Poems for Snow

” A musician of utmost integrity and commitment and an exceptionally dedicated and inspired leader…” Ilya Poletaev, five International piano competition-winner, professor at McGill University.

Heinz Unger Conducting Award nominee François Koh majored in Orchestral Conducting in France and Canada, achieving a Master’s Degree from McGill University and a Doctorate Degree from the University of Toronto with a full scholarship. In 2022, Dr. Koh was one of the semi-finalists for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Resident Conductor Position. His conducting experience includes the Savaria Symphony Orchestra. and Filarmonica de Stat Târgu Mureş, Ensemble dal Niente, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the McGill Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Orchestral de Dijon, and Ensemble Paramirabo. Dr. Koh has performed with distinguished soloists, including Jonathan Crow, Ilya Poletaev, Mark Fewer, Kyoko Hashimoto, Erika Raum, Jeremy Bell and Alexander Dunn.

From 2015 to 2022, Dr. Koh was the Music Director of the Georgian Bay Symphony. Under his direction, the GBS won the 2017 Vida Peene Award from the Ontario Arts Council for its artistic excellence and strong community relationships. The Ontario Arts Council recognized Dr. Koh’s contribution to the community and invited him to the 2022 Music Organizations: Operating assessment meeting as an advisor. He assessed seventy-seven grant applications from Ontario’s orchestras, choirs, and festival organizations.

Dr. Koh is also passionate about performing contemporary music, particularly promoting young Canadian composers and Francophone and Indigenous artists. His artistic goal is to strengthen the cultural fabric of communities by providing access to top-quality classical music.

Described as “beautiful to watch and breathtaking to hear” by the Guelph Mercury, violinist Bénédicte Lauzière enjoys a prolific career on the Canadian stage notably as concertmaster of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and also as a soloist, chamber musician and recitalist. She won numerous prizes and awards including the Prix d’Europe 2014, the Michael-Measures Award 2011, the Peter Mendell Prize 2010 as well as a grant for professional musicians from the Canada Council for the Arts. Ms Lauzière was a laureate of the Stulberg International String Competition in 2010 and won numerous first prizes in national competitions. As a soloist, her recent performances include Tchaikovsky’s Concerto op. 35 in d major (2023), Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending (2021), Barber’s Violin Concerto op.14 (2018), Beethoven’s Triple Concerto (2018) with pianist Stewart Goodyear and cellist John Helmers, Korngold’s Concerto op. 35 in d major (2016) and Ravel’s Tzigane (2016), all with her colleagues of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. She was also featured as guest soloist with the Kingston Symphony Orchestra, the Elora Festival, the National Academy Orchestra of Canada and the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. Bénédicte obtained her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School in New York City in May 2014, where she studied with Masao Kawasaki with the support of the Karl H. Kraeuter, H. & E. Kivekas and Starr scholarships. She has performed both at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, studying with Jonathan Crow as recipient of the Lloyd Carr-Harris scholarship. In her younger formative years, she studied at Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal with Helmut Lipsky.