NAC Orchestra Musician Biographies
Woodwinds
- Joanna G'froerer - principal flute
- Charles Hamann - principal oboe
- Emily Marks - flute
- Christopher Millard - principal bassoon
- Vincent Parizeau - bassoon
- Francine Schutzman - oboe
- Peter Smith (1946-2010) - clarinet
- Kimball Sykes - principal clarinet
Joanna G'froerer
principal flute
One of Canada’s best-known flutists, Joanna G’froerer enjoys an exciting career as an orchestral player, chamber musician, soloist and teacher. Joanna G’froerer has been the principal flute of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra since 1992; she won the audition for that position when she was twenty years old.
A native of Vancouver, Ms. G’froerer comes from a family of professional musicians. She studied flute in Vancouver with Kathleen Rudolph of the CBC Radio Orchestra, and became the first wind player to graduate from the Vancouver Academy of Music. Her education included two summers at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, where she served as principal flute in the World Youth Symphony Orchestra, and two summers with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. In 1990, Joanna moved to Montreal to study at McGill University with Timothy Hutchins, principal flute of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. She earned a Licentiate in Music from McGill in 1993.
Ms. G’froerer performs regularly as a soloist with the NAC Orchestra, having appeared in a solo role in twenty-six different programs since joining the ensemble. Joanna also works regularly with Ottawa’s “Thirteen Strings”, having been featured as their soloist on eight separate occasions and on their 1995 recording, Forgotten Dreams. She has performed as flute soloist with the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, the Kingston Symphony, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and the Peterborough Symphony, as well as with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra after winning the wind division of the MSO Competition in 1990.
Joanna G’froerer was featured at the 1994 Vancouver Chamber Music Festival and at the 2003 Montreal Chamber Music Festival, and has been a regular participant in the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival since the mid-1990s. She has been a guest artist with the Tokyo and Penderecki String Quartets, and is a member of the NAC Wind Quintet, which features the five principal winds of the NAC Orchestra.
Joanna G’froerer is featured on a CBC Records disc of Mozart Flute Quartets with violinist Martin Beaver, Pinchas Zukerman on viola, and cellist Amanda Forsyth. Opus Magazine named the CD the best Canadian chamber music recording of 2001. In June 2002 she was invited to Spain to record an all-Rodrigo disc with Maestro Maximiano Valdes and the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias for the Naxos label. The resulting disc, released in January of 2004, has been given consistently good reviews, including a five-star rating by Rick Phillips on his CBC program, Sound Advice. Joanna’s latest recording project is an all-Saint-Saëns chamber music disc, recently recorded for the Naxos label with her colleagues in the NAC Wind Quintet and pianist Stéphane Lemelin.
As a teacher, Joanna has been on the faculties of the Scotia Festival of Music and McGill University, and currently teaches at the University of Ottawa and is a member of the faculty of the NAC Summer Music Institute. She has presented masterclasses at the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, the Glenn Gould School, the University of Calgary, the University of Prince Edward Island, the University of Manitoba, the Vancouver Academy of Music, the Victoria Conservatory of Music, Roosevelt University (Chicago), Dalhousie University, Memorial University, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Montreal. In July of 2007, at the invitation of maestro Roberto Minczuk, Joanna spent two weeks in Brazil, teaching and performing as a resident artist at the prestigious Campos do Jordao International Festival.
Joanna G’froerer has been described as “...one of those people whose mastery of their instrument is so thorough that they can exercise the luxury of finding a special beauty in every note”. (Richard Todd, Ottawa Citizen)
October 2008
Charles Hamann
principal oboe
Charles “Chip” Hamann, a native of Lincoln, Nebraska, is recognized as one of Canada’s foremost oboists. In 1993 he was appointed acting principal oboe of the National Arts Centre Orchestra at the age of 22, and after serving for two seasons in that role, was chosen to become principal oboe of the Orchestra on a permanent basis.
Mr. Hamann studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. He was awarded a Bachelor of Music and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School in 1993, immediately prior to his appointment with NACO. His principal teachers have included Daniel Stolper and Richard Killmer, and he has been deeply influenced by the clinics and workshops of John Ferrillo.
A passionate and dedicated teacher, he is a member of the Faculty of Music at the University of Ottawa and the National Arts Centre’s Summer Music Institute. In recent seasons he has presented masterclasses and clinics throughout North America for such institutions as the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, the Conservatoire de Québec in Montréal, the University of Toronto, SUNY Potsdam, St. Lawrence University, Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Victoria, the Manhattan School of Music, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the top Mexican universities in Monterey and Mexico City, and the University of Nebraska.
As a lover of chamber music, he participates annually in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and has toured in Canada and in the United States with the National Arts Centre Wind Quintet. He has appeared at the Utah Music Festival and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival in California, among others.
Charles Hamann’s solo appearances include the Lincoln Symphony, Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings (including the CD recording Forgotten Dreams), and Les Violons du Roy of Quebec City, Bernard Labadie conducting. Of his numerous engagements with the National Arts Centre Orchestra as soloist, notable performances have included the Marcello Concerto under the baton of Roger Hamilton in 1994, the Vaughan-Williams Concerto with Joseph Silverstein in 1996 and J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin with Pinchas Zukerman in 1998, 2001, and 2002. In 2004 he was soloist in the Mozart Oboe Concerto, again with Pinchas Zukerman conducting. He will be featured in Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto with Maestro Zukerman and NACO in January 2008.
January 2007
Emily Marks
flute
Flutist Emily Marks joined the National Arts Centre Orchestra as second flute in September 2002 at the age of 23.
Born and raised in North Vancouver, she studied with Camille Churchfield, principal flute of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree with distinction at McGill University, where her teachers were Carolyn Christie and Timothy Hutchins of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. While pursuing a Masters degree at Indiana University studying with Thomas Robertello, she won the job with NACO.
Emily was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 2001 and 2002, and toured Europe with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra for three sessions. Additional summer studies were at the Banff Centre and performing with the National Academy Orchestra in Hamilton, Ont.
Emily is a member of the Ayorama wind quintet, performing educational concerts throughout the Ottawa area, and is a regular participant at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival. She has also performed on numerous occasions with Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra.
September 2009
Christopher Millard
principal bassoon
Christopher Millard, one of Canada’s best known woodwind artists, joined the National Arts Centre Orchestra as principal bassoon at the beginning of the 2004-2005 season.
Christopher Millard was the principal bassoon for the Vancouver Symphony and the CBC Radio Orchestra for 28 years. A regular guest artist and teacher at the Scotia, Banff, Orford and Ottawa Chamber Music Festivals, Mr. Millard has also appeared in concert and recordings with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Marlboro Festival, the World Orchestra for Peace, Chamber Music Northwest, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, and with the Victoria and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, les Violons du Roy, Thirteen Strings and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. He regularly performs at home and on tour with the National Arts Centre Wind Quintet, a highly acclaimed ensemble that has made a debut recording on the Naxos label.
A student of the legendary Sol Schoenbach at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Mr. Millard also studied with the great French flutist Marcel Moyse. He has become an important teacher himself: he serves on the faculty of the University of Ottawa and gives annual masterclasses at the Domaine Forget in Quebec. For 20 years, Mr. Millard was the bassoon professor for the National Youth Orchestra where he helped nurture many of the best of the new generation of Canadian wind players. In September 2007, he joined the faculty of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
He has received wide praise for his numerous recordings, which include a disc in the prestigious “OrchestraPro” series and two other solo discs for Summit Records as well as a CBC records disc of Italian concerti with Mario Bernardi and the CBC Radio Orchestra. His recording of the Hétu Bassoon Concerto won a 2004 Juno Award. In a review of his CD Duos, the peer journal The Double Reed called Mr. Millard “one of the great bassoonists of the 20th century.”
Christopher Millard is a skilled woodwind technician and operates a repair business in Ottawa. In addition, he brings to the public his fascination and love for music as host of the National Arts Centre Orchestra’s podcast series, the ‘NACOcast’.
October 2008
Vincent Parizeau
bassoon
A native of Montreal, Vincent Parizeau began his music studies at the St. Joseph’s Oratory with the celebrated Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal. He studied bassoon at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Rodolpho Masella and Gerald Corey (the NAC Orchestra’s former principal bassoon) graduating with “Premier Prix” (First Place Honours) at the age of 21. He went on to study with Franck Morelli and in 2001 earned a Master of Music degree at Yale University.
On his return from the United States, Vincent founded the Ensemble Synapse, a group of 14 musicians performing a repertoire of original works with no conductor. An ardent advocate of contemporary music, he has appeared regularly in performance with various contemporary music ensembles, including the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec and l'Ensemble contemporain de Montréal with which he has recorded two albums.
Vincent has played in a number of orchestras including the Orchestre symphonique de Laval, the Orchestre des Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal where he played for a season before joining the National Arts Centre Orchestra at the beginning of the 2004-05 season.
March 2007
Francine Schutzman
oboe
Francine Schutzman began her musical studies in her hometown of Sea Cliff, New York, with piano lessons at the age of seven and flute three years later. She reluctantly traded in her flute for an oboe the following year because an oboist was needed in the school band. By the time she had received her Bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music (studying with De Vere Moore and Wayne Rapier), she was in love with the instrument. Robert Bloom and Alfred Genovese were her teachers at the Manhattan School of Music, where she earned a Master’s degree.
After graduating from Manhattan, Ms. Schutzman played for one season in the Savannah Symphony and for two years in the Oklahoma City Symphony. Before moving to Canada, she taught oboe, piano, theory and music history at Central State University in Edmond, Oklahoma. She joined the National Arts Centre Orchestra as second oboist and English horn player in 1974. She is on the boards of the Musicians’ Association of Ottawa-Hull and the Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians, with which she has been involved since 1981. Francine Schutzman has also been a member of the Ayorama Wind Quintet since 1974.
September 2008
Peter Smith (1946-2010)
clarinet
“Peter was a wonderful and dedicated musician. We were lucky to have him all these years."
- Pinchas Zukerman, NAC Orchestra Music Director
Mr. Smith played clarinet at Ottawa’s Laurentian High School and continued his studies at the University of Toronto while freelancing on clarinet, saxophone and guitar. He has played in The Toronto Symphony, the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the University Opera Orchestra, the Stratford Opera Orchestra, as well as playing lead clarinet for Duke Ellington.
A founding member of the Ayorama Woodwind Quintet and the Pierrot Ensemble, he also performed frequently in other chamber music groups. He also taught privately at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and the Conservatoire de Gatineau.
Kimball Sykes
clarinet
Kimball Sykes joined the National Arts Centre Orchestra as principal clarinet in 1985.
Born in Vancouver, he received a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of British Columbia where he studied with Ronald deKant. In 1982 Mr. Sykes was a member of the National Youth Orchestra and was awarded the first of two Canada Council grants to study with Robert Marcellus in Chicago. He has participated in the Banff School of Fine Arts Festival, the Scotia Festival, the Orford Festival and the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival.
He has performed and toured with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and was a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. While in Vancouver, he was a founding member of the Vancouver Wind Trio. From 1983 to 1985 he was principal clarinet of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Sykes has performed as a soloist with the NAC Orchestra on numerous occasions. In May 2000, he gave the premiere performance of Vagues immobiles, a clarinet concerto by Alain Perron commissioned for him by the NAC, and in November 2002, he performed the Copland Clarinet Concerto, both conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. Other groups he has appeared with as soloist include Thirteen Strings, the Honolulu Symphony and the Auckland Philharmonia.
Mr. Sykes has performed numerous solo and chamber music programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He can be heard on the recent Chamber Players of Canada recording of Schubert’s Octet. He has also recorded the Mozart Clarinet Quintet with Pinchas Zukerman and NAC Orchestra principal musicians Donnie Deacon, Jane Logan and Amanda Forsyth which is included in the NAC Orchestra’s double Mozart CD for CBC Records which was nominated for a Juno Award in 2004.
Kimball Sykes is currently on faculty at the University of Ottawa.
June 2007
