Artists 

Domagoj Ivanovic moved to Canada in 2007, after graduating with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Violin Performance at the University of Miami, where he held the post of a Teaching Assistant, as well as served as an Assistant Concertmaster for the Miami Symphony Orchestra. Since then, he has quickly established himself as a violinist and an educator in the greater Vancouver area. Currently he is the Co-Head of Violin Department at the Vancouver Academy of Music and Co-Director of Vancouver Chamber Players Chamber music series. As a performer he has shared the stage with some of the top ensembles in Vancouver, such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Opera Orchestra, and Turning Point Ensemble. He adjudicated a number of festivals and competitions, such as the North Shore Music Festival, Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Surrey Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, and University of British Columbia Concerto Competition, to name a few. His students have won numerous prizes in the Canadian Music Competition, Kiwanis and Richmond Music festivals, as well as RCM Gold medals. Originally from Zagreb, Croatia, he began studying violin at the age of seven. During his studies he was the recipient of numerous prizes and awards in violin competitions at the national and international level, the most important being First Prize in the National Violin competition and First Prize in the National Chamber Music competition. As a soloist he appeared with several orchestras, most notably with the Zagreb Philharmonic orchestra, and the Miami Symphony orchestra. Described as a player with “clear technique and great sensitivity” he has performed all over Europe and North America, as well as China, Taiwan and Singapore.

Formerly the Principal Cellist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Lee received his early training in the San Francisco Bay Area and a degree in performance from the University of Illinois. An active soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in festivals in BC, Ontario, Alaska, Washington, California, Colorado, and South Korea. For the past 35 summers, he has been the Principal Cellist of the Cabrillo Music Festival of Contemporary Music in California. In Vancouver, Mr. Duckles has enjoyed an association with the Vancouver Academy of Music, The University of British Columbia, the Vancouver New Music Society – (a founding director and performer), the Masterpiece Music Series, and The Vancouver Chamber Players. He has recorded for the CBC, both as a performer and arranger, the Musical Heritage Society of America, Heliodor, Polydor, and Skylark Records. He is currently the Co-Director of the Vancouver Chamber Players and President of the Vancouver Cello Club.

David Lakirovich was born in Brisbane, Australia, and started his violin studies at the age of three with his father, Jacob Lakirovich. David has taken part in various master classes with renowned violinists such as Felix Andrievsky, Nelly Shkolnikova, Jose-Louis Garcia, Pinchas Zukerman, Victor Tretyakov, Maurico Fuks, Haim Taub, Pavel Vernikov, and Michael Frischenschlager. His teachers have included David Zafer in Toronto, Arkadij Winokurow and Boris Kuschnir in Vienna, Vadim Gluzman and Shmuel Ashkenasi in Chicago, and William Preucil in Cleveland. David has performed in many recitals and concerts in Australia, USA, Canada, Israel and Europe, including solo performances in Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv, Stradivari Museum in Cremona, Italy, along with solo performances with the Calgary Philharmonic, Scarborough Symphony, York Symphony, and Chicago College of Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra. He also performed in the “Young Stars of the Young Century” concert in George Weston Recital Hall for the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation. He performed in a Stradivari Society concert in Chicago, playing on the 1692 ‘Lord Falmouth’ Stradivari. He has also performed solo on Chicago WFMT 98.7 Classical Radio. An avid chamber musician, he has collaborated with Peter Salaff, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ilya Kaler, Mark Kosower, Atar Arad, William Wolfram and Vadim Gluzman. He has also collaborated and performed with ensembles that include the Pacifica Quartet, Cavani Quartet, and the Vermeer Quartet, and has performed in the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival in Chicago. In 2014, his quartet at the Cleveland Institute of Music won “Quartet of the Year” in the Hvide Sande Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has also performed at the Instrumental Society of Calgary on several occasions. David has participated in and achieved top honours in numerous violin and chamber music competitions around the world. He was a participant at the Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse in Israel for two summers, as well as the Pinchas Zukerman Young Artist Program in Ottawa. David Lakirovich was a faculty member of the Rochetta Ligure Masterclass in Palazzo Spinola, Italy, and has been on faculty at the Cremona International Music Academy since 2013. In 2017-18, he served on the faculty of the Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary, and has given numerous masterclasses and seminars in their Advanced Performance Program. He also taught at the University of Calgary the same year. He is currently on faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the VSO School of Music. David completed his Undergraduate Degree at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2013 with Shmuel Ashkenasi and Vadim Gluzman, and his master’s degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2015 with William Preucil. He previously served as the Associate Concertmaster of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio, and played three seasons with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (2 years as Tutti 1st Violin, and 1 year as the Assistant Concertmaster). He was also invited to perform as guest Associate Concertmaster with the Jalisco Philharmonic during the entire summer of 2015 in Guadalajara, Mexico, as well as guest Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in April and November 2019. David joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as the new Assistant Concertmaster at the beginning of the 2018/19 season.

Jennie Press began her violin studies at the age of three in St. John's, NL. She made her solo debut with the Newfoundland Symphony at thirteen and has since had solo appearances with several symphonies and chamber orchestras in Canada and the United States. Ms. Press has been a national finalist numerous times in the Canadian Music Competitions, the Shean Strings Competiton and the National Music Festival, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She has also been a prize winner in numerous competitions including the Marbury Violin Competition, the Yale Gordon String Competition, the Alexandria Symphony Competiton and the Wellesly Symphony Competition. Jennie has performed in many symphony and chamber orchestras including the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, and Key West Symphony, and has served as concertmaster in several orchestras including Royal Opera Canada, Annapolis Opera, Washington Summer Opera, De Camera Chamber Players, Peabody Symphony Orchestra and the Peabody Concert Orchestra. She has also performed with many pops orchestras which have led to performances in Hong Kong, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and at Carnegie Hall in New York. Ms. Press spent one year at the Walnut Hill School in Natick, MA as a student of Eric Rosenblith and was a member of the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra which toured South America. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree and subsequently earned a Master of Music degree as a full scholarship recipient from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD as a student of Victor Danchenko. She also spent one year as an Artist Diploma candidate under full scholarship at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, ON as a student of Atis Bankas. Ms. Press has played in masterclasses and lessons for such internationally renowned artists as Midori, Pinchas Zukerman, Leon Fleisher, Donald Weilerstein, Camilla Wicks, Andreas Cardenes, Laurence Lesser, Lorand Fenyves, and members of the Juilliard, Orford and Vogler Quartets. Ms. Press is currently Second Assistant Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and was a member of the first violin section of the now defunct CBC Radio Orchestra.

A member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Cello Quartet, Luke Wook-Young Kim completed his undergraduate studies at UBC, where he received the Catherine-Cooke Topping Memorial Medal for musical excellence. Then, he finished his Master of Music degree as a full scholarship student at UCLA. His teachers include Antonio Lysy, Joseph Elworthy, Eric Wilson, John Friesen, and Kenneth Friedman. Luke participated in masterclasses with Lynn Harrell, Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Raphael Wallfisch, Paul Katz, and Desmond Hoebig. He also participated in summer music festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, the Early Music Vancouver Programme (baroque cello), and the Incontri in Terra di Siena Music Festival. Luke has appeared in various concert series, such as the Dilijan Chamber Music Series (Los Angeles), the West Vancouver Community Arts Council, the Douglas College's Arts at One series, the Canadian Music Centre, the Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and the UBC's Wednesday Noon Hours Series. In spring 2015, he was featured as a soloist for Friedrich Gulda's Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra with the UCLA Wind Ensemble. In addition, he has performed as a soloist with various orchestras such as the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, the Polish Czestochowa Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Busan Neo Philharmonic (Korea).

Kevin Park is a Canadian cellist much in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, teacher, and artistic director. Kevin’s musical training started early in Seoul, South Korea, and he went on to study with some of the finest musicians in Canada and the US. In 2002, he was given a full scholarship to pursue his performance degrees at the University of North Texas. Early in his career, Kevin was invited to perform in the final rounds of many prestigious competitions and festivals in North America and was a First Prize winner of the WRR Chamber Music International Competition. As a chamber musician, he was fully supported by the university to travel and perform at numerous venues in the US and abroad and was invited to the Czech Republic for series of recitals, including the Prague Conservatory of Music and the Janacek Academy. He has been principal cellist at most of the orchestras that he has worked with, such as the British Columbia Music Educators Association Orchestra (BCMEA), the University of North Texas Symphony & Chamber Orchestra, the Winspear Opera Orchestra, and the Pilgrim Orchestra. He is a current member of the Vancouver Cello Quartet since 2016 and enjoys the eclectic mixture of repertoires to showcase the limitless possibilities of the instrument. Combining his unique talent as both performer and curator, Kevin serves as Artistic Director of the Vancouver Chamber Music Society, in which he has been collaborating with highly accomplished artists from Canada and abroad. With passion and commitment to future generations, Kevin maintains a vibrant cello studio based in North Shore and New Westminster.

Born in Winnipeg, Canada, pianist Noel McRobbie first received national attention after receiving top prize at the Eckhardt-Grammatté Piano Competition. In addition, he has received prizes at the CBC Début Concert Artist Series, Grand Konzerteum International Piano Competition, Seiler International Piano Competition, and the University of Michigan Concerto Competition. Mr. McRobbie’s solo performances include the Steinway Series at the University of South Florida, Vancouver Chopin Society, Eastport Arts Centre in Maine, Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, and a recital for the Asian Composers League at Sejong Chamber Hall in Seoul. As concerto soloist, he has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Bulgarian Chamber Orchestra, Jeonju Philharmonic Orchestra, Westcoast Symphony, and the New Westminster Symphony. His performances have been broadcast on CBC radio, and he was featured in International Piano magazine and KBS television’s Classic Odyssey. For many years, Mr. McRobbie was a student of Lee Kum-Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the University of British Columbia, where he received an Artist Diploma and Bachelor of Music respectively. Other teachers include Arthur Greene, Patricia Zander, and Svetozar Ivanov. He received a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory. From 2009-2017 Mr. McRobbie was Assistant Professor of Piano at Dongduk Women’s University in Seoul, South Korea. He is also a piano faculty member at the Summer Music Festival for the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, and at the St. Andrews Piano Festival in Canada.

Isabelle is a native of Canada, but was raised dividing her time between Paris and Vancouver. Isabelle received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Victoria studying with Jaroslav Karlovsky and obtained a Masters in Performance at the Cleveland Institute where she was a student of Heidi Castleman, Lynn Ramsey Irvine, and Robert Vernon. From 1990-2001, Ms. Roland was Assistant Principal viola of the Victoria Symphony, where she appeared many times as a soloist including a performance under the baton of Sir Yehudi Menuhin. Isabelle was the founding member of the Savitri Quartet with whom she performed for CBC radio broadcasts, as well as a collaboration with mezzo soprano, Susan Platts. From 1996-1998, Ms. Roland served as Assistant Principal viola with the Colorado Festival in Boulder, Colorado. Since settling permanently in Vancouver in 2002, Isabelle has appeared as a soloist with the Sinfonia of the North Shore and the West Coast Symphony. Currently, she is Principal viola with Sinfonia of the North Shore, a member of the Vancouver Opera, and performs regularly with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the National Broadcasting Orchestra. Ms. Roland also enjoys a busy chamber music career performing with Trio Accord, Music In The Morning, West Coast Chamber Music, and is a member of the Tantalus String Quartet. In addition to her busy performing career, Isabelle joins her love of music and children teaching viola and violin at VAM, and by joyfully caring for her two young sons, Nicholas and Kai, with husband, Steve Mason.

Ashton Lim is a Canadian cellist with extensive experience as an orchestral player, chamber musician, soloist, teacher, and administrator. He has performed regularly with the Canadian Opera Company (COC), National Ballet of Canada, Santa Fe Opera, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Opera Orchestra, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Previous positions include the Sarasota Opera Orchestra and New World Symphony in Miami Beach, under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. Performances have taken Ashton to venues around the world, including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (USA), Lishui Grand Theatre (China), and Prince Mahidol Hall (Thailand); closer to home, he has performed in the Royal Conservatory’s Koerner Hall and COC’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in Toronto, and the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver. A passionate advocate for arts education and community engagement, Ashton was actively involved in New World Symphony’s community, education, and audience outreach programs in Miami. He coached students at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico and mentored students at the Academia Filarmónica de Medellín in Colombia, where he taught private lessons, masterclasses, and coached chamber ensembles. As an administrator, Ashton oversaw the Solo and Small Ensemble Festival of the Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festivals for three years, helping to guide it out of the pandemic to celebrate its centenary anniversary, with registration numbers at an all-time high. Starting in the 24/25 season, Ashton will take on the role of Executive Director of the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra. As a teacher, Ashton is on faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music. Born and raised in Vancouver, Ashton studied with Audrey Nodwell at the Vancouver Academy of Music and completed his ARCT in Cello Performance. He holds degrees from Mount Royal Conservatory, University of Calgary, Northwestern University, and the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music. His principal teachers were John Kadz, Hans Jørgen Jensen, Andrés Diaz, and Desmond Hoebig. Ashton has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.