Amici Chamber Ensemble Information

The Amici Chamber Ensemble has been at the forefront of the Canadian chamber music scene in the past two decades. Founding members, clarinetist Joaquin Valdepeñas, cellist David Hetherington and recent addition, pianist Serouj Kradjian invite some of the finest musicians to join them in eclectic programming and projects, at the same time celebrating friendship through music; hence the name Amici. Some of the many renowned artists who have performed with Amici in their renowned concert series at the Glenn Gould Studio are James Ehnes, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Benjamin Bowman, Russell Braun, Michael Schade, Jaime Laredo, Andre Laplante and James Sommerville. Amici Chamber Ensemble has commissioned and premiered over twenty works by Canadian composers, among them Allan Gordon Bell, Chan Ka Nin, Brian Cherney, Malcolm Forsyth, Jacques Hétu, Alexina Louie and Jeffrey Ryan. For the 2011-2012 season, there will be a new piece by composer Alice Ho. Alongside numerous broadcasts of their concerts on national radio, Amici recordings have placed them firmly among the world's best chamber ensembles and garnered AMICI a Juno award (for Among Friends), and several Juno award nominations - most recently, a 2011 Juno nomination for their latest ATMA Classique disc "Armenian Chamber Music". Two recordings of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time highlight their critically acclaimed discography. For more information, please visit: http://www.amiciensemble.com