A native of Edmonton, Ian Whitman was introduced to the bass at age 17 and spent 2 years studying jazz at Grant MacEwan College. He went on to receive his Bachelor’s of Music degree at McGill University and completed his Master’s of Music from the Yale University School of Music. After a year at the New England Conservatory in Boston, he joined the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony in 2008.
Talia Hatcher completed her undergraduate degree at the Conservatory of Music of Montreal with René Gosselin. She was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 2014 as well as the Orchestra of The Americas in 2016 and 2017, touring in Europe and South America. Talia also won the Vic Pomer award at the finals of the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO) Bursary Competition in 2018. She completed her master’s degree in 2019 at the University of Ottawa under the mentorship of Joel Quarrington.
Since 2015, she has played with numerous orchestras including the Orchestre symphonique du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal as principal and assistant principal, the Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières, the Ottawa Symphony, the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Her favourite memory as a musician is the European Tour with NACO in 2019 where the bass section didn’t go unnoticed: “… et un pupitre de contrebasses dont beaucoup d’orchestres peuvent rêver…” (Le Devoir). Talia is a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony as of September 2020.
Elliott Braganza, Piano
Originally from Fredericton, New Brunswick, Elliott has performed across Canada and the United States as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor. Elliott is also a cellist and has performed with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra in recent years. In addition to holding a Master's Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Ottawa, Elliott is the recipient of the Faculty of Music Gold Medal from Western University. Since his call to the bar in 2013, he has worked as a barrister and solicitor at the law firm of McElderry & Morris in Guelph, Ontario. Elliott lives in Guelph along with his wonderful wife Nora Pellerin.
