Colombian pianist Luis Alberto Peña Cortes

is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Montreal and is studying with Dang Thai Son. He has given concerts in important venues in Austria, Italy, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama, Canada and the United States, with equal dedication to the repertoire of solos, concertos and chamber music. of all periods. He has performed as a soloist with, among others, the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Panama, the Meadows Symphony Orchestra, the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Dallas.

He has won piano competitions in Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica and the United States and has received several prestigious awards and scholarships. He has received several degrees and honors from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Southern Methodist University, and FundaciónUniversitaria Juan N. Corpas (Bogota), where his principal professors were Boris Slutsky , Christopher Taylor, Joaquín Achúcarro and Pilar Leyva. He has also had the privilege of participating in master classes and has participated in prestigious advanced training programs all over the world.

Mehdi Ghazi has been described as a “sensitive pianist” by The New York Times (Anthony Tommassini) and “a great pianist” with a power of “communicating emotions comparable to that of Wilhelm Kempff” (Claude Gingras, La presse, Montreal).

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Laureate of the 2020 Campillos International Piano Competition and Medalist of the Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 2014 as well as second prize winner and “Audience Award” laureate of the Orford Music Award in 2018, Ghazi was selected as one of “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30” by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2015 and was awarded the Sylva-Gelber Music Foundation Award in 2014.

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As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in several venues around the world such as the UNESCO’s Great Hall in Paris at age 12. In 2011, 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.

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He has worked and collaborated with renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Yoav Talmi, John Morris Russell, Pavel Baleff, Raffi Armenian and is often featured on radios, television stations and newspapers such as the CBC, Classical 96.3 in Toronto and The Globe and Mail, among others.

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Ghazi holds an Algerian Science Baccalaureate, an Artist Diploma from the Montreal Conservatory, an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School in Toronto and a Master’s degree from the University of Montreal where he recently completed a Doctorate Degree under the tutelage of Jean Saulnier.

Descendant of a family of artists, Beguentch Gueldyev was born in Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan, where he began studying the piano at the age of seven. He studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with Professor Valery Kastelsky, one of the last students of the legendary Neinrich Neuhaus. In 1996, he obtained a master's degree in piano performance. In 1997, Mr. Gueldyev won first prize in the international competition "XX Century per a Piano" in Girona, Spain and began working as a piano teacher at the Central Music School in Moscow.

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In 2000, he was appointed professor of piano at the Conservatory of the Royal Gendarmerie and at the Conservatory of the Royal Guard in Morocco. He frequently appears there as a soloist with the Royal Symphony Orchestra and the Moroccan Philharmonic Orchestra. His students have won numerous awards in national and international competitions. Resident of Montreal since 2012, Mr. Gueldyev currently works at the École supérieure de ballet du Québec as a pianist-accompanist.

Olga Durova was born in Tajikistan. She started playing the piano at the age of seven. After completing her studies at Duchanbe Music College, Tajikistan, as a pianist and musicologist, she entered the Tchaikovsky Superior Conservatory in Moscow where she studied with the famous Yuri and Valentina Kholopov. Then she continued her postgraduate studies and obtained a master's degree.

Olga Durova has taught piano, music theory, music theory, counterpoints and harmony in several institutions, such as the Duchanbe Musical College in Tajikistan, the Beethoven Music School in Moscow in Russia and the Royal Conservatory in Rabat. in Morocco. Along with her teaching duties, she has accompanied the vast repertoire of chamber music, including works for piano four hands.

Rayna Slavova is currently pursuing her doctoral studies in vocal accompaniment at the University of Montreal under the tutelage of Francis Perron. She holds an MA in Vocal Accompaniment from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, where she studied with Eileen Cornett and continued her graduate studies in collaborative piano at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rayna is an active performer and teacher. She has performed as a soloist and in chamber ensembles in Colombia, Ecuador, the United States and Canada. She has collaborated with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne et Oper'actuel: Works in Progress in Montreal, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony choirs of the University of Wisconsin, Edgewood College and Madison Festival.

She currently works as an accompanist at the University of Montreal. She was the Music Director of the Peabody Opera Outreach Program during the 2012-2013 season. She was an opera and diction coach at the Fundación Universitaria Juan N Corpas in Bogotá, Colombia. At UW-Madison, Rayna has taught undergraduate music theory and accompaniment classes. Rayna is the recipient of the Sarah Stulman Zierler Award for Accompaniment at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University. In 2017, she won the Irvin Shein Wind Piano Duo Competition in Madison, Wisconsin.

After winning the Grand Prix of the prestigious Prix d'Europe competition in 2017, Felix Hong has established himself as one of Canada's most promising young pianists, being named in the 30 of the 30 best Canadian classical musicians of CBC. Born in Taiwan, Felix studied piano with Po-Wen Kan then came to Canada and completed a B.Mus as well as an Artist Diploma with Ilya Poletaev at the Schulich School of Music. He is currently pursuing his Masters studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London under the supervision of Ronan O'Hora and Joan Havill.

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In addition to receiving awards on numerous competitive stages nationally and internationally, Felix has also participated in various summer festivals, such as the Sarasota Music Festival, Orford, Adamant School of Music and the Great Mountain Music Festival. . He has been presented as a soloist in concerts by Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev and has given numerous solo recitals.

Adalyat Issiyeva recently completed her doctorate in musicology at McGill University under the supervision of Steven Huebner. His studies were funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Society and Culture Research Fund (FRSC). ) and the Schulich School of Music scholarship. His work has been published in the journals Revue du Center européenne d'études sclaves (2013) and Sacre Celebration: Revisiting, Reflecting, Revisioning (2013). She has presented at major national and international conferences, including the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society (Pittsburgh, 2013; San Francisco, 2011; Quebec, 2007), the New York and St. Lawrence chapter of AMS (Montreal, Canada). 2009), the Biennial Music Conference of the 19th Century (Toronto, 2014), the National Convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (Washington, 2006), and the Conference on Central and East Asian Studies ( Toronto, 2005).

In addition to her undergraduate studies at the Almaty State Conservatory (Kazakhstan) in theory and musicology, she completed a year of intensive studies there in ethnomusicology, offering numerous courses on the music of peoples living in Asia and the United States. Middle East. a number of graduate seminars on ethnomusicology at McGill University and the University of Montreal. She currently teaches part time at McGill University.

Jihye Im is a teacher with 20 years of experience dealing with all ages and musical levels of students. She is also a jazz pianist who is actively performing on the Montreal jazz scene. She completed a Bachelor’s degree in Classical piano in Chongshin University in Seoul, Korea  (2005) and after emigrating to Canada, she continued to develop her improvisation and arranging skills at Vanier College, graduating in 2018, and she is graduated from McGill University in the Jazz Performance program in 2021. Some of her awards include the Jan Jarczyk Scholarship and the J.L Big band Scholarship. She speaks English, Korean and basic French. 

Originally from Russia,

Liliya Bayarashova began her musical studies from an early age. After completing the college course at the School of Music, she graduated from the Kazan Conservatory in 1997. In 2005, Liliya continued her training at the University of Montreal where she undertook a master's degree in music (performance) under supervision. scored by Maneli Pirzadeh. She completed her training with a specialization in chamber music (DESS) with renowned teachers such as Jean-Eudes Vaillancourt.

The musical ensemble has always been at the center of Liliya's professional interests. In 2000, she became co-founder of the ensemble Duo Piacere. As a member of the clarinet-piano duo, Liliya regularly participates in regional, national and international competitions. In 2003, the duo won the National Chamber Music Competition in Syzran, Russia. His participation in the Boston International Competition (2008) also added two prizes to the musician's active professional career.

For more than 15 years, Liliya has shared her passion for music with the public but also with her students. She taught piano in Kazan and Montreal. Her concern for creative, rigorous and collaborative work makes her a teacher highly appreciated by apprentice musicians.

Thierry Montpetit started studying the piano at the age of 14. After two years of studies, he entered the Cégep de Saint-Laurent in the studio of Guy-François Morel. He then studied at the University of Montreal with Jimmy Brière and Marc Durand, obtaining a bachelor's degree in 2011 and a master's degree in 2013. He then studied at the Montreal Conservatory with Richard Raymond, where he obtained a 5th cycle diploma. He is currently a doctoral student at the University of Montreal. Thierry has won numerous awards, including the Bas-Richelieu Classical Music Festival, the Montreal Music Competition and the Canadian Music Competition.

Marcus Tom-Pak has extensive teaching experience. At the age of 17, he was a member of the board of the Royal Academy of Music (ABRSM) of the Royal Academy of Piano Music. From there he obtained the graduate diploma, the interpreter certificate and the teaching license (GRSM, LRAM). He continued his studies in Canada and obtained a Bachelor of Music and a Masters from the University of Toronto, as well as a Masters and an Artist's Diploma in Piano Performance from the University of Montreal.

He specializes in classical styles of the piano repertoire but also enjoys pop, jazz, concert arias and contemporary film music. Marcus believes in a teaching methodology that involves a creative, fun, challenging and multi-faceted approach to physical mechanics, as well as the musical interpretation involved in playing the piano. The repertoire can be chosen for all tastes: from beginner tutors to Chopin studies, from sonatas to music, from Beethoven to Yann Tiersen. His lessons are a collaborative learning effort that always inspires students of all ages: from children to adults.

Marcus has served on the faculties of University Settlement Music & Arts School (Toronto), High-Note Academy (Ottawa) and West Island Music Academy (Montreal).