artists such as Robert McDonald, John O’Conner, and James Anagnoson, among others. For chamber music, he has worked with Jeanie Chung, Dianne Werner, Wayman Chin, and the violinist of the Cecilia String Quartet.

In addition to piano, Eric also has many other interests. He has also studied violin with Chau Luk since the age of nine, and he also studies harmony, theory, and composition with the renowned composer and conductor, Yan-Qiao Wang. As part of the Toronto Children’s Chorus, he also performed at Roy Thomson Hall with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.  

Eric is currently preparing for the live rounds of two prestigious international competitions which will take place this summer: the  Kaufman International Youth Piano Competition inNew York and 2017 International e-Piano Junior Competition in Minnesota.
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Katelyn Bird, soprano

Katelyn is a second year Performance Diploma Program student at the Glenn Gould School. She is studying under the guidance of Stephanie Bogle as her vocal teacher and Jennifer Tung as her vocal coach. 

In her first year at the Glenn Gould School she was given the opportunity to be in the chorus of Alcina by Handel. She has won various awards at music festivals and provincial competitions. In 2013 she won provincial competitions for Grade 9 Voice and Intermediate Musical Theatre and in 2015 she won 3rd place at the provincial level for Grade 10 Voice. In November 2016 she was awarded the Senior Scholarship at the Newmarket Voice Festival. She has also been given the opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Upper Canada Chorus at numerous events.

One day she hopes to perform all over the world. 
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Feiran Bi, flute

​Feiran Bi is now 15 years old and she comes from Suzhou, China. She is a student of the Senior Woodwinds Program in the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists. Feiran started to study flute at the age of eight, and was accepted by the Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2013. Meanwhile she was a member of the school’s symphony orchestra. During this period, she got the first prize (Children's Division) and the second prize (Middle School Division) at the China Flute Association’s competitions. She was accepted by the Royal Conservatory’s Taylor Academy in fall 2015 and is now studying with Professor Susan Hoeppner. In May 2016, Feiran Bi won the second prize (Junior Category) in the Oakville Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition.

Astrid Nakamura, violin

Astrid Nakamura is 16 years old and a student in grade 11 at Earl Haig Secondary School, in the Claude Watson strings program.

She has been a student at the Taylor Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music studying with Marie Bérard since 2012. This summer Astrid was named 'Orchestral Scholar' and awarded full scholarship as a member of the Advanced String Quartet Program and member of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. In past summers she has attended Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, NY., working with Gerardo Ribiero, previous sessions at Interlochen Arts Camp and has worked on chamber music repertoire at Music at Port Milford in Picton, Ontario.

Astrid has played in small string ensembles and has enjoyed playing in the CMC and Kiwanis Music Competitions. Currently in her fourth season with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, she was named co–concertmaster Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra for the 2016–17 season. Astrid also plays in the Academy Chamber Orchestra at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Astrid has been fortunate to play in master classes for Victor Danchenko, Martin Beaver, Barry Schiffman, Lina Bahn, Andrès Cardenes, Phillippe Djokic, and Witold Swoboda.
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Astrid also plays alto saxophone, piano and composes music. When she's not busy with music she enjoys playing hockey, field hockey, reading and spending time with friends.

Stanford Cheung, piano

Praised by the Toronto Weekly as “an artist of poetic sensitivity and whole hearted intellect,” Stanford Cheung is a Canadian pianist from the vibrant city of Toronto. Possessing an artistically inimitable and refined style that has been enjoyed on a national and global scale throughout the US, Canada, and Asia, he has performed to great acclaim in many of North America’s finest concert halls including Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Recital Hall and Weill Recital Hall in New York City, Le Petit Trianon Hallin California, The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, The Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, and The Salle Tocatta Studio. Many of his solo concerts have cumulated in numerous national media broadcasts including OMNI Network, Fairchild Television along with major- printed and digital media.
 
A top prize winner in numerous competitions, Stanford captured first prize at the 3rd Annual MSO Concerto Competition, the 2nd Canadian International Piano Arts Competition as well as first prize at the 7th American Protégé International Piano Competition where he was subsequently awarded “The Best Romantic Interpreter Award”. He was also the grand prize winner of the 8th Canada CCC National Piano Competition and a top laureate at the 13th San Jose International Piano Competition. Among his awards and distinctions are scholarships endowed from The Royal Conservatory of Music, Canada Cultural Festival, Canimax Foundation and The Alexander and Buono Foundation.
 
Stanford holds three licentiate piano performance designations LTCL, LRCM, & LCCM (all with distinctions) from Trinity College London, U.K., Royal Conservatory of Music Toronto, and Canada Conservatory of London respectively. He also holds two associated performance diplomas ATCL and ARCT from the Trinity College and Royal Conservatory of Music.
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Presently, Stanford is pursuing his advanced music studies at the University of Toronto in the studio of Marietta Orlov. His mentors include Kum Sing Lee of the Vancouver Music Academy and Natalya Tyomkina, a past professor at the State Conservatory of Minsk.

Kyoko Kohno, piano

Kyoko Kohno is 17 years old and will be graduating from Richmond Hill High School and Taylor Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music at the end of this school year. In 2016, she received 3rd prize at the International Piano Competition for Young Musicians held in Enschede, Netherlands. She was given the opportunity to perform Beethoven Concerto No. 1 with Maestro Malouf and the Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra in October 2016 as winner of the NYMF Concerto Competition. She also received the Sonata Prize at CCC Piano Competition and 3rd prize at the OMFA Provincial Finals Open Category in 2016. She attended the Banff Master Class in Banff and Klaviersommer Festival in Cochem, Germany last summer. She currently studies in the studio of David Louie and occasionally plays for John Perry.