Andrew Wan and Piazzolla’s 4 Seasons ^{Summer 2025}

Andrew Wan was named Concertmaster of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in 2008. As a soloist, he has performed throughout the world under the direction of such conductors as Vengerov, Petrenko, Labadie, Rizzi, Oundjian, Stern, and DePreist, among others, and has given chamber music concerts with many artists, including the Juilliard String Quartet, Repin, Hamelin, Trifonov, Pressler, Widmann, Ax, Ehnes, and Shaham. He has served as guest concertmaster of the Pittsburgh, Houston, Toronto, National Arts Centre and Indianapolis Symphonies. His recordings with Kent Nagano and the OSM, Charles Richard-Hamelin, James Ehnes and the Seattle Chamber Music Society, the Metropolis Ensemble, and the New Orford String Quartet have received a GRAMMY nomination, two Juno Awards, and multiple Felix and Opus Awards. Mr. Wan holds three degrees from the Juilliard School and is currently Assistant Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, and Artistic Director of Les Solistes de l’OSM. He plays a Michel’Angelo Bergonzi violin (1744), on generous loan from the David Sela collection, for which he extends his warmest thanks. He also performs on an 1860 Dominique Peccatte bow, graciously loaned by Canimex.

Violinist Olena Kaspersky is a Los Angeles native currently pursuing graduate studies at McGill University with Violaine Melançon. Previously, she earned her Bachelor’s of Music at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music with Lina Bahn. Olena has had the privilege of playing in the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, as well as serving as concertmaster for the McGill Symphony Orchestra, USC Symphony, and Colburn Youth Orchestra. She has performed across the US, Canada, and Europe performing as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. She won the USC Solo Bach competition and the Ofiesh Quartet Competition with the Gateway Quartet, with whom she toured France and appeared at the Rencontres franco-américaines de Musique de Chambre Festival. Olena is an advocate of Ukrainian music, from folk to classical, and has soloed with the Ukrainian Mosaic Orchestra of Los Angeles performing alongside Merited Artists of Ukraine.

Charlotte is a violinist from Ottawa, currently pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance at McGill University under the mentorship of Violaine Melançon. She has been a member of the Sinfonia de l’Ouest chamber orchestra in Montreal since 2021, and has also performed with Ensemble Obiora, as well as l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal during their Immersion Orchestrale project. Also currently pursuing a second Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and conducting research in Music Neuroscience, Charlotte is inspired by the science behind music and its impact on our subjective experience, and brings a passion for exploring the cognitive and emotional substructure of Classical music to her performance.

A master degree graduate cum laude of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, violinist Anaïs Saucier-Lafond studied for 18 years in the Conservatoire network with Jean-Sébastien Roy, Anne Robert and Julie Cossette. She also studied with Denis Brott, Véronique Lacroix, Marianne Dugal and Alexander Read. During her studies, she served as Concertmaster of the Orchestre symphonique du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, and as music librarian.

Anaïs is currently 4th chair of the first violin section of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec. She is also a member of the 2024-2026 cohort of Les Violons du Roy’s Émergence mentoring program. A recipient of the Prix de la Fondation de l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Prix de la Fondation des Violons du Roy, Anaïs has appeared as a soloist with both orchestras. She has also received numerous excellence bursaries, including the Sandra and Alain Bouchard prestige bursary, the Monique-Barry prestige bursary and the MusiquAvenir Véronique Lacroix excellence bursary from the Fondation du Conservatoire. Anaïs has been a critically acclaimed solo violinist with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra in Germany, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach and Andris Poga in 2021, 2022 and 2024. She notably performed Stravinsky’s Pulcinella to a packed ElbPhilharmonie in Hamburg.

Anaïs plays a Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi violin, built in Milana and dated 1760, with an Emmanuel Bégin bow and a Matthew Coltman baroque bow, courtesy of Canimex Inc. of Drummondville, Quebec.

Born into a family of musicians, Eva is the recipient of several first and grand prizes in North American competitions. These distinctions have enabled her to perform as a soloist with various orchestras throughout North American, including in six concerts with the Orchestre Métropolitain, which received an Opus Award in 2019 for Production of the Year—Young Audiences. She was recently invited to give a recital at the Musikverein in Vienna, in connection with its 2024 season’s Start Up! for young musicians. Eva has benefited from expert guidance in masterclasses with Julia Fischer, Ana Chumachenco, Pavel Vernikov, Andrew Wan, Svetlana Makarova, Boris Kuschnir and Sergiu Schwartz, among others. She also won a scholarship from the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein, to take part in its several weeks of intensive musical training and activities, in addition to playing on European tours with the Academy’s resident ensemble, the Ensemble Esperanza.

Also an active chamber player, Eva is a founding member of the Quatuor Vatra, a Montréal-based ensemble since 2020, with which she has garnered several awards and distinctions, including in the Canimex Canadian Music Competition, the Concours Classival and the Concours de musique de Sherbrooke. Eva currently studies under the tutelage of Professor Pavel Vernikov at the Vienna Conservatory.

Eva plays a violin built by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1873) with a bow crafted by Victor Fétique (ca. 1920) generously loaned by the company Canimex Inc. of Drummondville (Québec), Canada.