Peaks + Prairies Ensemble: 5th Anniversary Concerts
June 2026: Join us for our 5th Anniversary Concerts!
Peaks + Prairies Ensemble: 5th Anniversary Concerts
🎉 Celebrate five vibrant years of music-making with the Peaks + Prairies Ensemble!
🎹 Experience a joyful and inspiring afternoon of richly varied works from across the ages and around the globe, brought to life in beautifully crafted performances from duos to quintets.
🎻 Featuring special guest artists: Banff's very own Solana Frebold (violin) - alumnus of the 2024 Banff International String Quartet Festival, Toronto-based Andrew Park (cello) and Switzerland-based Bragg Creek native Tilman Sandvoss (viola).
• $30 - General Admission
• $15 - Students (at the door)
• Kids under 12 - FREE (at the door)
Andrew Park | Cello
Solana Frebold | Violin
Tilman Sandvoss | Viola
Andrew Park | Cello
It all started when Andrew Park wanted to play the musical saw, but thanks to his mother he now plays the cello. Music has always surrounded Andrew. Whether he was falling asleep to his mother’s Chopin, envying his brother’s Jimi Hendrix like impromptus, or watching his father play the great classics with the Toronto Symphony, all his life, Andrew, has been fascinated by performance and intrigued by the processes of creating art and thanks to many mentors and communities he has performed in festivals around the world traveling to Norway, Mexico, The U.S. and across Canada. He has performed with the likes of Lauryn Hill, Russ & Charlotte Cardin in stadiums across North America, but has also performed with the Toronto Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and remains an active chamber & orchestral musician.
Andrew co-founded “Strings From Paris” in 2022 and has since gone viral online with string arrangements of hip/hop and contemporary R&B music. In 2023/24 Strings From Paris toured with Charlotte Cardin and later Russ for their respective stadium tours performing for 15,000+ people a night across North America. Together with sFp he has performed at Zoomer Hall for 96.3FM Radio Live, at the Stratford Music Festival with Mark Fewer and Yolanda Bruno, and partnered with Candlelight Concerts to present the Bridgerton Netfl ix Series’ showcase after their covers were featured on the show (“POV” & “DJ Got Us Falling In Love”).
Andrew holds a masters degree in cello performance from the University of Toronto, a bachelor’s degree in music performance with a minor in composition from the University of Calgary, and a performance diploma from the Mount Royal Conservatory. He studied with John Kadz, Johanne Perron & Joe Johnson. He helps run the Oakville Suzuki Association and has a full private studio of young aspiring cellists. He coaches the Oakville Youth Symphony Orchestra and regularly travels throughout the GTA giving masterclasses, sectionals and chamber coachings.
Andrew plays on an 1850 Belgian Jean Baptiste Vuillaume copy and is an active member of TMA-149. He currently resides in Toronto’s Davenport area and makes seasonal trips to western Canada. He has recently begun releasing original music on Digital Streaming Platforms such as Apple Music & Spotify, which you can fi nd under his name.
Solana Frebold | Violin
Canadian violinist Solana Frebold began playing at the age of three with her mother, Sonya Frebold. She later studied with Joan Barrett in Calgary, Alberta, where she attended the Mount Royal Conservatory.
A semi-finalist in the Concours Prix d’Europe, she was also awarded First Prize in the Frank Simpson Concerto Competition. She has participated in numerous international training programs including Orford Music, Domaine Forget, Meadowmount School of Music, the Mozarteum International Summer Academy, and the International Music Festival in Kirchberg, Germany. Most recently, she joined the 65th season of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada as a recipient of the Award of Excellence.
An avid chamber musician, Solana has won top prizes in the Canadian Music Competition and the Alberta Provincial Festival. She recently performed in the Domaine Forget Chamber Intensive with violist Steven Dann and violinist Pablo Hernán Benedí, and participated in the Banff International String Quartet Festival, where she performed in the Fifty for the Future project with the Kronos Quartet. This season, she has performed in chamber concerts led by renowned violinists Marianne Piketty and Simon Blendis. Solana has also shared the stage with James Ehnes, the Ehnes Quartet, and Barry Shiffman. In 2024, she served as concertmaster of the Orchestre de la Francophonie under Simon Rivard, performing the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies.
Deeply committed to community engagement, Solana has collaborated with La SAMS (La Société pour les arts en milieux de santé) under the direction of Dr. Andrea Creech, bringing live music to healthcare settings across Quebec. She continues her outreach work with children through the Lane School of Music and through school visits that introduce young students to classical music.
Solana holds an undergraduate degree from McGill University, where she studied with Axel Strauss, and an Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School under the guidance of Erika Raum, where she was awarded the Dr. Neville and Vivienne Poy Scholarship covering full tuition. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music at the University of Toronto with Erika Raum under a full-tuition scholarship and is a recipient of the Irene Miller String Quartet Fellowship.
Tilman Sandvoss | Viola
Tilman Sandvoss is a Canadian violist recognized for his luscious tone, profound musicality & artistic curiosity. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber & orchestral musician, he has appeared in major concert halls around North America & Europe including Carnegie Hall, Tonhalle Zurich, Koerner Hall, Bella Concert Hall, & the Stadtcasino Basel.
He has worked closely with some of today’s most distinguished violists & pedagogues, including Tabea Zimmermann, Lawrence Power, Kim Kashkashian, Antoine Tamestit & Maxim Rysanov.
Tilman has performed alongside members of the Eroica, Chiaroscuro, Chilingirian & the Arditti Quartets. These collaborations reflect his engagement with historically informed performance, as well as contemporary repertoire - leading him to commission, collaborate with & perform works by composers including Vincent Ho, Peter Jancewicz, Brian Current, Jörg Widmann, Julian Anderson & Huw Watkins.
Tilman is the founder & artistic director of Chisel Creek Classical, an international chamber music festival in Western Canada that brings together a new generation of leading artists from around the world to teach & perform over a two week period.
He received his Bachelor of Music (Honours) Degree from The Glenn Gould School with Steven Dann & is currently completing his Master Degree at the Hochschule für Musik Basel with Silvia Simionescu. He performs on a viola made by his father, Christopher Sandvoss.
Highlights of the 2026 season include a chamber music tour on the West Coast of Canada with Kaimerata, appearances at the Las Vegas Chamber Music Festival, Costal Crescendo & a solo performance of the Martinů Rhapsody-Concerto with the Basel Symphonie Orchester.
Nikolai Nesterov | Piano
Born into a family of musicians, pianist Nikolai Nesterov is currently in his first year of a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the University of Montreal, where he studies with Professor Henry Kramer. He previously completed his Bachelor of Music degree in performance at the University of Calgary. An alumnus of the Mount Royal Conservatory’s Academy of Music for the Gifted Youth, Nikolai also graduated from its Advanced Performance Program. His most recent teachers include Dr. Jani Parsons, Marilyn Engle, and his father, Dmitry Nesterov.
Since 2012, Nikolai has been an annual prize and scholarship winner at the Calgary Performing Arts Festival as well as the Canadian Music Competition. In 2022 he became the inaugural recipient of the Gordon Bell Scholarship in Music and Student Experience. For two consecutive years, he was selected for the Young Artists Development Program of Calgary’s Pro Musica where he gained valuable learning and performing experiences. In the summer of 2023, Nikolai had the opportunity to participate at the Gloria Artis Festival in Vienna, Austria, where he also made his debut performance in the Kleiner Ehrbar Saal. During his stay there he had the chance to work with renowned professors such as Lilya Zilberstein, Anna Malikova and Claudius Tanski. In 2024 he was selected as one of the winners of the RBC Concerto Competition at the University of Calgary.
Most recently, he made his debut performance of the first movement of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Nikolai also appeared as a soloist at the 2023 ProArts Society Concert Series, and the 2024 Music @ Noon Series at Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church. Additionally, he performs frequently alongside his parents, pianist Dmitry Nesterov and violinist Olga Kotova. Recent performances of them together include the “Stingray Classical Live at the King Eddy” concert series in 2020, and the ProArts Society Concert Series in 2019. Between 2016 and 2020, Nikolai was a three-time runner-up at the Calgary Concerto Competition. Furthermore, Nikolai is also an active member of the Peaks + Prairies Ensemble, founded by his brother, Lev Nesterov.
Nikolai has also performed and participated at summer music programs such as Orford Musique in Quebec, Alberta PianoFest, and the Comox Summer Youth Music Camp in British Columbia. He had the privilege of working with many renowned musicians including, but not limited to, Evelyn Brancart, David Jalbert, Rolf Bertsch, Jason Cutmore, Frederic Chiu, Jarome Lowenthal, Ursula Oppens, Orli Shaham, and Steven Lubin.
Nikolai is passionate about teaching piano and music theory, as well as regularly volunteering by performing for seniors at various Calgary and area senior homes. Besides music, Nikolai enjoys computer programming, the outdoors, and photography.
Lev Nesterov | Artistic Director & Violin
A versatile artist, Lev Nesterov is a chamber and orchestral musician, arts administrator, artistic director, arranger, instructor, and concert producer striving to create new artistic initiatives in the community.
As a violinist, Lev has performed throughout Canada at numerous music institutions, festivals and concert series, including Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Scotia Festival of Music, National Music Centre, and has recently made his solo and chamber recital debuts at National Art Centre’s Fourth Stage in Ottawa.
Lev is a graduate of the universities of Ottawa and Calgary, where his principal music teachers were Yehonatan Berick, Joan Barrett and Edmond Agopian. In post-graduate studies, Lev completed the Arts Administration and Cultural Management program at Toronto’s Humber College.
Lev is the founder and artistic director of Peaks + Prairies Productions in Alberta. Previously, he also spearheaded the Ottawa Winter Music Festival.
Ji Won Baxter | Vocals
Coming soon.
Julian Kwoun | Composer/Arranger
Julian Hae Yoon Kwoun is a composer, arranger, transcriber, and conductor whose work spans across multiple genres; including classical, jazz, popular, folk, electroacoustic, instrumental and vocal. His most advanced skillsets lay on arrangements and orchestration, keeping a keen eye on the importance of “arranging FOR the players themselves.” As a composer, the environmental surroundings and happenings are what inspires him the most within his works. As a Korean-American, Korean folk music and jazz are used extensively for his compositions. Having been collaborating with various ensembles as a freelance composer and arranger, this has allowed him to conduct his own works and help expand the repertories of the ensembles individually unique to them. An avid enthusiast for handwritten scores, Julian greatly enjoys the process of transcribing scores for the sake of instrumentalists alike. Having tried various instruments throughout his youth and career, this has greatly enhanced his musical ability during his mandatory military service as band composer for the Republic of Korea Air Force Band (ROKAF).
Julian holds a Master of Music (MM) in Music Composition (2024) from Chicago College of Performing Arts(CCPA), Roosevelt University. A Bachelor of Arts (BA) CUM LAUDE in Classical Composition (2018) from Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre(EAMT), Tallinn.
Born in Philadelphia, Julian began violin and piano studies at the age of 5, later taking on clarinet, trumpet, and percussion during middle and high school years after migrating to South Korea in 2007. Around age 15 was when he took composition studies seriously, also having strong interests in score reading and orchestral conducting. After graduating from Gyeonggi Arts High School (2015) as composition major, he took part in the “Curtis Summerfest” as composition major taking masterclasses with David Ludwig and Shinuh Lee. Having studied under Tõnu Kõrvits and Helena Tulve at EAMT, Julian has greatly polished his skills as a skilful orchestrator and gained much delicacy when handling compositions. After studying under Frederick Gifford and Kyong Mee Choi at CCPA for the first year, Covid times has pushed him to finally serve at the Republic of Korea Air Force Band as composer, having been awarded the “Certification of Appreciation” by the United States Air Force. Returning back to CCPA to complete his Master’s has allowed him to study under David Clay Mettens and Matt Mason. He has attended various masterclasses during studies in Estonia, Korea, and the US with Aleksander Kościów, Piotr Borkowski, Spencer Topel, Rezo Kiknadze, Selga Mence, and Daron Hagen. Julian was awarded multiple Academic Scholarships by EAMT, the 1st prize commission from the “New Composer Competition” by the OR Art Ensemble Korea, the winner of the “CCPA String Chamber Music & Composition Collaboration Competition” by CCPA. Julian currently resides in South Korea as a freelance musician, holding titles as ‘Composer in Residence’ for both “Ikaros Ensemble” in Chicago, “Doodlian Percussion Ensemble” in Korea and many more to come. Occasionally, Julian performs as guest timpanist and percussionist for various minor orchestras around South Korea. He is also one of the main musicians associated with Made In Musicb(madeinmusic.co.kr) under copyright agreement with the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA).
♪ J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations (selections), arranged for string trio
♪ G. F. Handel/Halvorsen: Passacaglia for violin and viola
♪ Erno Dohnanyi: String Trio (selections)
♪ Richard Strauss: Variations on a Bavarian Folk Song, for string trio
♪ Georges Enescu: Aubade, for string trio
♪ Hans Krasa: Tanz, for string trio
♪ Astor Piazzolla: Verano Porteno (Summer) from Four Seasons, for piano quintet
~ Intermission ~
♪ Peter Heidrich: Happy Birthday Variations, for string quartet
♪ Pavel Karmanov: String QuaREtet
♪ Arturo Marquez: Danzon No. 2, arranged for piano quintet
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