Free noonhour concerts Thursdays at Glenn Gould Studio

The November 5, 2006 broadcast of Music Around Us on Radio Two features the Park-Fraser-Hoekman Piano Trio: Angela Park, piano, Maya Fraser, violin, and Rafael Hoekman, cello.

Maya Fraser, Rafael Hoekman and Angela Park first met at the Orford Arts Centre in 1998, and were thrilled to meet again as musical partners at the University of Toronto in 2001. Rafael and Angela performed extensively as a duo throughout their studies, and they continue to collaborate in various chamber music series. Maya joined the duo in 2002, and they focused on the piano trio repertoire. Although Maya has returned to her native Japan, she has performed duo concerts with Angela in Canada over the past few years. This is a special reunion of all three artists. They have recently performed at the Stratford Chamber Music Series, the Beaver Valley Concert Series, and are completing this set of concerts with this New Generation concert.

Pianist Angela Park is winner of numerous awards and competitions, including the International Grace Welsh Prize for Piano in Chicago, World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, Canadian National Music Festival, and the Ontario Arts Council Chalmers Professional Development Grant, which allowed for private studies with Jacob Lateiner in New York. Angela and her fellow chamber musicians were recipients of the CBC Galaxie Rising Stars Award at the Banff Centre in 2006.

Angela's experience with orchestra include appearances with Orchestra London, the UWO Symphony Orchestra, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Canadian Sinfonietta. This weekend, Angela will perform Chausson's Concert for Piano and Violin with Sinfonia Toronto. In addition to appearing before in this New Generation series, Angela's past solo and chamber music appearances include recitals for the Steinway Society of Chicago, University of Illinois of Chicago, Montreal Debut Series, CBC's OnStage, Les Amis Concerts, and the New York and International Viola Society concerts with duo partner Sharon Wei. She has performed with internationally distinguished artists, including a tour of Ontario with violist Rivka Golani, and concerts with Canadian violinists Scott St. John, Erika Raum, Annalee Patipatanakoon, and Mark Fewer. Her live performances have been recorded and broadcast on CBC Radio Two and on National Public Radio in the USA.

Angela received her Master of Music degree from the University of Toronto, where she studied with William Aide. She is currently studying in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the University of Montreal with Paul Stewart.

After finishing her studies at the Toho School of Music High School, Maya earned a performance diploma under Professor Lorand Fenyves at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. The following year she earned an Advanced Certificate in Performance from the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. She was first violinist with Sinfonia Toronto through the 2002-2003 season.

Since her début recital at the age of 16, Maya has won numerous competitions, including the silver medal at the prestigious CMC International Stepping Stone Competition. Most recently she won second prize in the 11th Japan Mozart Music Competition.

She has performed as soloist with a number of orchestras in Japan, including the Tokyo Solisten, as well as with the Czech Philharmonic Ensemble Orchestra. She has given many notable performances in Japan, including recitals at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, and has taken part in the Northern Lights Music Festival in Mexico for the past three years.

For the past ten years, Maya has received a grant from the Messena Association for Support of the Arts in Japan, and is also a recipient of a Canada Council for the Arts grant. She released her first album Angel Plays Soul for Avex Japan in July 2003.

Rafael Hoekman has appeared in several chamber groups in this New Generation series, most recently just last week. He grew up in St. John's Newfoundland and began his musical training with his parents at the age of three. He completed his Master's Degree with Shauna Rolston at the University of Toronto.

As a soloist, Rafael first attracted attention by winning First Prize at the Orford International Competition in 1998. A winner of several prestigious awards, Rafael has appeared as soloist with the Quebec Symphony, the Newfoundland Symphony, Sinfonia Toronto, and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of Orchestra London from 2003-2005, and is presently principal cellist of Sinfonia Toronto. He can frequently be heard playing with the Toronto and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. Rafael has been invited to serve on the faculties of the Kincardine Music Festival, Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute, Silver Creek Festival, and Music at Port Milford.

As a chamber musician and member of the Tokai String Quartet, Rafael has won the Felix Galimir Chamber Music Award and the Sir Ernest MacMillan Grant for a young Canadian chamber ensemble. The Tokai Quartet was the sole Canadian representative at the 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition. In 2006, he collaborated with pianist Mathieu Gaudet and Clarinetist Jean-Francois Normand for a Jeunesses Musicales Tour of Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.

Rafael plays on a 1956 Giuseppe Lucci cello kindly on loan from the Banff Centre for the Arts.