Transformation
The Music of J.S. Bach
February 24th - 28th, 2026
Artist Biographies
Emmanuel Arakélian
Originally from Avignon, Emmanuel Arakélian has, from a very young age, developed a passion for ancient and modern keyboards; initially trained at the Regional Conservatory of Toulon, then at the National Conservatory of Paris, he simultaneously studied the organ, the harpsichord, the basso continuo as well as chamber music under the guidance of such leading figures as Pascal Marsault, Olivier Latry, Michel Bouvard, Olivier Baumont and Blandine Rannou.
Awarded numerous international prizes, and regularly hosted in renowned festivals, Emmanuel Arakélian has little by little established himself as one of the leaders of his generation, due to his versatility and knowledge of the repertoire, on organ and harpsichord.
He is invited to famous festivals, both in France and abroad, including the musical season of Radio- France, the Roquevaire Organ Festival, the Festival International des Grandes-Orgues de Chartres, the Royaumont Foundation, the Festival de Saintes, not forgetting the Bach festival in Lausanne (Switzerland), the Mozartfest of Würzburg (Germany), the festival of early music in Utrecht (The Netherlands), and other venues in Spain, Italy, Switherland, the Czech Republic and Canada.
Emmanuel Arakélian plays with equal interest the contemporary repertoire, namely composers like Vincent Paulet, Valery Aubertin, Edith Canat-Chizy, Thierry Escaich or Bernard Foccroulle, who frequently appear on the programmes of his concerts.
As the tenured organist on the legendary Great-Organ Isnard of the Basilica of Saint-Maximin, he has created, in partnership with the local authorities, the Summer festival known as ‘Harmonies d’orgue’, and the ‘renaissance de l’académie de Saint-Maximin’ of which he is the artistic director.
In November 2016, he became the seventh ‘Young Artist in Residence’ at the Cathedral of New Orleans (Louisiana), which got him for almost six months to perform regularly on several of the great scenes of North-America.
Very committed to passing his art on, Emmanuel Arakélian has been a professor of organ at the ‘Pierre Barbizet’ Regional Conservatory of Marseille since 2019.
Learn more at: Emmanuel Arakelian
Marc Destrubé
Destrube finds the right balance of elegant lyricism and virtuosic brilliance.
- The Australian
Canadian violinist Marc Destrube is a musical polymath - soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, orchestral leader and teacher - whose career straddles the contemporary and “early music” worlds.
Marc grew up in Victoria BC and started violin lessons at 9. Following studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, he attended the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario and became an active freelancer.
He was a founding member of Tafelmusik in Toronto and was soon invited to play with leading early music orchestras and ensembles in Europe.
He’s traveled the world and made dozens of recordings as co-concertmaster of the Orchestra of the 18th Century. He’s led the Belgian ensemble Anima Eterna, the Academy of Ancient Music and the Hanover Band. He’s toured with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and is concertmaster of the Oregon Bach Festival Baroque Orchestra. He’s been concertmaster of the CBC Radio Orchestra and music director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra.
Today, he’s a member of the Axelrod String Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., which plays on the museum’s exceptional collection of Stradivari and Amati instruments; Vancouver’s Turning Point Ensemble, which specializes in contemporary music, and the Microcosmos Quartet, whose repertoire ranges far and wide.
Above all one can’t sufficiently praise the restraint and taste of Marc Destrubé’s playing in his double role as leader and soloist.
- Michael Miller, New York Arts, NYC
Learn more at: marcdestrube.com
Krisztina Szabó
Lauded for her “supple, pliant” voice and “considerable emotional range” (Opera Canada), Hungarian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó is widely recognized for her refined musicianship and compelling stage presence. In the 2025/26 season, she made her Manitoba Opera debut as Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, returned to Tafelmusik and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah, and premiered two works by composer Jeffrey Ryan: Miss Carr in Seven Scenes with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Mother/Land with the Vancouver Bach Choir. Her 2026/27 season includes Messiah with Symphony Nova Scotia and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Miss Carr in Seven Scenes with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Requiem with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.
Krisztina’s extensive concert repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with The Cleveland Orchestra and Orchestre symphonique de Québec; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Music of the Baroque; and Mozart’s Requiem with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
A graduate of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Szabó performs regularly across Canada and Europe. She made her debuts at Dutch National Opera and the Royal Opera House in George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence, later recorded for a Grammy-nominated album. She is the Chair in Voice at the Glenn Gould School.
Soile Stratkauskas
Finnish-born Soile Stratkauskas loves the conversational and warm nature of baroque music and period instruments, which led her to specialize in early flutes. Soile performs regularly as soloist and principal flutist with the Vancouver-based Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and local ensemble, Victoria Baroque, which she founded in 2011. Soile gained her Master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and while living in the UK, she performed and toured with many prominent period instrument orchestras, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Gabrieli Consort and Players.
Soile is passionate about creating opportunities for sharing music in the community. She teaches baroque flute at the University of British Columbia and the Conservatory’s Baroque Summer Intensive Program, and is the Education and Outreach Officer with the Victoria Symphony. Outside music, Soile enjoys spending time outdoors with her dog, Vilma, and husband, David.
Abraham Ross
Abraham Ross enjoys an active career as a concert organist, harpsichordist, and director, presenting imaginative programmes informed by the most recent research on performance practice, technology, and musicological context. His accolades include appearances in international competitions, research grants from Quebec’s Fonds de Recherche en Societé et Culture and McGill University, and performances with Resonance Collective (Los Angeles), the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and Apollo’s Fire Baroque Orchestra. He values collaboration with other artists regardless of discipline and has appeared with various groups across North America, in Argentina, and in Europe.
Drawing on both findings in primary sources and the most recent performance science, Abraham’s repertory ranges from the earliest written sources to music by living composers. His recital programming reflects his commitment to diversifying the canon of western repertory and regularly features works of neglected and underrepresented composers. Collaborations with living composers enable Abraham to give several national or world-premieres each year. He has also given the modern-day premieres of numerous unfinished, reconstructed, and recently discovered works.
Abraham’s formative musical studies took place in his hometown of Bangor, Maine on an 1860 organ by American organbuilders E. & G. G. Hook, an experience that inspired him to take up the organ as a career. He now serves on the board of St. John’s Organ Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of that instrument.
Learn more at: Abraham Ross
Natalie Mackie
Natalie Mackie studied cello at the Conservatoire de Musique (Québec), followed by a degree from the School of Music, University of British Columbia. While at UBC she was introduced to the viola da gamba, and following graduation, she pursued further studies at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague.
Natalie has played with many ensembles in Canada and the US, including New World Consort, Les Coucous Bénévoles, Tafelmusik, Portland, and Seattle Baroque Orchestras, Les Voix Humaines, Tempo Rubato, Les Voix Baroque, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Victoria Baroque Players, and Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra among others.
Natalie is a member of Pacific Baroque Orchestra and the chamber ensemble “La Modestine”- both Vancouver-based ensembles.
She has toured throughout Canada, Europe, and the US and recorded for Radio France, German Radio, BBC, CBC, and NPR, as well as the Canadian label Atma Classique.
Natalie is a regular performer in the Pacific Baroque Festival, held annually in Victoria, BC, and teaches in the Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Program at the University of British Columbia.
Curtis Foster
Curtis Foster, Baroque oboe and recorder, whose playing has been praised for its “brilliantly introverted charm” (Seattle Times), has appeared with many of North America’s most respected early music ensembles, including Handel & Haydn Society, Les Boréades de Montréal, the Seattle and Pacific Baroque Orchestras, and Victoria Baroque Players. He has also performed with Portland Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Arion, and Mercury.
In the summer, he can typically be found performing or teaching at various festivals, including the San Francisco Early Music Society’s Baroque workshop, the Oregon Bach Festival, Vancouver Bach Festival, Victoria Baroque
Instrumental Academy, and the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival.
In demand as a pedagogue and mentor, Mr. Foster has taught Baroque oboe as part of the Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Programme at the University of British Columbia, and is regularly invited to present workshops and masterclasses around the US and Canada. He can be heard on recordings from ATMA Classique, Naxos, Cedille Records, and IU Press.
Originally hailing from Wichita, Kansas, Curtis holds degrees from Wichita State University and Indiana University’s Early Music Institute. He is delighted to have recently relocated to the Twin Cities, where he has been appointed Executive Director of Lyra Baroque.
Kathryn Wiebe
Originally from Windsor, Ontario, Kathryn is an active & versatile freelance violinist and educator on Vancouver Island. Her passionate and intuitive musicianship has brought her the opportunity to perform with distinguished ensembles around Canada, in orchestral, chamber, and solo opportunities. Currently, she regular performs with the Victoria Symphony, Victoria Baroque Players, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Pacific Baroque Festival, and has appeared as a guest leader/violinist for Per Sonatori Baroque Ensemble in Regina, Saskatchewan. She can be heard on various CBC In Concert broadcasts, as well as the album, “La riche canadienne: The Music of Elinor Dunsmuir”, a local project which premieres a collection of post-romantic, recently-unearthed chamber works by the fascinating Canadian composer.
She studied at the University of Toronto and University of Michigan under the tutelage of the late Yehonatan Berick as a merit scholar. Over the years, she has brought her talent various music festivals, including the Berwick Academy at the Oregon Bach Festival, Brott Music Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Domaine Forget, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and Interlochen Centre for the Arts.
As an educator, Kathryn has a private studio of budding musicians, and has been an adjudicator for Campbell River and Cowichan Valley Music Festivals. She is also currently on faculty as Violin Coach and Orchestra/Ensemble conductor and organizer at the Comox Valley Youth Music Centre.
As a busy entrepreneur, Kathryn is the owner, artistic director, and avid arranger of Cascadia Strings, a highly sought-after, award-winning professional event music company, as well as a concert chamber ensemble, providing live music and unique concert experiences from Victoria to Whistler and everywhere in between. In this venture, Kathryn’s goal is to bridge the gap between classical music and more popular genres, bringing audiences of all demographics and interests to live concerts.
Kathryn lives in Esquimalt with her husband and musical partner, Tyson Doknjas, as well as their delightful 2 year old son, Aidan. Kathryn and Tyson enjoy performing concerts together, under the name of “Sombrio Duo”, both independently, and through organizations such as Health Arts Society, where they have the opportunity to perform at various retirement and assisted living homes. They especially enjoy unearthing rarely-heard or performed works for two violins, as well as arranging their own renditions of other repertoire for the unique instrumentation.
Check out her website at: kathrynwiebe.com
Joanna Hood
Violist, Joanna Hood is an avid chamber music player both in modern and period styles. She is a founding member of the Lafayette String Quartet, formed in 1986 and based at the University of Victoria. She is the violist of the Historically informed performance groups, The Loma Mar Quartet, founded in 1997 and the DNA Quintet formed in 2008, both based in New York. Their first recording of the newly discovered chamber works of Domenico Dragonetti won the prestigious Classical Recording Foundation Award in 2009.
Joanna has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Victoria Baroque Players, Early Music Vancouver, Seattle and Pacific Baroque Orchestras, Pacific Music Works, Oregon Bach Festival, and The Serenade Orchestra.
Hood was a student of Isadore Tinkleman, Abraham Skernick and baroque violinist Stanley Ritchie. She plays on a viola labeled Johan Samuel Fritsche, 1805, and a viola by Edmond Aireton, 1754.
Joanna has recorded for the EMI, Tzadik, Dorian, CBC, Adlar, and Vervue labels.
William Skeen
William Skeen serves as Principal Cellist with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and Voices of Music. He is a founding member of the New Esterházy Quartet, Cantata Collective, and La Monica. William taught baroque cello and viola da gamba at the University of Southern California for two decades. Mr. Skeen has appeared as continuo cellist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and San Diego Opera; viola da gamba soloist multiple times with the Dallas Symphony, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Carmel Bach Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, the American Bach Soloists, and the Orquesta Nacional de México. He has also performed the role of Principal Cellist with American Bach Soloists, Pacific Music Works, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Musica Angelica, the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra, and Bach Collegium San Diego.
In 2012, William was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance for “The Kingdoms of Castille” with El Mundo. In 2022, he received a second Grammy nomination for “American Originals” featuring Reginald Mobley and AGAVE. Mr. Skeen has toured and recorded with many early music ensembles including Smithsonian Chamber Players, Musica Pacifica, El Mundo, AGAVE, the New Esterházy Quartet, La Monica, and Philharmonia Chamber Players. William has served on the faculty of the American Bach Soloists Academy, the San Francisco Early Music Society’s Baroque Workshop, and co-founded the SFEMS Classical Workshop with Kati Kyme. He is currently on the faculty of the Berwick Academy at the Oregon Bach Festival.
The Pacific Baroque Festival is co-presented by the Victoria Conservatory of Music and Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria
The Pacific Baroque Festival is sponsored by the Renaissance Retirement Residence and The Magnolia Hotel.
Special room rate for Festival attendees at The Magnolia Hotel & Spa
