2024 ARTISTS
Keith Hamm is a native of Rosebud, Alberta. He received his training at the Glenn Gould School of Music under the instruction of Steven Dann, and at the Mount Royal Conservatory with Nicholas Pulos. Other influences include Pinchas Zukerman, Mark Fewer, Richard Lester, the London Haydn Quartet, and especially formative summers at the Chamber Music Program at Le Domaine Forget. While still a student, Keith was named Principal Violist of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and performed there for eight seasons. In the fall of 2019, Keith took up that same position with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
Keith is an alumnus of the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove; the Sarasota Music Festival and programs at the Banff Centre. He has been featured on CBC Radio, Toronto’s Classical 96.3, Minnesota Public Radio and was named one of Canada’s Hottest 30 Classical Musicians Under 30 by CBC. His recording catalogue includes releases from the Leaf Music, Stone Records and Centaur record Labels.
A dedicated chamber musician, Keith has shared the stage with Anssi Kartunnen, Ernst Kovacic, Richard Lester, David Geringas and members of the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Keith has been invited to perform at the Ravinia Festival as guest violist with the Royal Conservatory’s Grammy-nominated ARC Ensemble, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Stratford Summer Music, Sweetwater Music Festival, Edmonton Recital Society and Music By The Sea in Bamfield, BC. Keith has been a guest with the Juno Award-winning Amici Ensemble and frequently performs with Continuum Contemporary Music, Skylight Series in Toronto’s Distillery District, Echo Chamber Toronto, and Stereo Live as performer and producer. Keith is a member of the Garneau String Quartet, Ensemble in Residence at MacEwan University.
Keith is Founder and Artistic Director of the Rosebud Chamber Music Festival in Rosebud, Alberta and co-founder of the Rosebud String Quartet.
Todd Yaniw | Piano
Todd Yaniw is a Canadian pianist praised for his “atmospheric contrast of poetry and power…a hair-raising performance”. Since his debut with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at age 13, Mr. Yaniw has performed across Canada; at festivals and venues including CBC Vancouver, the Banff Centre for Music, Edmonton’s Winspear Centre for Music, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, and Koerner Hall. Mr. Yaniw has performed concerti with several Canadian orchestras, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and has performed with the Afiara Quartet, Rolston String Quartet, Trio Arkel and the ARC Ensemble (Artists of the Royal Conservatory). Todd has been interviewed and broadcast on many occasions on CBC Radio, and was featured in CBC's "30 under 30" list. He was recorded in Koerner Hall many times for the Royal Conservatory of Music's Celebration Series. Internationally, Todd has performed in Bulgaria, China, Italy, Jamaica, Monaco, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Mr. Yaniw has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, and twice was a recipient of the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Awards. He currently works as a pianist at The Glenn Gould School, and is on faculty at The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists.
Todd Yaniw was born in Edmonton, Alberta and his teachers include Michael Massey, Dr. James Parker, Professor James Anagnoson (The Glenn Gould School), and Dr. Jon Kimura Parker (Rice University). Mr. Yaniw completed his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked with Dr. Anton Nel.
Julie Hereish | Cello
Julie Hereish pursued her studies in Montreal and then in Vienna, Austria. She was a pupil of Denis Brott, Johanne Perron, Carole Sirois and Stefan Kropfitsch.
In 2019, she joined the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Principal Cello. Previously, she held the same position in the Quebec Symphony Orchestra. During her time in Quebec City, she cofounded the piano quartet Quatuor Philanthros and the cello octet Élément 8.
Winner of the 2014 Zara Nelsova Memorial Award and the 2011 Peter Mendell Award, Julie has been broadcasted on CBC Radio 2 and Radio-Canada. Her chamber music performances have taken her across Canada, where she’s toured with Debut Atlantic and Jeunesses Musicales du Canada. Julie has performed in festivals across North America, including Music By The Sea in Bamfield (BC), Sweetwater Music Festival in Owen Sound (ON), Rosebud Chamber Music Festival (AB), Rendez-vous musical de Laterrière in Saguenay (QC) and Rockport Music Festival (Massachusetts).
Together with actor Pierre Mayer, Julie created Charlot et Mlle Cello, a family theatrical concert experience based on Charlie Chaplin’s famous character. The show has been presented in its symphonic version with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, in Switzerland.
As a guest artist, Julie joined the Grammy Award winning ARC Ensemble in performance in Toronto. She has also performed with the Canadian Opera Company as guest continuo cellist. Julie has performed extensively with the chamber orchestra Violons du Roy in Quebec City and throughout Europe and North America.
Julie is currently a member of the Polyphonie String Quartet, based in Edmonton, AB. Alongside husband and violist Keith Hamm, she cofounded The New Cohort, a viola and cello ensemble born at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
Diana Cohen | Violin
Praised for her “incredible flair, maturity and insight,” violinist Diana Cohen leads a multi-faceted career as a concertmaster, chamber musician, soloist, and arts administrator. Appointed concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in 2012, she previously served as concertmaster of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra while maintaining an active freelance career in New York City. She has held the same position with Charleston Symphony (with which she performed numerous works as soloist), The National Repertory Orchestra, Iris Orchestra and Red {an orchestra}, and has been guest concertmaster with the Rochester Philharmonic and the Phoenix Symphony.
Cohen has performed regularly in concerts in New York and across the globe with the Grammy-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The International Sejong Soloists, The Knights, and as a substitute at the New York Philharmonic and The Cleveland Orchestra. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic, National Repertory Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony, Valdosta Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony and Red {an orchestra}. She was concertmaster of the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, principal second of the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and has been rotating principal of the Iris Orchestra since its inception. Cohen’s solo recital on the Dame Myra Hess Series was heard live on Chicago public radio.
As a founding member of the piano trio Trio Terzetto, Cohen has toured and recorded in cities across the United States and Canada. Trio Terzetto has been presented on chamber music series in cities including New York, Cleveland, Ann Arbor, Memphis, Charleston, Lansing, Detroit, Augusta, Charlotte, South Bend, and Asheville. They recently made their solo debut with the Lansing Symphony, performing Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto.” Trio Terzetto is committed to outreach, and often organizes these projects around their performances
A passionate chamber musician, Cohen has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, The Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival, The Chamber Music Festival of Giverny, France, The Perlman Chamber Music Program, Aspen and Piccolo Spoleto as well as festivals in Maui, Dresden, Bennington, Saugatuck, Martha’s Vineyard and Gretna. She has also been a participant in The American String Project. Cohen has appeared in chamber concerts with members of the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall and has performed on faculty concerts at the Cleveland Institute of Music. ohen has regularly collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Cleveland, Miro and Parker Quartets, as well as with renowned artists including Mitsuko Uchida, Kim Kashkashian, Garrick Ohlsson and many others. She has also played regularly with her family; Cleveland Orchestra principal clarinetist Franklin Cohen, Alexander Cohen, principal timpanist of the Calgary Philharmonic, and her late mother, bassoonist Lynette Diers Cohen. Works have been commissioned for the Cohen family quartet. Cohen and her father released a CD of Osvoldo Golijov’s “Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind” for clarinet and string quartet.
Cohen is Executive and Co-Artistic Director of ChamberFest Cleveland (chamberfestcleveland.com), which features the world’s most sought-after chamber musicians, and has partnered with several of the most esteemed organizations in Cleveland.
Cohen is an honors graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where she was the recipient of the 2000 Jerome Gross Prize in violin and a winner of the Darius Milhaud competition. Her principal teachers were Donald Weilerstein, William Preucil and Paul Kantor and Joel Smirnoff.
Her solo and chamber performances have been heard on radio stations across the country. Many of her performances from the Marlboro Music Festival have been broadcast on New York’s WQXR. She can also be heard on recordings with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
In addition to her performance career, Cohen is a devoted teacher. Many of her students have won national awards. She has worked extensively in public schools and has served on the preparatory chamber music faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Diana Cohen has a multifaceted career as a concertmaster, chamber musician and soloist. She is Concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic, and founder and Artistic Director of acclaimed music festival ChamberFest Cleveland. As soloist, she has appeared with numerous orchestras, including Holland Symphony, Rochester Symphony, Lansing, and Grand Rapids, among others. As a chamber musician, she has performed at some of the most prestigious festivals including Marlboro Music Festival and Ravinia Festival, and collaborated with renowned artists including Garrick Ohlsson, Mitsuko Uchida, Jonathan Biss, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Miro, Cleveland, and Parker Quartets.
Cohen has toured and recorded with the Grammy-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and performed with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Sejong Soloists, The Knights, Cleveland Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic.
Cohen lives in Calgary with her husband and baby, Noa Lynette, who loves being danced to music. As a result of the pandemic, Cohen and her husband created a lauded concert series in their front yard, Garden Concerts YYC, performing weekly concerts to hundreds of music lovers from around Calgary. To be added to their mailing list, email gardenconcertsyyc@gmail.com.
Amy Hillis | Violin
Amy Hillis has “a rich, warm sound and has mastered the violin with such ease, that it is impossible to ignore her passion in performance” (Ludwig Van Montréal). She challenges artistic Normas to build community relationships inside and outside the concert hall. As a soloist, Amy has commissioned and premiered new Canadian works by Matt Brubeck, Fjóla Evans, Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière, Laurence Jobidon, Vincent Ho, Andrew Staniland, Jocelyn Morlock, Nicole Lizée, Carmen Braden, Randolph Peters and Jordan Pal. She is winner of the Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank competition on two occasions, the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, the McGill Concerto Competition, an artistic residency at La Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, and the Sylva Gelber Foundation Music Award.
As part of the meagan&Amy duo, Amy was selected as winner of the inaugural “Pan-Canadian Recital Tour” to perform 50 recitals across all thirteen Canadian provinces and territories. Her duo’s debut album titled Roots demonstrates the connections between select Canadian compositions and works from the traditional canon of classical repertoire. Amy is also a founding member and manger of the prairie-based Horizon String Quartet. During seven different tours, the HSQ has performed over 200 interactive concerts for more than 10,000 young people in 100 different Canadian cities.
Amy is currently Assistant Professor of Music at York University in Toronto. She holds a Doctor of Music in Violin Performance from McGill University, completed under the guidance of Axel Strauss and with the support of the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). She completed her Master of Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music with Ian Swenson and her Bachelor of Music at McGill University with Denise Lupien. While growing up in Reginal, Amy studied with the concertmaster of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, Eduard Minevich.
amyhillis.com