PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES

Conductor — Giuseppe Pietraroia

This season marks a change of leadership for the orchestra. Mr. Pietraroia follows in the footsteps of Charles Barber, Stuart Knussen, Robert Cooper, János Sándor and George Corwin.
Giuseppe Pietraroia is also Music Director of Victoria Choral Society and Conductor-in-Residence for both Pacific Opera Victoria and the Victoria Symphony. As a guest conductor he has been engaged by Orchestra London, Hamilton Philharmonic, Okanagan Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, l'Orchestre Métropolitain, Lachine Music Festival in Montreal, l'Opéra de Montréal and Opera New Brunswick.
He served as assistant conductor for productions by Opera Lyra of Ottawa, and l'Opéra de Montréal as well as several Pacific Opera Victoria productions, including Un Ballo in Maschera, Tosca, Werther, Magic Flute and conducted their productions of Il Barbiere Di Siviglia, La Traviata, La Boheme, Lucia di Lammermoor, Norma, Rigoletto, Manon Lescaut, and Madama Butterfly. In addition he has conducted productions of Tosca and La Traviata for Opera New Brunswick.
With Victoria Choral Society Maestro Pietraroia has conducted performances of Messiah with the Victoria Symphony, Mozart's Mass in C minor, a choreographed production of Orff's Carmina Burana in collaboration with Ballet Victoria and Dvorak's Stabat Mater.
In addition to several concerts with the Victoria Symphony, upcoming season highlights include a production of Rossini's Cenerentola with Pacific Opera Victoria, David Fanshawe's African Sanctus with Victoria Choral Society and a production of La Boheme with l'Opéra de Montréal. Maestro Pietraroia's cd with soprano Marie-Josée Lord and l'Orchèstre Métropolitain for the ATMA label is due to be released in November 2010.
Giuseppe Pietraroia is the recipient of the George and Jane Heffelfinger Pacific Opera Victoria Artist of the Year Award and the Canada Council's Jean-Marie Beaudet Award in Orchestral Conducting.

First Violin (Leader) — Raya Fridman

Raya holds a College Diploma in Orchestra/Music Education from Russia and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University, as well as a Master in Music from the University of Victoria. Her performing experiences include the Chamber Orchestra of Leningrad, Montreal Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony Orchestra and Victoria Chamber Orchestra. She has also enjoyed Master classes with Pinkas Zukerman, Eleonora and Yuli Turovski, Richard Roberts, Thomas Williams and workshops with “I Musici” and “Quador Bozzini”. Raya teaches violin at the Victoria Conservatory of Music.

Second Violin (Principal) — to be announced

Viola (Principal) — Mary Clarke

Mary is an accomplished violinist/violist, having played violin with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra for 17 years. With the encouragement of Thomas Rolston, she took up the viola in 1974 and continues to perform a rich variety of orchestral and solo viola repertoire. She was a founder of the Strings Program in the Edmonton Public Schools where she taught for 29 years, retiring in 1999. Mary also plays with other orchestral ensembles throughout British Columbia since her arrival in 2000. Though officially retired, she is very active teaching and encouraging students and players of all ages to become involved with orchestral music. Mary looks forward to her role as Principal Viola in the Civic Orchestra. She hopes to encourage viola students of all ages to participate in the worthwhile endeavour of symphonic performance.

2nd Violin — Jim Ham

James Ham has been engaged in the repair and restoration of stringed musical instruments in Victoria since 1972. During the past decade the focus has shifted to primarily making new double basses. The experience gained from repairing thousands of instruments led Mr. Ham to believe that he could design an instrument that could solve many of the problems he repeatedly observed with traditional instruments and offer significant ergonomic and acoustic advantages. A commission to make a double bass for Mr. Gary Karr, a long time client and world famous soloist, provided an opportunity to put these ideas into practice and the resulting instrument was so successful that additional commissions followed, leading to the decision by Mr. Ham to move from a downtown shop to a separate business in his home. He now works in his home shop where he makes new instruments and continues to do repair, restoration and appraisals by appointment. Double basses made by Mr. Ham have been sold to clients (mostly professional players) in The U. S., Japan, Taiwan, Germany and Canada. He is a member of the American Federation of Violin and Bowmakers and the Violin Society of America. Mr. Ham has appeared as a musical instrument expert on the Canadian Antiques Roadshow and is a winner of a Manning Innovation Award (2001) for “His great talent in developing several innovative features for the double bass”.

Cello (Principal) — to be announced

Flute (Principal) — Mary Jill McCulloch

Mary Jill earned her B.A and Teaching Credential in music from California State University, Chico, and her Masters in Performance Practice from Stanford University.  She received Music Guild Scholarships and was twice winner of concerto competitions, playing with the Chico Symphony and Nielsen Concerto with Stanford Symphony. She was flutist with the Stanford Bach Cantata Series, Albany Consort and The San Jose Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

Since coming to Victoria in 1989, Mary Jill has appeared as flute soloist with St. Cecelia Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Victoria, Victoria Chamber Orchestra, Sidney Community Music School Orchestra, and she has performed frequently in the Christ Church Cathedral Summer Recital Series.

Mary Jill also sings with Capriccio Vocal Ensemble and Voces Intimae. She is Section Head of Woodwinds for the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival. She is currently reviving her (second instrument) violin skills with the Sooke Philharmonic. She is a flute instructor at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and teaches flute and beginning violin at the Sidney Community Music School.

Bassoon (Principal) — John Larson

John has studied with Gerald Corey, Nicholas Kilburn, Roland Small and Frank Ruggieri, among others. Internationally he has performed recitals in Japan, South Africa, Kenya, Europe and North America and as an orchestral musician he has performed with the Calgary, Edmonton and Victoria Symphonies. While living in Kobe, Japan, he formed the well-known Melange Ensemble and he returns to Japan every few years to perform chamber music. Apart from performing with the Civic Orchestra of Victoria, John also performs with Trio Pacific and West Side Winds.

Horn (Co-Principal) — Amy Sandford

Amy grew up as part of a musical family in Toronto. After studying French Horn in Toronto, in 1986 she commenced studies at UVic where she completed her B.Mus degree. After graduating, Amy has performed with a wide variety of orchestras, military and concert bands and ensembles and has been with the Civic Orchestra of Victoria for several years before being appointed Principal Horn in 2001.

Trombone (Principal) — Tom Eadie

Tom received his early musical education in Detroit, Michigan and at the age of 17 was touring with the show "Up With People". He graduated from the Eastman School of music in 1974 with a Master of Music degree, and soon after moved to Victoria to play with the Victoria Symphony and to teach at the University of Victoria until 1992. Currently he is a free-lance musician with many credits to his name in both the classical and popular genre and also he maintains a class of private students.

Percussion (Principal) — David Masini

David began his musical training as a jazz drummer in Victoria. By the time he was in Grade 12 he was playing professionally. David completed his B.Mus degree at UVIC and then taught school band in Northern BC and in Victoria. He has also performed with a variety of ensembles for concerts, dances, studio recordings and musical productions.