VICTOR CHENG – Conductor, Co-Founder and Artistic Director
Born in 1983, Victor Cheng has already established himself as a talented and multi-faceted musician. Inspired by Ivars Taurins, he decided to pursue orchestral conducting in 2007 and along with composer Kevin Lau, founded Sneak Peek Orchestra, an endeavor to showcase young talent and premiere works by Canadian composers. Since then, SPO has performed at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts and the Chinese Cultural Centre, and has had the honour of performing with artists such as Shauna Rolston, Molly Johnson, Lucia Cesaroni, and Conrad Chow. Victor was accepted to the NAC Conductor’s Program where he had the opportunity to work with Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne and the National Arts Centre Orchestra under the tutelage of Kenneth Kiesler and Pinchas Zukerman.
Victor’s passion in conducting stemmed from piano lessons with conductor/composer An-Lun Huang as well as his experience as a choir boy at St. Michael’s Choir School, where he specialized in voice, piano and organ. Currently Victor is the assistant conductor of Vocal Horizons Chamber Choir and a member of the Toronto Philharmonia Chorus. He is also the Musical Director and Principal Organist of Our Lady of Annunciation Church.
Victor graduated from University of Toronto with a B.Mus in Jazz Piano Performance. He studied with Gary Williamson, Dave Restivo, performed with jazz icons Dave Young and Terry Clarke, and has had the opportunity to work with Lee Konitz and Renee Rosnes. In 2006, Victor was invited to perform in Kenny Barron’s clinic at the National Arts Centre. As a freelance conductor and pianist, Victor is in popular demand for recording sessions, recitals and concerts, having worked with Toronto Philharmonia, University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, University of Toronto Wind Symphony, Madawasaka String Quartet, Toronto Wind Quintet, Bach Children’s Chorus, and Vocal Horizons Chamber Choir.
KEVIN LAU – Composer in Residence, Co-Founder and Artistic Director
Kevin Lau is active as a composer of contemporary classical music. His first complete composition, Empire of Paradise (1999), was arranged and performed by the Albertan drum corps Allegiance Elite throughout Canada and the United States. Since then, he has had music commissioned and performed by the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, the University of Calgary Brass Choir, the Canadian Composers’ Quartet, the Esprit Orchestra, the Georgian Bay Symphony, the Cecilia String Quartet, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Toronto Philharmonia, Via Salzburg, and Trio sTREga. He has collaborated with renowned performing artists such as Peter Stoll (clarinet), Rachel Mercer (cello), and Scott St. John (violin), and his music has been read by a variety of eminent ensembles which include Eighth Blackbird, the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. . His orchestral composition Fountain of Dreams was selected as the winner of both the 2005 Mississauga Young Composers’ Competition and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra Composer’s Competition in 2008/09. He was recently awarded the 2010 Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music for his composition Starsail.
Kevin is also active in many other areas of composition. In 2006 he wrote the score to the theatre musical Box Office, which was staged seven times at the Tarragon Theatre as part of the 2006 Toronto Fringe Festival. In 2007 he composed the score for a professional video game for Groove Games based on the movie 300. He has written music for over a dozen films, including the feature documentary UFOs: A Secret History, which aired on the History Channel in 2008. Recently, he co-wrote the full-length orchestral score (with Canadian composer Ronald Royer) to Gooby, a Canadian children’s feature film starring Eugene Levy and Robbie Coltrane.
In 2007 Kevin co-founded the Sneak Peek Orchestra with conductor Victor Cheng. Composed primarily of student musicians and emerging professionals from the University of Toronto, the orchestra has premiered four of his works, including his Violin Concerto (with soloist Alexa Wilks) and, most recently, The Water of Life, which was performed at the George Weston Recital Hall (with violinist Conrad Chow) as part of the international charity Free the Children. Kevin lives in Toronto and is currently pursuing his doctorate degree in music composition at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Christos Hatzis. He was appointed composer-in-residence for the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra in 2010.
Website: www.kevinlaumusic.com
TIMOTHY CROUCH - Director of Marketing and Development
Timothy Crouch is an exciting up-and-coming flutist in demand as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician throughout the Toronto area. This past year he was awarded the top prize in the first annual Canadian Flute Association Competition. Mr. Crouch specializes in New Music and this past year performed as Principal Flute for Four Forty by R. Murray Schafer with the Cecilia String Quartet, and performed works by Iannis Xenakis with pianist Adam Sherkin at the Alliance Francaise. He has performed in orchestras under Maestros Peter Oundjian, Julian Kuerti, Johannes Debus and Uri Mayer.
This summer he is excited about performing a number of concerts, including with the Glenn Gould School Wind Trio and a wind quintet at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery Summer Concert Series. He will also be performing with clarinetist Anthony Thompson at Sunnybrook Hospital as part of their Friday afternoon concert series, as well as at Blythwood Baptist Church in Toronto.
Last season Mr. Crouch appeared in many performances both inside and outside of Toronto. At the historic Academy Theatre in Lindsay, ON he performed as part of an ensemble cast in two sold-out productions of Splendour of the Season. He was a special guest artist for the Lindsay Concert Foundation’s annual gala, and performed as guest artist with the Kawartha Male Chorus. He has also performed for the Bobcaygeon Music Council several times as their top bursary winner for the past two years.
In Toronto, Timothy has been heavily involved with burgeoning student-led ensembles. Most notable is the Sneak Peek Orchestra, for which he is not only Principal Flute, but also serves as Executive Director. The group has grown exponentially in scope of a few short years, and this past year premiered works by the Toy Piano Composers and performed works by Toronto composer Kevin Lau in Prelude and Symphony. Mr. Crouch is a regular performer with the Toy Piano Composers, a group of Toronto composers that have works premiered throughout Toronto. He is also a founding member of the Blythwood Wind Quintet, which premiered this year at Blythwood Baptist Church and at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Mr. Crouch is a native of Fenelon Falls, ON, where he enjoys spending time at home sailing, kayaking and swimming. He received his Bachelor of Music from University of Western Ontario, his Master of Music from the University of Toronto, and has his Artist Diploma and ARCT from The Royal Conservatory. He currently studies with Leslie Newman.
Website: www.timcrouch.ca
SAMUEL BISSON – Financial Director
Samuel Bisson is a Toronto based cellist who recently completed a Master’s degree at the University of Toronto under the direction of Roman Borys. He has previously studied with Julian Armour and Paul Marleyn at the University of Ottawa, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree. He has had the pleasure to play for many renowned cellists and chamber musicians including Janos Starker, Hans Jorgen Jensen, Paul Katz, the St-Lawrence String Quartet, Mark Fewer, and Angela Hewitt.
Samuel performs frequently as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. He has performed with renowned Canadian piano trio, the Gryphon Trio and performs regularly as part of the Passport Duo with pianist, Nadia Boucher. Samuel currently holds the position of principal cellist with both the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in Markham, Ontario and the Sneak Peek Orchestra in Toronto. He has also appeared as principal and section cellist with Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and has played under the direction of Timothy Vernon, Pinchas Zukerman and Jean-Philippe Tremblay.
Samuel has performed and participated in festivals across Canada including the National Arts Centre Young Artist Program, Scotia Festival of Music, and the Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival. He has also been a guest of the Toronto Arts and Letters Club, and the Midday Music with Shigeru concert series in Barrie, ON. Samuel has also been the recipient of many awards over the years as a solo performer as well as with chamber groups and as a composer.
Samuel has a special interest in new and unknown music and has an ease with a broad range of musical styles. He regularly performs premieres of new works and has been a guest of Toronto’s New Music Festival for two years. Beyond cello performance, Samuel is a composer and has had many works performed by ensembles across the country and recently completed scoring music for a short film for the National Film Board of Canada.
Website: www.passportduo.com
MARGARET LAM – General Manager & Music Librarian
Part designer, part music researcher, part information professional (in any order you’d like), Margaret is a great believer in interdisciplinary collaborations. Her work involves systems and platforms that can be used for the preservation and transmission of human knowledge from different cultures and communities around the world. Currently, Margaret is tackling this question within the domain of music and relating the findings to address issues related to information retrieval, classification, knowledge organization, and system design, within institutional and everyday contexts for music learning and research. She has been a part of the SPO executive team since the beginning, with the name of the orchestra being the first of many “behind the scenes” contributions to the group.
Website: www.margism.com