ARTISTS & BIOS
Donovan Seidle
Steven J. Lubiarz
Michael Bursey
Kirill Kalmykov
Donovan Seidle is the Assistant Concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (since 2003), violinist with Bell'arte Strings and is a regular performer with Calgary’s Players Chamber Ensemble and the Calgary Bach Society. Donovan is also the Music Director of the Kensington Sinfonia. In addition, Donovan is a regular orchestral, solo, chamber, and session musician around Calgary. Besides performing, Donovan is a composer/arranger who is involved with all manners of freelance writing.
Donovan Seidle began his musical studies in Calgary at the age of 5, and at 10 began taking lessons and classes at the Mount Royal College Conservatory. There, he studied violin with Joan Barrett and Fiona Carnie. It was also during this time that he played and traveled with the Calgary Fiddlers and the Calgary Youth Orchestra. He entered the University of Calgary Music Department in 1995, studying violin with Edmond Agopian. Donovan began devoting his efforts to music composition as well, studying with David Eagle and William Jordan. He worked frequently for Calgary composer David Pierce by 1997, helping to produce musical revue shows, live production shows, orchestra shows, albums, DVDs and jingles. Donovan’s written for film/video, various theatre groups, internet/game projects, and arrangements/original compositions for various musical groups both in Calgary and Chicago.Having been accepted to music festivals and being involved in a wide array of performing projects has enabled Donovan to travel and perform all over the world. In the spring of 2003, Donovan completed a Masters degree in violin performance at Northwestern University, studying with Almita Vamos, having obtained a full fellowship through the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He auditioned and won his position with the CPO shortly afterwards.
Steven
J.
Lubiarz, Violin / Manager
A native of Troy, Michigan,
Steven moved to Canada in 2003 to join the second violin section of the
Calgary
Philharmonic Orchestra
and Bell'arte Strings. Prior to moving to Canada he was a member of
the New World Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Tilson
Thomas in
Miami Beach, Florida. While completing his Master of Music in Violin
Performance and Orchestral Studies at Roosevelt University's Chicago
College of Performing Arts, Steven was a student of Cyrus Forough and
Joseph
Golan and was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
Steven, who has been playing the violin since he was five years old,
has
performed in the Czech Republic, Austria, and throughout Japan. He
received a Bachelor of Music from DePauw University where he was a
student of
Stephen Boe and Dan Rizner. In addition to performing, Steven is the
Artistic Director of the St. Roch Chamber Music Festival
in Caseville,
Michigan.
He has also been an active teacher for the past decade in New York,
Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and continues his love of teaching
today at
the Mount Royal College Conservatory in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Steven performs on an
1897 Leandro Bisiach, which was a gift from his first teacher, the late
Anne Dodge.
Born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Michael Bursey started playing the violin at an early age. He later switched to the viola after breaking his thumb and fingers playing football. Being of large stature, Michael always thought the violin was like a baby toy anyway.
Finally enjoying playing music for the first time, Michael
enrolled at the Conservatoire de Musique de Quebec to pursue his dream
of being a professional musician. At the Conservatoire, Michael
obtained his Master's in Viola Performance, studying viola with
Francois Paradis and chamber music with Darren Lowe. He also had the
opportunity to study with Pinchas Zuckerman and Steven Dann at the NAC
in Ottawa (Young Artists Programme) as well as Roberto Diaz and Bruno
Giuranna at Domaine Forget in Quebec. He was a member of NYO in 1995.
While in Quebec, he played regularly with the Quebec Symphony
Orchestra, the Orchestre de Sherbrooke, Orchestre Symphonique du
Saguenay Lac St. Jean and Orchestre symphonique de L'Estuaire. While in
Regina he was a member of the Regina Symphony Orchestra. Shortly after
graduating in Quebec, Michael obtained his position with the Calgary
Philharmonic Orchestra.
Russian-born cellist Kirill Kalmykov moved to Canada in 1996. Since 1997, he has been active as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra player in both Alberta and British Columbia. He has studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, the Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA and at the University of Calgary. Since 1987, Kirill has performed extensively throughout the former USSR, Europe, North and South America.
Kirill has played with St. Petersburg Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Cello Ensemble, Red Deer Symphony and the Symphonie of the Kootenays. He has also collaborated with various art organizations and chamber music groups such as the Mountain View International Festival of Song and the Mountain View Connection Concert Series, Duo Solista, the University of Calgary String Quartet, the Calgary Bach Society and the Bell'arte Strings. Currently, Kirill performs with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also actively involved in private cello teaching in Calgary and British Columbia as well as chamber music coaching both privately and through the Calgary Catholic School District. .