WSO Musicians feature in the 2025 Rosamunde Summer Music Festival

The 2025 Rosamunde Summer Music Festival takes place at the Canadian Mennonite University campus from August 13 to 22. This year’s main concert series, titled Canadian Sentiments, speaks broadly to Canada’s current political landscape and includes performances by several WSO musicians: Concertmaster Karl Stobbe, Principal Viola Élise Lavellée, and Assistant Principal Second Violin Elation Pauls.

All three programs feature impactful works by Canadian composers and highlight the unique energy that emerges when composers perform their own music. Composer-pianists David Braid and Ari Hooker will each take the stage to perform their own pieces.

The festival also features violinist Gwen Hoebig and cellist Yuri Hooker.

Titled Counting for Canada, the opening concert on August 17 features a set of music by JUNO Award-winning composer-pianist David Braid, including novel improvisational elements drawn from his extensive experience as a successful jazz musician. The title of the concert playfully nods to the complex rhythmic nature of the works and the musicians’ need to fastidiously count, while also acknowledging our desire as Canadians to contribute meaningfully to the place we call home.

The second concert, Raum², on August 19 features works by two prominent Canadian composers identifying as female, who are still underrepresented in the classical music world today: Kelly-Marie Murphy’s FIRE-AND-ICE-BODIED-DOUBLED-UP-WITHDRAWAL-ANXIETY, performed by violinist Elation Pauls and pianist Paul Williamson, and Elizabeth Raum’s brilliant violin sonata, performed by her daughter Erika Raum. Murphy’s piece captures the distress experienced when comforts are stripped away. As the composer puts it, “When these elements are removed, we experience sadness, anger, and fear that actually affects our ability to sustain ourselves.” The concert will close with one of the most beloved chamber music works of all time—Mendelssohn’s first piano trio—performed by Pauls, Williamson, and Deutsche Oper principal cellist Arne-Christian Pelz.

The Festival will close with an exciting world premiere of a piano quartet by the talented young Ari Hooker, performed by local luminaries Gwen Hoebig, Karl Stobbe, Yuri Hooker, and the composer at the piano. This performance is sure to draw a crowd, just as Ari Hooker’s recent debut with the WSO did.

The Rosamunde Festival operates in association with the Rosamunde Summer Music Academy, a 10-day program which draws string players of all ages and skill levels to the heart of Canada every August to connect, showcase, and promote the finest quality in developmental teaching and performance training. Rosamunde is an environment designed to unlock potential at every stage of the string player’s musical journey while creating memories and friendships to last a lifetime.

Individual concert tickets are $30, with a Festival Pass available for $75. Visit rosamunde.ca for more details.

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