Matthew Pope, harpsichord 

Matthew Pope, DMA, is a solo and collaborative pianist, adjudicator, and teacher in London, Ontario. A graduate of the DMA program at Western University (London, ON), Dr. Pope's research and performance interests focus on French repertoire of the late 19th- and early 20th- centuries, with a particular focus on the works of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) and Claude Debussy (1862-1918).

During his academic career, Dr. Pope studied with John-Paul Bracey, Dr. Brett Kingsbury, and Stephan Sylvestre, and won numerous scholarships and awards, including the UWO Gold Medal for Piano Performance in 2013, and two Ontario Graduate Scholarships (2014 and 2018). He also spent three weeks studying with Jean-Paul Sevilla in France during the summer of 2012, and is a former student of pianist, Ron Greidanus (Georgetown, ON). Dr. Pope enjoys working in collaborative settings as a pianist and orchestral continuo player (on both harpsichord and organ) and has worked with conductors Lydia Adams, Charles Demuynck, Mervin Fick, Ron Greidanus, Simone Luti, Dr. Patrick Murray, Tyrone Paterson, Stephane Potvin, and Robert Raines (1947-2011).

Matthew is an avid performer as a pianist, harpsichordist, and organist, and has performed as a soloist and/or ensemble player with numerous groups in the GTA, including the Georgetown Bach Chorale, the Bach Elgar Choir (Hamilton, ON), the Masterworks of Oakville Choir, the Oakville Chamber Orchestra, the Mississauga Chamber Singers, and the Brampton Symphony Orchestra, and Kammerchor London and Magisterra Soloists in London, ON. In addition, Dr. Pope is President for the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association's London Branch, and is the Music Director and Board Member for Luke's Place, a mission of the Anglican Diocese of Huron, located in London, ON, which focuses on serving the student community where the mission is located.

Francine Kay, piano 

Noted for “an extraordinary range of color” (Montreal Gazette), and “poetic brilliance” (Toronto Star), Canadian pianist Francine Kay has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, North America, and Asia, at venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center Rose Studio, Salle Gaveau, The National Gallery, Roy Thomson Hall, The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, and Bargemusic. Francine Kay made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as the winner and Recitalist of the Year of the New York Pro Piano Competition.

She has been soloist with orchestras such as the Toronto Symphony, the Princeton Symphony, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra London, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Victoria Symphony and Sinfonia Toronto among others, under conductors such as Georg Tintner, Mark Laycock, Nurhan Arman, Agnes Grossman, Kevin Mallon, Ermanno Florio, Arpad Joo, Jonathan Yates, and Simon Streatfeild. She has performed at festivals such as the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Music Mountain, the Banff Summer Festival, the International Course of Interpretation in Poland and the 60th annual Chopin Festival, Czech Republic.

Francine Kay’s recordings have received international acclaim, including a Juno Award nomination and a Star of the Month selection from Fono Forum, Germany.

Ms. Kay’s performances have been broadcast on NPR, the BBC, WFMT, Radio France, and the CBC.

Ms. Kay enjoys collaborations with such groups such as the Penderecki, Avalon, Harlem and Arianna String Quartets, Trio Arkel, Cantata Profana and the Richardson Chamber Players.

Ms. Kay received her Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Juilliard School, the Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School and the Doctor of Musical Arts at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her principal mentors include Gilbert Kalish, Marek Jablonski, Gyorgy Sebok and Leon Fleisher.

She was the recipient of the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Career Development Award, the Chalmers Award, and grants from the Canada Council.

Francine Kay is a member of the piano faculty of Princeton University. Ms. Kay is also a piano faculty artist at the Zodiac Academy and Festival held in the south of France every summer.

Ronald George, horn 

Over the last four decades, Ronald George has engaged in the roles of teacher, soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. He joined Orchestra London (currently known as London Symphonia) as principal horn in 1979 and has appeared as a soloist with the orchestra many times. Ronald has performed with symphonic orchestras in Toronto, Detroit, Kitchener-Waterloo, Calgary, Hamilton, Vancouver, Thunder Bay, National Arts Centre, and Orchestre Symphonique de Laval. He has appeared with the Canadian Opera Company, notably in their production of the Wagner Ring Cycle. He has recorded with Pinchas Zuckerman (National Arts Centre Orchestra), Gary Cooper (Arion), and Bruno Weil (Tafelmusik). Tours have included Europe (Calgary Philharmonic, Hans Graf conductor), Japan (Opera Atelier, Andrew Parrott conductor) and the United States (Tafelmusik, Jean Lamond.) Ron has a keen interest in performing and teaching the natural horn. He has performed with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Aradia, Arion, and Opera Atelier. As a chamber musician, he has appeared with the Talisker Players, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and the Westben Arts Festival. Ron has regularly collaborated with Western University and London Symphonia colleagues in numerous performances in London. Born in San Francisco, Ron’s studies began with Earl Saxton. After moving to Canada, he studied with Robert Creech (Principal horn Vancouver Symphony) through high school and one year at UBC before moving to the University of Toronto to continue his studies with Eugene Rittich (Principal horn Toronto Symphony.) Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance, he moved to Germany to work with the renowned soloist Hermann Baumann at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. Ron has been invited to participate in Les Journées du cors de Montréal as a performer and adjudicator. Ron is a dedicated teacher and proud to have worked with some of Canada’s finest young musicians at Western.

Mehdi Ghazi, piano

Mehdi Ghazi was described as a “sensitive pianist” (Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times) and “a great pianist” with a power of “communicating emotions comparable to that of Wilhelm Kempff” (Claude Gingras, La presse, Montreal).
Ghazi is a laureate of the 2020 Campillos International Piano Competition and Medalist of the 2014 Hilton Head International Piano Competition. He was awarded the second prize and the “Audience Award” at the 2018 Orford Music Award. In 2015, Ghazi was selected as one of “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30” by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
As a soloist and chamber musician, Ghazi has performed in several venues around the world such as UNESCO’s Great Hall in Paris at age 12. He also worked and collaborated with renowned conductors Daniel Barenboim, Yoav Talmi, John Morris Russell, Pavel Baleff and Raffi Armenian. He performed with celebrated musicians such as pianist Conrad Tao, violinist Valeryi Sokolov, cellist Aleksey Shadrin, singer Julie Nasrallah and the Montreal based wind ensemble Pentaèdre. In 2010, he was selected by The Glenn Gould Foundation to perform before the Governor General of Canada as part of a tribute to the late Glenn Gould.
After moving from Algeria to Canada in 2006, he was awarded several prizes and awards: The 2014 Sylva Gelber Award, First Prize at the “Festival de musique classique du Bas-Richelieu”, and First Prize at the Canadian Musical Competition, as well as school chamber and concerto competitions and special scholarships. He is often featured on radios, televisions and newspapers: CBC (2011), Classical 96.3 (2012), The Globe and Mail (2011), Algerian Radio and Television (2006) among others.
Ghazi graduated with the highest distinctions from the Montreal Conservatory and the Glenn Gould School where he studied with pianists John Perry, André Laplante, Marc Durand and Jean Saulnier while taking master classes with internationally acclaimed artists such as: Daniel Barenboim, Leon Fleisher, Emanuel Ax, Menahem Pressler, Dang Thai Son, Michel Beroff, Jean-phillippe Collard, Robert McDonald and John O’Conor.
Ghazi holds an Algerian Science Baccalaureate and recently completed a Doctorate degree in piano performance at the University of Montreal under the tutelage of Jean Saulnier.