David McFadden

studied violin at the Royal Conservatory of Music receiving his ARCT diploma with First Class Honours. He  continued his studies at the University of Toronto and the Utrecht’s Conservatorium in Holland. He performed  regularly with the Toronto Symphony for 16 seasons as well as being active in the recording studio and  freelance music scene of Toronto. The long list of affiliations includes the Canadian Opera Company,  National Ballet, Kitchener Symphony, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Symphony Nova Scotia. His varied  career has taken him from chamber music to musical theatre where he was Concertmaster for shows like  Ragtime, ShowBoat and Sunset Blvd. Other shows include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat  and Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast.

Other ventures have included recordings and concerts with a wide range of musical styles and performers  such as Ray Charles, Liza Minelli, Bobby Vinton, Peter Gabriel, Donny Osmond, Andrea Bocelli, Blue  Rodeo, and Josh Grobin to name a few.

Mr. McFadden is actively involved in music ministry with his wife Julie in the local church and beyond. They  are the Program Directors of Worship Ministry at the Muskoka Bible Centre since 2019. David teaches  strings privately out of his music studio in Midhurst and also runs Bravura House, maker of all levels of  stringed instruments and accessories, providing sales and rentals to string players across North America.  David continues study in advanced violin repair, bow making, and bow rehairing & repair at the University  of New Hampshire’s Violin Craftsmanship Institute. David McFadden has served as the Concertmaster of  the Huronia Symphony for over 20 years.

http://www.bravurahouse.com

LYDIA MUNCHINSKY

Cellist, pianist, recording artist, composer

Lydia Munchinsky is originally from Straffordville, Ontario. She began her piano studies at the  age of 4 and cello when she was 10. She completed her ARCT in performance for both piano  and cello before coming to Toronto in 2000 to study cello with Simon Fryer and piano with Peter  Longworth at The Glenn Gould School of Music. Her previous teachers include Dorothy Jones  and Karen Rowell (piano), and Amanda Keesmaat and Julia MacGregor (cello). At the ages of  10 and 12, Lydia participated in the International Suzuki Conventions in Australia and Korea,  where she performed for Dr. Sininchi Suzuki and worked with Haruko Kataoka. She spent 3  months as a language exchange student in France when she was 16 years old and, the year  after graduating high school, backpacked across Europe with her cello for 5 months, spending 3  of those months in Switzerland at the International Christian Study and Philosophy Centre l’Abri.

Since completing the Performance Diploma Program at the GGS, Lydia’s eclectic performance  experience has included playing for Stage West and Theatre Aquarius, Dr. Draw, and Sarah  Slean. She was a member of the Venuti String Quartet, the Array Ensemble and the Canadian  Folk Music Award nominated chamber-folk group Ozere. She has premiered solo cello and  chamber music works by many Canadian and Austrian composers and gives recitals regularly,  some of which have been recorded by CBC and CIUT radio. Lydia also toured extensively  across North America and Korea with Quartetto Gelato, usually with her baby daughter in tow,  and is featured on their album “All Original, 100% Canadian.” She has recorded soundtracks for  films and tv scores including “Percy”, “The Breadwinner”, “The White Lie”, and “Astronaut”.  Besides recording albums with Ozere and Quartetto Gelato, Lydia also recorded with, among  others, Alessia Cara, Jesse Cook, Sarah Slean, Mike Janzen, The Great Lake Swimmers, Royal  Wood, The Weather Station, and Laila Biali. Since purchasing her own recording equipment at  the beginning of the lockdowns in 2020, Lydia has discovered a new passion for writing and  recording her own music and cello arrangements. Since 2020, she has co-written and recorded  3 albums and a number of singles with BC pianist Cory Alstad, some of which were released  through the Aemeralds record label and for the Music Supervisors library in the UK.

Besides teaching privately since the age of sixteen, Lydia also taught for two years with Sistema  Toronto in Parkdale and currently teaches at the Toronto School for Strings and the Kingsway  School of Music. She has two children, and can often be found making sourdough bread and ice  cream when she’s not making music.