Announcing the 2022 London Symphonia Fellows
Western students awarded five Fellowships with London Symphonia
Congratulations to five Don Wright Faculty of Music string students who have been selected as the inaugural Fellows of the new London Symphonia Fellowship program.
London Symphonia, in coordination with Western Music, is pleased to announce the winners of five one-year fellowship positions with London Symphonia:
Patricio Flores, violin
Yanet Campbell Secades, violin
Meika Sonntag, viola
Tasman Tantasawat, viola
Ethan Allers, cello
The London Symphonia Fellowship program is a new initiative funded by Western’s Strategic Priorities Fund. Starting in December, these young musicians will join the Symphonia for all of the main stage full orchestra programs for the 2022-2023 season. They will receive regular mentorship and feedback from members of London Symphonia and will be paid for their work during all rehearsals and concerts.
Additionally, there will also be a workshop in February 2023 open to full-time Western students, with advice about succeeding at auditions, offering a full package of orchestral training and experience.
London Symphonia concertmaster and director of Western's Early Music Studio Joseph Lanza notes: ”Congratulations to our winners, and to all of the students who auditioned! The standard was high and choosing winners was sometimes very difficult. The entire audition committee is both impressed and excited about these wonderful young musicians! They will bring inspiration and energy to our entire orchestra.”
Pictured left to right
top row: Patricio Flores, Yanet Campbell Secades, Meika Sonntag,
bottom row: Tasman Tantasawat, Ethan Allers
Musician biographies
Patricio Flores, violin
Patricio Flores is a multifaceted musician that engages in solo, chamber, and orchestral playing, as well as performance research and education. He has performed as a member of various prestigious performing organizations, such as Magisterra Soloists, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Patricio is the recipient of several performing prizes, such as the Thomastik-Infeld Outstanding String Player Award and the Kiwanis Foundation Award. His passion for sharing music has led him to co-create and perform in the Toca Chamber Collective, with his main administrative role being to organize performance logistics. Having begun his violin studies at the age of 8 with Sebastian Kwapisz, Patricio is currently studying with Annette-Barbara Vogel at Western University as a recipient of the Gordon Jeffery Endowment.
Yanet Campbell Secades, violin
Born in Camagüey, Cuba, violinist Yanet Campbell Secades is an accomplished soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Her skilled and sensitive playing has enabled her to perform in some of the most important venues in Cuba, Europe, North America, and the Caribbean. In 2015, she won the first prize at Cuba’s prestigious Unión de Artistas y Escritores Cubanos competition, and in 2019 she was awarded 2nd prize, in the strings category, within the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals’ National Competition.
Yanet has performed in major international music festivals such as the Rheingau Musik Festival in Germany and the Mozartwoche in Austria. She received a Master of Music from Memorial University of Newfoundland and an Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Currently, Yanet is pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Western Ontario, under the tutelage of Professor Annette-Barbara Vogel. Her past mentors include her own father, Sydney Campbell and violinists Nancy Dahn, Erika Raum and Paul Kantor.
Meika Sonntag, viola
Meika Sonntag is a third year undergraduate student at the University of Western Ontario. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in viola performance under the tutelage of Professor Sharon Wei. Meika is originally from Regina Saskatchewan and began her musical studies at the age of three. Her history of orchestral work includes two years as a utility violist with the Regina Symphony Orchestra as well as performances alongside many talented musicians such as Michael Bublé and the 2Cellos. She greatly enjoys performing chamber music and was awarded first place in the chamber music portion of the National Music Festival with the Fiearro String Quartet in 2018.
Tasman Tantasawat, viola
Tasman Tantasawat is a violist from Thailand currently studying the Master in Music Performance degree program under the guidance of Sharon Wei. Tasman came to Canada in 2014 and spent most of his time in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he received his Bachelor of Music Degree in music performance from Dalhousie University. He is currently in his final year of the Master in Music program at the University of Western Ontario and is expected to graduate in the spring of 2023.
Tasman has played in an orchestra since he was 10 years old in Thailand, and he continued to be involved in many orchestras during his time in Canada. He was the principal violist for the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra for two years, and he was awarded winner of the Concerto Night competition, subsequently performing with Dalhousie Symphony orchestra as a soloist in 2021. Tasman has performed in multiple music festivals, most recently participating in the Scotia Festival of Music 2022 in Halifax. He was accepted into the renowned National Youth Orchestra of Canada for their 2022 tour, where he performed in multiple cities across Ontario and Quebec.
Ethan Allers, cello
A cellist from Victoria B.C., Ethan Allers’ seventeen year career has been shaped by the instruction of various teachers across Canada, including John Kadz, Yuri Hooker and Brian Yoon. He has collaborated with many artists including Canadian composer Vincent Ho as well as National Arts Centre Orchestra principals Yosuke Kawasaki, Joel Quarrington, Jethro Marks, and David Marks, for a performance of Strauss’ Metamorphosen.
During his undergraduate degree, Ethan won the University of Ottawa concerto competition and performed the Elgar Cello Concerto with the University Orchestra conducted by John-Philippe Tremblay. He has also had the pleasure of performing at the NAC’s Fourth Stage uOttawa concert series with various chamber groups and as a solo artist. Under the tutelage of Paul Marleyn, Ethan most recently completed his Master’s of Music at the University of Ottawa. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at Western University studying under Tom Wiebe.
