Roxi Dykstra (Prix de Master, CNSMD (France), M.Mus. Univ. de Montréal, ARCT Piano) has been working as a professional musician since 2004. She has performed chamber, orchestral, and solo work across Europe and Canada- including with Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver symphonies, Vetta Music, and the Turning Point Ensemble. Working in Europe, Roxi performed as chamber musician in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Malta, Turkey, and Hungary. European positions have included assistant principal viola position in the Orquestra do Norte in Portugal, violist with the National Portuguese Orchestra and the National Opera, baroque violist with early music ensemble Divino Sospiro, and researcher with the artistic doctoral school at the University of Performing Arts, Graz, Austria. Now back in Canada, Roxi has been working with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and most recently has been awarded a position with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.

Originally from Smithers, BC, Roxi works hard to promote musical opportunities and musical excellence in BC’s north. Roxi worked extensively Prince George Symphony Orchestra, serving alternately as principal violist and concertmaster, and on several occasions, director. She is the founder and co-director of the Orchestra North Summer Program, and director of its Academy program, which is committed to developing professional development opportunities for northern professionals and emerging artists from across BC. She directs the Prince George Youth Symphony Orchestra and is proud to be artistic director of the Spirit of the North Classical Music Festival which has been showcases classical events and local musicians annually since 2016.

Violinist Simon MacDonald began his musical studies in Victoria in 1980, left for music school in 1992 (New England Conservatory BMus ’96, McGill MMus ’98), and returned home to Victoria in 2017, after numerous musical adventures in Boston, Montreal, New Orleans, Miami, various points in Europe, and anywhere he was invited to play. He is currently in his fifth year as the Head of Strings at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and the Artistic Director of the Young Artists Collegium (also at the VCM). Before returning permanently to BC, Simon’s home base was the Canadian Prairies, where he was active with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (first violin), the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (principal 2nd violin), and the Regina Symphony Orchestra (concertmaster). Simon loves playing anything put in front of him; he has premiered numerous new works after 17 years at the Winnipeg New Music Festival, initiated the first ever Beethoven Quartet Cycle in the city of Regina with the Regina Symphony Chamber Players, and has enjoyed playing in everything from Baroque orchestras to touring Broadway Productions.

Simon is very grateful to work with the amazing community of musicians, both professional and students, who live here in BC. Thanks to the advances of online teaching technology, Simon can maintain an online studio with students from all over the province. However, he is very thrilled to be able to work in person again with the wonderful students in Prince George and central BC, and continues to look for ways to engage both online and in person with the musical community all over the Province.

Taiwanese cellist Yu Yu Liu is a dedicated musician who recently moved from New York City to the Vancouver area. Ms. Liu is the newest appointed principal cellist at the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and will be working closely with the Prince George Youth Orchestra. When she isn’t performing on stage, she devotes her time and energy to teaching young cellists at the Shuang Music School. She also coaches chamber music at the Surrey Youth Orchestra. Ms. Liu has made appearances at Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra, Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony 21.

Ms. Liu holds both a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School under the guidance of Astrid Schween and Fred Sherry. She also received a master’s degree in Orchestral Performance from Manhattan School of Music under the guidance of Qiang Tu. During her studies, she worked under the batons of Leonard Slatkin, Semyon Bychkov, Marin Alsop and Alan Gilbert in venues such as Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. To name a few notable events, Ms. Liu gave the NY premiere of Yoshirō Irino’s Three Pieces for Cello Solo (1969), recorded for Fala Chen’s award-winning director-debut short film called the “Passenger”, gave the world premiere of Saad Haddad’s “Thulathi”, and many other remarkable projects.

As an orchestral player, Ms. Liu worked tirelessly with several orchestras in the tri-state. She held the principal position at Ensemble 212 from 2016 to 2022. She made regular appearances at Bare Opera, Riverside Choral Society, New York Concerti Sinfonietta, Opera Italiana Orchestra, to list a few. She has been invited to several summer programs such as Composers Conference: Contemporary Performance Institute, Interlochen Arts Camp, Music@Menlo, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.

Esteban Figueroa is a Canadian Flamenco composer and guitarist, born in Viña del Mar Chile. His playing career started at a young age of 10 where he learned how to play the guitar in his native country. As a teenager he performed and competed at a national level in the Canadian Stage Band Festival across Canada winning best Jazz Guitarist 3 years in a row.

Figueroa fell in love with flamenco at a very early age and in Victoria Canada met his mentor Harry Owen who took him under his wing and became part of Alma de España dance company.

In 2005 Figueroa formed his Flamenco Caravan group where they opened for Paul Shaffer, David Lettermans musical director. In 2005 they came out with their debut album Love’s Philosophy to great reviews from CBC’s Fresh Air. In 2007 they made their second album Alchemy which was awarded best album by Music North in Ontario. Consequently Figueroa debuted his second solo album in 2007 called Calma which he played with the famous jazz bass player Alain Caron from the group UZEB.

In 2010 Flamenco Caravan realized their third album entitled Liberation as well the group has performed in the Ottawa Jazz Festival and countless other regional folk and jazz festivals.

Esteban has opened for groups such as Colin James, America, Jeff Healey, Blue Rodeo just to name a few and performed at the Ottawa Jazz Festival, Cambridge Folk Festival and countless others. His music can also be found in Arie Posin’s film The Face of Love (2013) starring Annette Bening, Robin Williams and Ed Harris.

Apart from playing in Canada he has performed internationally in Spain, Germany, France, England as well as numerous shows in the continent of Africa and South America.

Originally from Calgary, Ken spent over twenty years in Toronto as a musician and arts administrator, having originally moved there to complete his Masters in flute performance. He moved to BC in 2021 to become the Executive Director of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra.

With eclectic musical tastes, Ken enjoys playing music from Medieval to modern, and has performed on many different instruments, including medieval gemshorn, tin whistle, and fife, in addition to the modern flute and piccolo. A passionate believer in the storytelling power of music, he especially enjoys working with artists in other disciplines to create immersive experiences and to bring new relevance to older pieces.

Ken is thrilled to have this opportunity to meet and collaborate with musicians in his adopted home of Northern BC.

Tadd Mao is an award-winning violinist and pianist, born July 4th, 2005. He has been playing the piano since 2010 and has been playing the violin since 2016. Tadd completed his Performers Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in 2021. Tadd has won numerous scholarships and awards in the Prince George Music Festival, has been awarded numerous performances in Showcase and Gala Concerts, and has won awards at the Performing Arts BC Festival in 2018, 2019, and 2021. In addition, he will be working with and performing with PGSO again in May 2024. For relaxing, he likes to play video games, make movies, and play badminton.

Tadd graduated high school from Duchess Park this year and is going to the University of Toronto to study mathematics while continuing his musical journey.

Hannah Yin has been playing the violin since the age of 4. She started in Vancouver studying the violin with Alla Shmaenok, then moved to Prince George in 2014 at the age of 7 and started studying with José Delgado-Guevara, who is still her teacher today. Hannah has been an active participant in the annual Prince George and District Music festival and was a delegate to the provincial festival in 2022. She has been a side by side player in the Prince George Symphony Orchestra since 2019, and has been a member of the Prince George Youth Symphony Orchestra since its beginning in 2022. Hannah has most recently completed her RCM 9 exam in both violin and piano. Aside from playing music, Hannah enjoys reading, judo, and good food.

Kiri Daust fell in love with the violin at age 5 at his first fiddle camp. He has been nurtured by many wonderful teachers in the Bulkley Valley, and has played with a variety of fiddle, chamber, Klezmer and folk groups. He is well known on the festival circuit for his passion and energy, and often plays
with Mark Perry. He particularly enjoys classical music and has been concertmaster of the Smithers Community String Orchestra, a guest soloist with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, and has toured with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Kiri is currently pursuing an MSc in climate modelling at UVic, and is grateful to have the opportunity to perform when time permits!

Marian Rose is a musician, writer, linguist and folk dance specialist who believes that dance and music are powerful tools in creating a more connected, compassionate and joyful world.

Well-known in western Canada for her school dance residencies and her Step Lively dance resources, she has brought the joy of dancing to over 200,000 school children and their families over the past three decades.

Motivated by academic curiosity and a passion for languages, she moved to Quebec and completed a master’s degree in linguistics a the Université de Québec à Chicoutimi. Her research focused on the relationship between music and language, and specifically how music and movement can help us to learn a second language.

In 2017, she completed a new book/CD resource entitled Chantons, dansons : Songs, Games and Dances for Learners of French, intended for children attending French immersion schools as well as for adults wanting to improve their fluency in French.

In the past few years Marian has taught Québécois traditional dance to adults from across North America who come to Quebec to improve their French as part of the Explore program at l’Université de Québec à Chicoutimi. Otherwise, she continues to teach folk and social dance at weddings, festivals and dance camps, and is a highly respected clinician at teacher conferences and professional development workshops.

Bio coming soon.

The Chesterfields are a happy group of campers playing easy-listening soft rock, blues and country. Smithers-based, they enjoy performing for fellow northerners, and have performed in great places such as the Smithers Midsummer Festival. Featuring from Smithers: Monique Wells, Sharon MacGregor, Mel Coulson, and Hans Zantingh; and from Telkwa: Ted Bryant and Keith Cummings.

Bio coming soon.