John Lowry has been Associate Concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra since 1987. He was Concertmaster of the Edmonton Symphony for the 2002-2003 season, and has served as Guest Concertmaster of orchestras in Halifax, Winnipeg, Kitchener-Waterloo, Red Deer, and the Adelaide Symphony of South Australia. He began his musical studies in Edmonton with Ranald Shean and went on to graduate from the University of Toronto and Yale University. His teachers have also included George Neikrug, David Zafer, and the eminent American virtuoso, Oscar Shumsky.
John has been a member of such musical organizations as the Opera Company of Boston, Esprit Contemporain, and the Canadian Opera Company, and was the founder of the Kensington Sinfonia in 1988. He was formerly Concertmaster of the New Hampshire Philharmonic and Opera New England, and has also performed with the Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra and National Ballet. He was previously on the faculty of the University of Manitoba and the University of Lowell, Massachusetts, and has also taught at the University of Calgary, Mount Royal College, and the Comox Valley Youth Music Centre. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Halifax, and Red Deer, with such conductors as Hans Graf, Mario Bernardi, James Judd, Jean-François Rivest, Timothy Vernon, and Ivars Taurins, and Pierre Hétu.
As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with such artists as James Campbell, Bernadene Blaha, Rivka Golani, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, Eliot Fisk, Robert Silverman, Angela Cheng, and Miriam Fried. He has participated in the Pacific Rim Festival, Alberta Scene 2005, and the Windy Mountain Music Project. He is a founding member of Calgary's Land's End Chamber Ensemble, specializing in 20th and 21st century music, which won the Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Classical Recording in 2005 and 2006. His violin was made in Milan by Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi in 1769.
Beth Root Sandvoss was born in Madison, Wisconsin where in her early years as a cellist, she studied with Margaret Christy. Ms. Sandvoss pursued further studies in Madison, Cleveland, and San Francisco with cellists Parry Karp, Alan Harris, and Irene Sharp. She has been a member of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the San Jose Symphony, the Madison Symphony, the Victoria String Quartet, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Sandvoss's performances have taken her throughout North America as well as the Far East. She has been recorded by RTHK Radio Hong Kong, WERN Madison, and CBC Radio. Ms. Sandvoss has a very active chamber music career in Western Canada. She is a founding member of the acclaimed Land's End Chamber Ensemble and collaborates continually with fine musicians around Canada and the US. Along with her performing career, Ms. Sandvoss is a very dedicated pedagogue. She has been asked to work with teachers on her methods and is a sought after clinician. Her pupils have won competitions in Canada and are regularly invited to summer festivals around the world. Ms. Sandvoss has the great pleasure and privilege to perform on a cello made by her husband, Luthier, Christopher Sandvoss.
Quoted by the Chronicle Herald as “A superb musician”, Swedish-born pianist Susanne Ruberg-Gordon’s passion for chamber music is evident.
She has collaborated with artists such as Andres Cardenes, Ron Leonard, Andras Diaz, Desmond Hoebig, Ian Swensen, Alain Trudel, Jens Lindemann, Ning Feng, Catherine Monoukian, Ni Tao, Arnold Choi and Nikki Chooi.
Susanne has been on faculty at the Mount Royal University Conservatory since 1991 where she is the coordinator of Collaborative Pianists and teaches chamber music. She has also been a Collaborative Artist for the acclaimed Morningside Music Bridge program in Canada, China and Poland since 2001.
