Our Soloists
Philip Chui
“A pianist-painter who transforms each musical idea into a beautiful array of colors” (La Presse), Philip Chiu is acclaimed for his brilliant pianism, sensitive listening, and a stage presence that eschews the hermit-pianist image and favours openness, authenticity, and connection with audiences. Inaugural winner of the Mécénat Musica Prix Goyer, Mr. Chiu has become one of Canada’s leading musicians through his infectious love of music and his passion for creation and communication.
He concertizes extensively as soloist and chamber musician and has performed solo recitals and chamber music concerts in most major venues across Canada, as well as concert halls in France, Japan and the United States. He recently made his debut for the La Jolla Music Society in California in their 50th anniversary season and will be appearing in Maine and Massachusetts in fall 2019. Chamber music partners have included James Ehnes, Emmanuel Pahud, Regis Pasquier, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Bomsori Kim, Johannes Moser, and Raphael Wallfisch. He has a long-standing violin-piano duo with Jonathan Crow, concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and violinist of the New Orford String Quartet. Mr. Chiu is a veteran touring artist of Prairie Debut, Jeunesses Musicales Canada, and Debut Atlantic, having toured the country 14 times with their generous support.
As Artist-in-Residence of Cecilia Concert’s 2018/19 Season, he immensely enjoyed programming four unique and imaginative concerts, and is looking forward to further exploring his creative side as Artist-in-Residence for Montreal’s La Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur in 2020. Other upcoming projects include a recording/concert tour of John Burge’s 24 Preludes for Solo Piano, as well as a recording/concert project with Pentaèdre, honouring the music of Jacques Hétu.
In addition to his performing activities, Mr. Chiu created the Collaborative Piano Program at the Domaine Forget International Academy and consulted for national and international competitions as a recognized expert in collaborative piano. He has also juried for provincial, national, and international competitions.Mr. Chiu has recorded for Warner Music, Analekta, ATMA Classique, and CBC Music. He can be heard on BBC Radio 3, France Musique, ICI Musique, and CBC Music. He is eternally grateful for the support of Mécénat Musica, the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nicole Percifield
Mezzo-Soprano Nicole Percifield has featured in concert performances with New Haven Symphony (Messiah), Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (D. Scarlatti’s Salve Regina and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater), UTSO (Beethoven’s Mass in C) and Minnesota Orchestra. Recently, Percifield performed Elgar’s Sea Pictures with North Bay Symphony under conductor Joshua Wood. A skilled interpreter of art song, Percifield received the 2024 Norcop Prize in Song, was a 2024 Fellow with Toronto Summer Music and Académie Francis Poulenc, performed Debussy’s Chansons Baudelaire at Carnegie Hall, and featured on CBC’s Tapestry program, presenting composer Gavin Fraser’s new work, Shared Isolation.
A graduate of Yale Opera, Percifield has worked with Minnesota Opera (Salome, Faust), Santa Fe Opera (Le Nozze di Figaro, Rigoletto), Central City Opera (Werther, Cendrillon), the Banff Centre (Die Zauberflöte), and Opera Theatre of St. Louis (Ghosts of Versailles), and was a finalist at the Metropolitan Opera New England Regionals. She is currently pursuing her doctorate at the University of Toronto with Wendy Nielsen, where she is a recipient of the Joseph-Armand CGS Doctoral Scholarship. She can be heard singing the role of Cathleen (Riders to the Sea), recorded live at the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw, Poland. International Classical Music Awards nominated the recording for Best Opera Album, 2017.
Our Guest Conductors
Megan Jones Reeves
Megan started her music career in Deep River as a student member with the DRSO and was concertmaster before earning her B.Mus degree from McGill University.
Based in Southern Ontario, she worked for 12 years as Orchestra Manager for the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, an organization than mentors young graduate musicians. An accomplished freelance musician, she has performed with orchestras throughout Southern Ontario including The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
In April 2024 she performed as violin soloist in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Sinfonia Ancaster, and has been guest soloist with the DRSO a number of times. Her most recent appearance was last season in a performance that included Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe with oboist Susan Butler. Other notable performances wit the DRSO include Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in 2018 and Kabalevsky’s Violin Concerto in 2016.
Megan was appointed as the new concertmaster for the North Bay Symphony Orchestra beginning this season and this summer moved back to Deep River with her family.
Brandon Wilkie
Cellist Brandon Wilkie grew up in Pembroke, Ontario where he began playing cello at the age of 13. His first teacher was Peter Morris. Not that many years later, he performed the Elgar Cello Concerto with The DRSO in December 2003. After high school, Brandon studied with several renowned teachers including Matt Haimovitz at McGill University and Shauna Rolston at the University of Toronto.
For several years, he was based in Toronto where he was a member of the Arkadas String Quartet. As a member of the group, he performed at major music festivals in Banff and San Francisco.
As a recording artist, Brandon has been featured on the debut recording by the Capital Chamber Choir of Ottawa performing Jocelyn Morlock’s “Exaudi”. He also participated in a debut recording of chamber works by composer Joanna Estelle on the Parma Records label and has collaborated on several film scores.
In that time away, he returned as guest cellist with the DRSO in 2008 to perform the Dvorak cello concerto, in 2014 to perform the Saint-Saens cello concerto and 2017 in a concert of baroque music.
Brandon currently resides in Deep River, Ontario with his wife and two children. He is a trained Suzuki instructor, and also performs regularly throughout eastern Ontario and western Quebec with his wife Dian as the piano/cello ensemble Luxe Duo.
Joshua Wood
Joshua Wood has studied, performed, and taught music throughout Canada and the United States. He has served as Music and Artistic Director of the North Bay Symphony Orchestra since 2022, and was the Music Director of the Timmins Symphony Orchestra and Chorus from 2016-2024. A native of London, Ontario, Joshua completed his Bachelor of Music degree at Western University before pursuing graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Cincinnati. He has guest conducted with the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra, been a clinician with the Orchestre à vents de la Vallée d’Or, adjudicated at the Iroquois Falls Music Festival, and served on the Independent Arts Council for Timmins. He is an alumni of the National Youth Orchestra and National Academy Orchestra, and has performed with numerous professional orchestras in both Canada and the U.S. Josh is active as a composer and arranger, and has created more than 50 works for full orchestra and various chamber ensembles. An active and versatile instructor, Josh has taught brass, piano, music theory, music history, and composing/arranging, including several university masterclass lectures and conference presentations. In his free time, Josh enjoys fishing, mountain biking, tennis, golf, and hockey.
