2024 Robson-Truong

The Robson-Truong Duo

Sound and Colour: Pictures at a 21st Century Exhibition

Sunday March 17, 2024, 2:00pm

MERA Schoolhouse, McDonald's Corners

Cellist Fiona Robson and pianist Raymond Truong met at the Scotia Festival of Music in 2017, united by Brahms’s magnificent piano quintet. Since then they have performed together often as a duo in masterclasses, house concerts, and recitals in London, Halifax and Toronto, including at the St James Westminster Church Chamber Music Series. Excited by the exploration of contemporary music and Canadian composers in particular, in 2024 they will give the North American premier of a piece written for them by Canadian Chris Goddard. In 2018, they premiered an original piano reduction for Philip Glass’ Cello Concerto No. 1 for the composer himself at Scotiafest. They plan to continue their musical collaboration performing an ever-expanding collection of classical and contemporary repertoire for cello and piano across Canada and beyond.

Fiona Robson

Canadian cellist Fiona Robson (born 1997) finished her Master’s degree in cello performance at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in June 2022, studying in the class of Marc Coppey and Pauline Bartissol. She completed a Bachelor of Music performance with a minor in music theory at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in 2019, with Matt Haimovitz. A native of London, Ontario, Fiona studied with Julia MacGregor for ten years, and fell in love with chamber music at a young age thanks to Forest City School for Talent Education.

Particularly enamoured with string quartet playing, Fiona founded the Quatuor Magenta in Paris in 2021. The quartet quickly earned its place on top stages across Europe, as finalists at the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna (2023) and participants in the Geneva International Music Competition (2023). The Quatuor Magenta studies with the Quatuor Ébène at their quartet academy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, with the Quatuor Modigliani in the new Élite program at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and with Rainer Schmidt of the Hagen Quartett at the Basel University of Music.

Fiona was a founding member of the Lafontaine String Quartet in 2018, with whom she won the 2018 McGill University chamber music competition and was semi-finalist of the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Enthusiastic about chamber music of all kinds, Fiona formed Duo Névé in 2021 with pianist Elsa Bonnet, with whom she participated in the prestigious Concours International de Musique de Chambre de Lyon in April 2022. Back in North America, Fiona regularly performs recitals and outreach projects with her duo partner pianist Raymond Truong, and has collaborated with Jonathan Crow, Scott St John, Sharon Wei, John Novacek, Barry Shiffman, and Uri Caine, among others. As a member of Matt Haimovitz’s Grammy-nominated cello ensemble Uccello, Fiona performed on tour in Toronto, Montreal, New York City and Berlin, including a collaboration with author Cornelia Funke.

As a soloist, Fiona has performed concerti by Haydn, Lalo, Tchaikovsky, and Gulda with various orchestras in London, ON. She was a finalist in the 2018 McGill Classical Concerto Competition, the 2017 Orchestra Toronto Concerto Competition and won second place at the 2015 Canadian Music Competition Nationals in Vancouver.

Fiona has participated in numerous festivals including Musique à Flaine, Toronto Summer Music Festival, the McGill International String Quartet Academy, Encore Chamber Music, Domaine Forget, and Orford Music Academy. She has performed in masterclasses for world-renowned musicians such as Pieter Wispelwey, Gary Hoffman, Philippe Muller, Antonio Lysy, and Martin Beaver. She was a member of the 2016 National Youth Orchestra of Canada and was principal cello of the McGill Symphony Orchestra, McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble and McGill Opera Orchestra. In 2018 Fiona commissioned an original piano reduction for Philip Glass’ Cello Concerto No. 1, arranged by Henri Colombat and authorized by Dunvegan Publishing Inc, which she performed for Philip Glass at Scotia Festival of Music.

Committed to music outreach and teaching, Fiona was on staff at the National Music Camp of Canada for four years and has performed and organized workshops at schools in Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and remote communities in the Northwest Territories.

Fiona plays a cello made in 2020 by German luthier Ragnar Hayn.

Raymond Truong

Collaborative pianist Raymond Truong received his Doctorate in collaborative piano at Western University in 2021, under the tutelage of John Hess. He has also had the opportunity to work with renowned singers and collaborative pianists, including Andrew Armstrong, Rudolf Jansen, Julius Drake, Robert Holle, and Emily Ameling at the Franz-Schubert-Institut. One of Raymond’s passions is to work in settings that involve the local community so he can share his craft and love for music. He is the founder of one of Ontario’s most successful music schools: The Little Chopin Academy (www.littlechopin.ca).

The Robson-Truong Duo
Sunday March 17, 2024, 2:00pm
MERA Schoolhouse, McDonald's Corners

Tickets are $30 plus fees at Tickets Please