The Players/Performers
Artistic Director: Dong-Won Kim is a percussionist, pedagogue, vocalist, composer, and improviser. He has studied various forms of traditional music from great Korean music masters since 1984, including farmers’ drumming and dance, shamanic music, Pansori accompaniment, and music theory. Dong-Won currently teaches music online as a professor of Wonkwang Digital University. He has also written several fairy tales for children and was featured in the music documentary film Intangible Asset Number 82 (2009). For many years he has been a regular member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project and has toured all over the world with the group.
Storyteller: Ben Grossman is a vielle à roue (hurdy gurdy/Drehleier) player, percussionist, composer and improviser. Over the last fifteen years, Ben has performed and recorded with an assortment of traditional, folk, experimental, early music, jazz, pop and fusion groups. For the last few years, he has toured the US with electronic music innovator BT and extensively in North America and Europe with Loreena McKennitt. Ben’s work has appeared on over eighty CDs and can also be heard on film soundtracks, radio dramas, and television shows and commercials. Today, his main focus is the vielle à roue and its applications in early, traditional, experimental, and ambient music.
Dancer:
Georgia Simms is a professional modern dancer, choreographer and educator. She has been studying with accomplished artists, David Earle and Suzette Sherman, in a unique studio-based context since 2003. Georgia first performed with Dancetheatre David Earle in 2005 and continues to be an active member of the company. In addition to an intensive study of modern dance traditions, she has also worked with several other Canadian choreographers exploring different contemporary and improvisational dance languages. Georgia’s choreography has been presented at the Guelph Dance Festival (2011, 2013) and she was twice commissioned by the City of Guelph to animate the Downtown Market Square Splash Pad, creating memorable, participatory, public performance events. She has taught modern dance at the Royal City School of Ballet and at the University of Waterloo, and continues to teach technique and improvisation for adults. In addition to her dance practice, Georgia is also active in the academic community. Since earning her MA she has been investigating the intersection of social science and arts practice. She currently holds a pilot position with the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute as the Engaged Practitioner in Residence, exploring methodologies and approaches.
The Silence Collective
Guelph Symphony Orchestra
(Conducted by Judith Yan)
José Molina (Concertmaster)
Malgorzata Zak
Paul Macnaughton
Basel Theodory
Paule Barsalou
Anna Hughes
Viola
Catherine Molina
Violoncello
Isaiah Farahbakhsh
Anne Monkhouse
Oboe
Aimee Berends
Clarinets
Larry Moser
Anthony Stokman
Bassoon
Simion Ciobanu
Percussion:
Dom DiNino
Ed Malison
Horn
Tony Snyder
Trombones
Bob Phillips
John Monkhouse
Tuba
Jeff Wu
Guelph Youth Jazz Ensemble
(Directed by Brent Rowan)
Grace Geng
Esmé Nandorfy-Fischlin
Jake Fitzpatrick
Luke Lawson
Viet Ho
Download the When Rivers Meet program booklet here.