Photographer: Diane Smithers
Musicians (L-R): A.K. Coope, Marea Chernoff, Colin MacDonald, Christopher Lee, Olivia Martin
The Cascadia Reed Quintet is a unique ensemble inspired by the pioneering Dutch reed quintet, Calefax. This new genre of chamber music is comprised of instruments that use reeds to create sound including the oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet, and bassoon. The blend of timbres lends itself to a variety of musical styles and genres which are featured in arrangements of popular classics as well as original compositions for the ensemble. The Cascadia Reed Quintet is made up of top woodwind players from the Vancouver, BC area with a collected background in orchestral music, contemporary chamber music, world music, and jazz.
Marea Chernoff – oboe/English horn. Marea is an active freelance musician based out of Vancouver. She is currently principal oboe with the Kamloops Symphony and Lions Gate Sinfonia while also playing frequently with various groups in British Columbia. Marea has played with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Opera Orchestra, Broadway Across Canada, Ballet B.C., CBC Vancouver Radio Orchestra. As an avid chamber musician, Marea is involved in several chamber groups: Vancouver based Ad Mare Wind Quintet, Ad Mare Reed Trio, Trincomali Trio, Cascadia Reed Quintet, and regularly performs in recitals and school shows in the lower mainland and around the province.
Christopher Lee – clarinet. Christopher is currently principal clarinet of the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra and occasionally performs with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Victoria Symphony Orchestra. He is also devoted to teaching and conducting. He joined the clarinet faculty of Vancouver Academy of Music since 2014 and he is the music director of "Jubilate Clarinet Ensemble" and "Vancouver Korean Presbyterian Church Choir". In 2010, he had became as an executive director of "First Steps Benefit Concert Series" in Vancouver, which has raised approximately $30,000 per concert a year since 2009 at their annual concert benefiting the children in North Korea.
Colin MacDonald – soprano/alto saxophone. Colin is a freelance saxophonist, composer, and arranger who studied jazz arranging with Fred Stride, world rhythms with Glen Velez and Trichy Sankaran, and Balinese gamelan with Michael Tenzer and Dewa Ketut Alit. His works have been premiered by the Turning Point Ensemble, Continuum Contemporary Music, Ad Mare Wind Quintet, The Microscore Project, the Vertical Orchestra, Fringe Percussion, the Yarilo Duo, saxophonist Julia Nolan, and pianist Marguerite Witvoet. In 2006 he formed his own chamber orchestra, The Colin MacDonald Pocket Orchestra, to present his original compositions. A former member of the new music chamber group Ensemble Symposium, and the Balinese gamelan Gong Gita Asmara, Colin regularly performs with the Saxophilia Saxophone Quartet, and the Cascadia Reed Quintet. He has also worked extensively with Vancouver New Music, the Redshift Music Society, the Erato Ensemble, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the West Coast Symphony, and the Kamloops Symphony. Colin’s debut CD Circle of Wind containing his chamber compositions for saxophone was released in 2011.
Olivia Martin – bassoon. Olivia is a busy freelance musician performing in a number of ensembles around BC. She has been Principal Bassoonist in the Kamloops Symphony since 2002 and has played with the Vancouver Island Symphony Orchestra since 1999. A graduate of the University of Victoria, she performs regularly with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Lions Gate Sinfonia and the Okanagan Symphony. Olivia has toured with the Vancouver Symphony on their 2008 Asia-Pacific Tour as well as with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. She has performed as a soloist with the Kamloops Symphony a number of times, most recently playing Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto KV 191. In 2011 she appeared as an alumnus guest artist with the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra, performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante KV297b.
A.K. Coope – bass clarinet. AK performs with an eclectic array of ensembles, including the Vancouver Symphony, Turning Point, Vancouver New Music and Victoria’s Aventa Ensemble, among many others. For over 10 years she has been a member of Standing Wave, one of Canada’s leading new music chamber ensembles. She can also be heard on countless CD recordings and film sound tracks, from Dan Mangan to Disney. AK is a faculty member at both the Vancouver Academy of Music and at the VSO School of Music.