Guest artists at this year’s PRISMA Festival include VSO’s Henry Shapard and Dutch oboist Pauline Oostenrijk

Events takes place at venues across Powell River from June 12 to 24

SPONSORED POST BY Prisma Festival

Dutch oboist Pauline Oostenrijk.

The 11th annual PRISMA Festival & Academy is being held from June 12 to 24 in Powell River, featuring collaboration between world-renowned guest artists and ultra-talented international students.

Musicians taking part in the event come from organizations as close by as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Victoria Symphony, and from countries abroad such as the Netherlands and the U.S.

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra musicians participating in the event include principal cellist Henry Shapard; principal violist Hung-Wei Huang; associate principal trumpet player Marcus Goddard; and principal bass player Dylan Palmer, all of whom have been to PRISMA before.

Shapard is currently the youngest member of the VSO at 24 years old—and on top of that, he’s the youngest principal cellist playing in a major orchestra. The talented musician has served as assistant conductor of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, and music director of both the Berkeley College Orchestra and Saybrook College Orchestra.

The VSO’s principal horn player Olivier de Clerq is also coming back to PRISMA for the first time since 2018, and principal harpist Alyssa Katahara is joining for the first time ever.

From farther afield, horn player Leelanee Sterrett is attending PRISMA this year. She performs with the world-renowned New York Philharmonic, one of the top orchestras in the world.

Other exciting guest artists joining from abroad include Dutch violinist, Carla Leurs, who performed for the Dutch queen at the age of 7 years old, clarinetist Alain Desgagné, of the Montréal Symphony Orchestra; oboist Pauline Oostenrijk, who was principal oboe player in the Netherlands’ Residentie Orchestra The Hague for 25 years; and flutist Janet Arms, who has been a member of the New York City Opera’s orchestra since 1988.

Throughout the festival, guest artists will teach students separately on various instruments—and then experienced and up-and-coming musicians alike will converge for select anticipated concerts, most notably Chamber Music Virtuosity – An International Affair at the Evergreen Theatre on June 22 at 7:30 pm.

The concert’s lineup features Ewazen’s Colchester Fantasy for Brass Quintet and Barcarolle from Mosaics; Bottesini’s Gran Quintetto for String Quintet; Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds; and Bianca Bongers’s Jewel for the Harp (for piccolo, bass clarinet, harp, and percussion).

Concert tickets and more information about the festival can be found here.

Post sponsored by PRISMA Festival.