Congratulations to the New Principal Oboist and Principal Second Violin

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW PRINCIPAL OBOIST AND PRINCIPAL SECOND VIOLIN

LONDON – On May 12th and 13^th, Orchestra London had the pleasure of listening to a great many fantastic musicians audition for Principal Oboe and Principal Second Violin to replace Ian Franklin and Sigmar Martin who retired at the end of the season.

We are very pleased to announce that Graham Mackenzie will be adding Orchestra London to his list of Principal Oboe positions. This extremely talented person is also the Principal Oboist for the Niagara Symphony Orchestra and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. We greatly look forward to him joining our team.

Secondly, we would like to congratulate our very own Émilie Paré for winning the Principal Second Violin seat. She is a highly accomplished chamber musician and soloist in addition to her Orchestral work. Much of London already knows her for her recent work with Orchestra London and her excellent teaching. We certainly are looking forward to hearing much more of her in the future!

We are preparing for an exciting new season at Orchestra London and hope that you will join us on opening night to warmly welcome the newest addition to the family and congratulate Émilie Paré on her promotion!

Graham Mackenzie

Graham Mackenzie will be joining Orchestra London as principal oboist in the fall of 2014.  He has been principal oboist of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra since 2006, as well as the Niagara Symphony Orchestra since 2013.  Maintaining the three positions simultaneously will be an exciting and unusual challenge. He was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for the 2009-2010 season, has performed frequently as principal oboist of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and has been engaged regularly as a freelance musician in Indianapolis, Winnipeg, Chicago, and many cities in Southern Ontario.  He has been a member of the Tanglewood Music Centre, National Repertory Orchestra, the Music Academy of the West, the National Academy Orchestra, l’Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

Graham earned a Bachelor of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University, studying with James Mason, and a Master of Music from DePaul University, studying with Eugene Izotov.  He has completed two years of coursework toward a Doctor of Music at Indiana University, studying with Roger Roe and Linda Strommen.  He has performed as soloist with the Windsor, Kitchener-Waterloo, Music Academy of the West, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Windsor Community Orchestras, as well as the Hamilton Philharmonic, playing concertos by Bach, Marcello, Mozart, and Strauss. An avid chamber musician, he is a founding member of Trio Pistachio, and has performed in many Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society concerts as well as the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.  He has also pursued chamber music studies at the Domaine Forget Music Academy, the Scotia Festival of Music, and Windfest.

In addition to his performing career, Graham is a passionate teacher.  He maintains a studio of private oboe and piano students, has conducted orchestral excerpts masterclasses at Wilfrid Laurier University, and was co-founder of the Tumble Reeds Music Studio in Windsor, Ontario.  Through this studio, he and his wife co-directed a March Break music day camp and the Marentette Minstrels children’s choir.  He believes that instilling love and enthusiasm for classical music is vitally important, and looks forward to doing this through various teaching and outreach activities in London.

About Émilie Paré

Born in Montreal, Émilie Paré started studying violin at an early age with Jacqueline David, and was the youngest student ever to be admitted to the Music Conservatory of Montreal at age five. Having studied with Johanne Arel, she obtained her Master’s degree with the highest honours in Violin Performance, Dictation and Solfège. Émilie is grateful for receiving the Jean H. Picard Scholarship from the Wilfrid-Pelletier Foundation, the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada Scholarship, and also the Paul Merkelo Scholarship at the 2001 edition of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition.

In 2002, Émilie was selected by audition to perform classical and contemporary chamber music in Stuttgart, Montreal, and Quebec City as part of an octet with the Goldberg Quartett Wien. This experience triggered Émilie’s interest in both chamber music and contemporary music. In 2004, she obtained a post-graduate certificate from the Music Conservatory of Montreal in solo repertoire for the violin, focusing on new music.

In 2006, she won the Assistant Concertmaster position in the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. In December 2007, she moved to southern Ontario after winning a position with Orchestra London Canada. Since September 2008, she is also a member of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her orchestral duties, Émilie is pleased to teach violin lessons at the Aeolian School of Music here in London, Ontario.

In February 2013, Émilie was invited to perform a series of concerts at the Northern Lights Scotiabank Festival in Ajijic, Mexico. In the summer of 2013, she joined members of the Aradia Ensemble in Sulmona, Italy as part of the COSI opera festival. She is happy to be returning this summer to perform Puccini’s La Bohème. Emilie is very excited to have won the Principal Second position in Orchestra London Canada and she is looking forward to starting her tenure in the fall of 2014.