Pacific Chamber Ensemble Performers
Ken Lin (Artistic Director)
Violinist Ken Lin enjoys a career in performing as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra player. Being the top prize winner of the National Violin competition of Taiwan at age of 12, Mr. Lin had already been performing as soloist across the country in early age.
Mr. Lin holds a Bachelor of Music in Violin performance with distinction from the University of Victoria, also Master of Music and Professional studies diploma in Violin performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Being a distinguished scholarship student from both music institutes, Mr. Lin has served as Concertmaster and was the winner of the Concerto competitions, which led him to appear as soloist with orchestras. As a full scholarship recipient from the Quartet Festival in Waterloo, Aspen Music Festival, and the Mendocino music festival, Mr. Lin has studied with Sharon Stanis, Ian Swensen, Henryk Kowalski and has collaborated with renown artists such as Robert Mann, Gilbert Kalish, and Martha Katz. He has also appeared in the master class of Charles Castleman, Mauricio Fuks, members of Juilliard, Cleveland, Lafayette, and Penderecki string quartet.
Holly Bryan
Holly Bryan is an accomplished horn player based in Vancouver, BC. Holly enjoys a diverse performance schedule as a freelance musician and is joining the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra horn section in an acting position for the 2022-2024 seasons. Holly is passionate about chamber music and plays in several chamber groups. In addition to live performances, she is frequently recorded as a session musician for film soundtracks and albums of various genres.
Holly also plays the natural horn and has performed with period instrument orchestras including the Victoria Baroque Players, Juilliard 415 and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra. She joined Les Violons du Roy for their tour to South Korea and China in 2019.
Katrina Chitty
Katrina Chitty is a full time violist in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. As a native of Langley, BC, Katrina originally began her musical education on the violin at age four. She studied violin for almost two decades, achieving a diploma from the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud in France, followed by a Bachelor’s of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University (studying with Jerzy Kapłanek). To further her musical education, Katrina then made the switch to viola, and completed her Master’s degree at McGill University under the direction of André Roy.
As a chamber musician, Katrina has enjoyed a multitude of musical opportunities, including a first-place win at the Canadian Music Competition with her ensemble. She spent a year performing around the world on cruise ships with her quartet, and also has presented numerous chamber concerts with ‘Looking at the Stars’ in prisons across Ontario. Before joining the VSO, Katrina also enjoyed many years of orchestral freelancing – performing with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Ballet of Canada, and Canadian Opera Company. Katrina is now happy to call Vancouver her home. When not on stage, Ms. Chitty serves as a Logistics Officer in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserves.
Christopher Lee
Clarinetist Christopher Lee completed his Master’s degree at Juilliard School where he received Bachelor’s degree on Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship and Eve Lyndlemarch Scholarship. He has studied with renowned clarinetist Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima at The Juilliard School. Christopher has won the first and grand prizes at many competitions such as Korean Clarinet Competition, Vancouver Burnaby Clef Society Competition, “VAM” Competition, Korean Young Artist Competition and more. He was invited to perform and received the certificate at the 5th Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition in Odense, Denmark that only opens every 4 years. Christopher had been appointed as a principal clarinet of National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Canada, Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra and “VAM” Symphony Orchestra while giving out concerts tour in 12 different cities in North America. For his outstanding musicality, he was selected for “Award of Excellence” with $5,000 scholarship in NYOC. He has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras including Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Pilgrim Orchestra, The Korean Clarinet Orchestra and VYSO. He had been invited again to perform with VSO for the annual concert at the Deer Lake Park in Canada and with The Korean Clarinet Orchestra at Seoul Art Center in South Korea. In 2010, he had become as an executive director of “First Steps Benefit Concert Series” in Vancouver, which has raised approximately $30,000 per concert a year since 2009 at their annual concert benefiting the children in North Korea.
Christopher is currently principal clarinet of Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra and occasionally performs with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Victoria Symphony Orchestra. He is also devoted to teaching and conducting, he joined the clarinet faculty of Vancouver Academy of Music since 2014 and he is the music director of “Jubilate Clarinet Ensemble” and “Vancouver Korean Presbyterian Church’s Choir”.
Julia Lim
Huynjung Julia Lim, a native of Seoul, Korea, began her musical studies under instruction of Prof. Mikyung Park and Prof. Hyunmi Kim. While attending Sunhwa Art School in Seoul, she has won second prize in Eumyeon Music Concour. At the age of thirteen, she has made her solo debut with Hungary Symphony Orchestra. After moving to Vancouver, she had continued her studies with Aurthor Polson, Andrew Dawes and Paul Klings. Huynjung Lim was a grand prize winner of Canadian Music Competition (Toronto, 2003) and Yamaha Scholarship award. She has won numerous prizes in Kiwanis Music Festivals, two time winner of the VYSO concerto competition.
Huynjung Lim achieved her Master’s degree at UBC under Professor Jasper Wood and Bachelor’s Degree at McGill University under instruction of Professor Ellen Jewett and Mark Fewer. Upon entering both school, she was offered an entrance scholarship. While she was studying at UBC, she was selected to perform for Prince Edward’s visit to the school. She also performed for Stephen Harper’s visit to BC. In 2011, she was invited to play with KBS symphony orchestra for international musicians Festival. As a active orchestral musician, Huynjung Lim plays with Vancouver Opera Orchestra, Vancouver Island Symphony and Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra. She occasionally plays with Kamloops Orchestra and Okanagan Symphony Orchestra.
Ross Ling
Violinist Ross Ling was born in Taiwan and currently resides in Vancouver, Canada. Ms. Ling has been involved in various music performances and competitions as she grew up in Taiwan. She has continued her violin studies further under Sharon Stanis, violinist from the Lafayett String Quartet in the University of Victoria. During her four years in the University of Victoria, she was selected to play in many guests master classes with David Stewart, concertmaster of the Bergen Symphony; Yosuke Kawasaki, concertmaster of the NAC orchestra in Canada, Saguenay/Alcan SQ and Layafette SQ. Her quartet was chosen to perform in the open house for the UVic School of Music. She has also won the
top prize in the solo Bach string competition in 2019.
Since 2019, Ms. Ling has been regularly performing and recording with Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, Willington Church orchestra and Elgar String Orchestra. Enthusiastic about teaching, she is a faculty member at the BC conservatory of Music, Music Star Academy and Bonsor community centre, asssisting students to take the RCM exam and to help exploring student’s potential.
Jonathan Lo
Canadian cellist Jonathan Lo has performed in venues such as Alice Tully Hall and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Canadian Opera Company, Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Paleis Het Loo. He has appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Northwest, and the Burnaby Symphony. His chamber music collaborators have included Geoff Nuttall, Robert Levin, Louis Schwizgebel, and the late Lynn Harrell; additionally he has worked closely with composers such as Oliver Knussen, Shulamit Ran, and Osvaldo Golijov.
From 2013 to 2020, he was the founding cellist of the Rolston String Quartet, winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Cleveland Quartet Award. Praised for their “maturity and cohesion rivaling the best string quartets in the world” (Musical Toronto), they performed throughout North America, Europe, and Israel, in such concert halls as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Koerner Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Esterhazy Palace. Jonathan has given masterclasses at the University of Toronto, University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, and La Jolla SummerFest. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, as well as fellowships from the Glenn Gould School and the Yale School of Music. His major teachers include Norman Fischer, Desmond Hoebig, Andrés Díaz, Joel Krosnick, Steven Doane, and Audrey Nodwell.
Noel McRobbie
Born in Winnipeg, Canada, pianist Noel McRobbie first received national attention after receiving top prize at the Eckhardt-Grammatté Piano Competition. In addition, he has received prizes at the CBC Début Concert Artist Series, Grand Konzerteum International Piano Competition, Seiler International Piano Competition, and the University of Michigan Concerto Competition.
Noel’s solo performances include the Steinway Series at the University of South Florida, Vancouver Chopin Society, Eastport Arts Centre in Maine, Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Seoul Arts Centre, and the Asian Composers League at Sejong Chamber Hall. As concerto soloist, he has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Bulgarian Chamber Orchestra, Jeonju Philharmonic Orchestra, Westcoast Symphony, University of Michigan Philharmonia, Dongduk Women’s University Symphony Orchestra and the New Westminster Symphony. Recent performances include the Victoria Conservatory of Music Summer Piano Academy, Turning Point Ensemble, and Canadian Music Centre Concert Series. His performances have been broadcast on CBC radio, and he was featured in International Piano magazine and KBS television’s Classic Odyssey.
For many years, Noel was a student of Lee Kum-Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the University of British Columbia, where he received an Artist Diploma and Bachelor of Music respectively. Other teachers include Arthur Greene, Patricia Zander, and Svetozar Ivanov. He received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory.
Ronald Sat
Extolled as “an excellent pianist” by the Washington Post, Ronald Sat has performed recitals in notable venues across the US including Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, and Lincoln Center in New York City, John F. Kennedy Center and Nation Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., Candlelight Concert Society in Baltimore, La Jolla Chamber Music Society in San Diego, L’ermitage Foundation in Los Angeles and the George Bush Presidential Library in Texas. His foreign engagements have taken him to the Caribbean, Iceland, Portugal, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Macau. Among the notable artists, he has collaborated with include violinist Elmar Oliveira, cellist Hai-Ye Ni, tenor Warren Mok, clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein, the Avalon and Miami String Quartet. In 2001, His debut recording with violinist Judith Ingolfsson on the Catalpa label received critical acclaim in Fanfare Magazine and received the Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award. The duo’s acclaimed performances had also been broadcast on National Public Radio on several occasions.
Mr. Sat earned his Doctor of Musical Arts and Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied solo piano with Olga Radosavljevich and collaborative piano with Anne Epperson. He also holds his Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music and Bachelor of Music from the University of British Columbia. He had also studied at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Aspen Music Festival and Music Academy of the West, and appeared in master classes by renowned artists such as Gilbert Kalish and the Juilliard String Quartet. Ronald Sat is a Steinway artist and founder of PCMA.