Müge Büyükçelen-Badel

Violin 1

Müge Büyükçelen is a Turkish-Canadian violinist, chamber musician, and dedicated pedagogue based in Victoria, BC. She is currently Co-Head of the Strings Department at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and Co-Artistic Director of the Gary Karr Young Artist Performance Academy. A founding member and first violinist of the Emily Carr String Quartet, she has also served as concertmaster with ensembles such as Aventa and the Galiano Ensemble, and has appeared as acting assistant concertmaster and concertmaster with the Victoria Symphony.

Müge’s solo performances include concertos by Beethoven, Barber, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Vivaldi, Ligeti, and contemporary composers such as Michael Oesterle, Jared Miller, Cameron Wilson, and Yannick Plamondon. She has premiered numerous works and appeared at festivals including Music by the Sea, the Adelaide Music Festival, and the Auckland New Music Festival.

Equally passionate about teaching, Müge has been a violin instructor and chamber music coach at the Victoria Conservatory of Music since 2001, where her students have gone on to distinguished careers.She has also coached with the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra, Comox Valley Youth Music Centre, and numerous summer academies across Canada.

Her early training began at the Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory in Istanbul under Gülden Turalı, followed by advanced studies at Bilkent University with Server Ganiyev, where she earned both her Bachelor and Master of Music. Further studies took her to France at the Toulouse National Conservatory and international residencies at The Banff Centre and Stanford University, working with renowned mentors such as Burkhard Godhoff, Ayla Erduran, Victor Pikaizen, Kolja Lessing, and the St. Lawrence and Kronos Quartets.

Müge is also an active adjudicator, having served on juries for the Juno Awards, Friends of Canadian Music Award, and the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, as well as on grant panels for the Canadian New Music Network and the BC Arts Council.

Her artistry has been recognized with first prizes in the International Violin Competition of the Turkish Cultural Ministry and the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival, as well as grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the BC Arts Council.

Cory Balzer

Violin 2

Cory Balzer began playing the violin and piano at the age of five in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta. Since his early days studying violin with Dr. Lise Elson at the Mount Royal College, he has gone on to perform in recitals and concerts throughout Canada, US, Australia, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. He has performed in venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House to Sidney BC.

Following completion of a Bachelor of Music Performance degree at McGill University, Cory played for two seasons in Les Jeunes Virtuoses de Montreal. As a member of the Cartier String Quartet, he was a winner in the Debut Young Concert Artists Series and performed on CBC and Radio Canada on several occasions. Cory continued his studies with Kenneth Goldsmith at Rice University in Houston, Texas where he earned a Master of Music degree.

In 1997 Cory moved to Victoria to join the Victoria Symphony. He spent the 2000 and 2001 seasons playing with the Trius quartet at the Shaw Theatre Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake ON. The quartet performed bi-weekly concerts in addition to being heard in various plays and musicals for Shaw Festival. The quartet also embarked on a Rocky Mountain Tour bringing music to many smaller towns in Alberta and BC. Cory has also played at the Charlottetown Festival and has participated in festivals at the Banff Centre, Stanford University, Snowbird (Utah) and Meadowmount School of Music.

Cory has been a member of the Galiano Ensemble since 2001 and a founding member of the Emily Carr String Quartet since 2006.

Mieka Michaux

Viola

Originally from Victoria, B.C., Mieka Michaux is a versatile orchestral and chamber musician performing in many ensembles on both modern and baroque viola and violin.

Mieka holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Victoria, B.C. and a Master of Music from Rice University in Houston, Texas. She has also attended the Music Academy of the West, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Orford Centre for the Arts and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. Her principal teachers include Yasuko Eastman, Joanna Hood, Karen Ritscher, and Karen Tuttle.

She is a core member of the Victoria Symphony and also regularly performs with one of Canada’s finest new music groups, the Aventa Ensemble, the newly formed ensemble, Victoria Baroque Players and the Emily Carr String Quartet. She has also performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Vancouver Island Symphony, Galiano Ensemble and Pacific Baroque Orchestra.

Alasdair Money

Cello

Cellist, Alasdair Money grew up in Victoria and studied with James Hunter for many years at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. He graduated in 1991 from the Associate in Musical Arts Diploma program and went on to complete a Bachelor of Music degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. While there, he studied with Lawrence Lesser and Michael Haber. After graduating from NEC in 1995, Alasdair went to England to study in London with Raphael Wallfisch at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he received a post-graduate diploma in cello performance.

Alasdair has attended such festivals as Banff and Orford in Canada and the Dartington, Evian and Verbier music festivals in England and in Europe. While back in Canada, Alasdair works with the Victoria and Vancouver Island symphonies, the Emily Carr String Quartet, the Odyssey String Quartet, the Galiano and Aventa ensembles and has played with the Vancouver Symphony orchestra. He also completed a Master of Music degree in cello performance at the University of Victoria where he studied with Pamela Highbaugh-Aloni and Paula Kiffner.