ALEXANDRE DA COSTA was born in Montreal Canada in 1979. He showed an uncommon interest for both the violin and piano at a very early age. By the age of nine, he had the astounding ability to perform his first concerts with stunning virtuosity on both instruments, which brought him recognition as a musical prodigy. His chosen professional career as a violinist began very early and he was soon performing regularly as soloist with orchestra as well as in recital.

In 1998, at the age of 18, he received a Master's degree in violin and a First Prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec where he studied with Johanne Arel. Concurrently, he also received a Bachelor' s degree in Piano Interpretation from the faculty of music of the University of Montreal. From 1998 to 2001, he studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid with the violin master Zakhar Bron, teacher of violinists such as Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin. In 2002, he won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award for best Canadian artist under 30 years old. Between 2003 and 2006, after winning the Musical Instrument Bank competition of the Canada Council for the Arts, he played the 1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius.

Winner of many prestigious national and international first prizes, he appeared as soloist in nearly 1000 concerts throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, France, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Japan, China, Taiwan, etc. Alexandre Da Costa performed in major halls such as Vienna's Musikverein, Berlin's Philharmonie, Hamburg's Musikhalle, Madrid's National Auditorium, Beijing's Poly Theater, etc., and played with prestigious orchestras such as the London Royal Philharmonic, the Bergen Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony, the Hamburg Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, the Prague Philharmonic, the Montreal Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, Spain's National TV & Radio Symphony Orchestra, etc., under conductors such as Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Leonard Slatkin, Matthias Bamert, Günter Herbig, Pedro Halffter, Robert Bernhardt, Adrian Leaper, Lior Shambadal, etc. He recorded live performances for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the WestDeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Radio-Classical International, Radio-Canada/CBC, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), Radio Nacional de España (RNE), Austria State Radio (ORF), TV Asahi Japan, etc. Between 1998 and 2006, he recorded 12 CDs for XXI-21 Records and ATMA labels, among them the world premiere recordings of violin Concertos by Portuguese composers Luis de Freitas Branco and Armando José Fernandes with the Extremadura Symphony Orchestra under Jesús Amigo. This recording was received with great acclaim by the critics and music lovers around the world, and was nominated at the JUNO Awards 2006. Other recordings include Vivaldi Four Seasons with the chamber orchestra of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Mozart's violin & viola duos with Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's Solo violist Christian Frohn, concerti by Tchaikovsky & Bruch, Bach & Ysaye solo sonatas, Spanish works by Turina, de Falla, Nin, Albeniz, etc., Bloch & Williams works with the Biel Symphony Orchestra, etc. He now records for Octave Classique/Universal and JVC/Victor (Japan).

In addition to his concerts schedule, Alexandre is active as a teacher, giving workshops and Masterclasses in various universities and Conservatories around the world while travelling for concerts. He was also named Musical Development Director of the Canimex Foundation, an organization gathering an impressive collection of Fine Instruments for the benefit of talented artists.

All reviews are unanimous in saluting Alexandre's faultless technique, inherited directly from the Russian School, his exceptional energy and musical talent. Alexandre da Costa now plays the 1727 "Di Barbaro" Stradivarius and a Sartory bow, courtesy of Canimex.
WONNY SONG is "a versatile, intelligent, and deeply musical young pianist," says The Washington Post. Pianist Wonny Song has been praised worldwide for "his poetic touch and a warm, rich sound" (Star Tribune) and has established himself as one of Canada's outstanding new generation concert pianists. He enjoys an exciting international career and continually performs in great halls throughout the world, including encore appearances in New York at Carnegie's Zankel Hall and Lincoln Center, in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, in Seoul at the Sejong Arts Center Concert Hall, and in Tokyo at the Metropolitan Recital Hall.

He has also appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the South Dakota Symphony, Montreal's Orchestre Métropolitain, the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, the Fort Smith Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Kenosha Symphony, the Waterbury Symphony, the Florida West Coast Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Montreal Symphony, the Peoria Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the National Arts Center Orchestra, and the EuroAsian Philharmonic Orchestra in Korea and Thailand. Mr. Song has appeared at festivals including the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, the second Young Concert Artists Festival at CHANEL Nexus Hall in Tokyo, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and the National Arts Center Young Artists Festival in Ottawa, Canada at the invitation of Pinchas Zukerman where he was awarded the 2002 "Galaxy Rising Stars Award" and the Holland Music Sessions.

As winner of the 2005 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, Mr. Song made his recital debuts at Carnegie's Zankel Hall in New York, sponsored by the Claire Tow Prize, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society. He was also awarded the Fergus Orchestra Soloist Prize, the Saint Vincent College Concert Series Prize, and the Miriam Brody Aronson Prize.

Mr. Song was awarded the 2003 Prix d'Europe in Canada, which presented him in recital throughout Canada, France, Italy, and Sweden. As the 2001 First and Grand Prize winner of the Minnesota Orchestra's WAMSO Competition, he appeared in three subscription concerts with Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra in 2002, and was reengaged for three more subscription concerts with Osmo Vänskä in 2006. He won the 1997 Ludmila Knezkova Piano Competition in Nova Scotia, as well as First Prize and Best Artistic Interpretation Prize at the 1995 Montreal Symphony Piano Competition and a Gold Medal at the 1994 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati.

Other highlights of Mr. Song's career include a solo recital as Canada's musical ambassador to the 1993 World Expo in Korea and a 1998 performance in Bangkok at the closing ceremony of the Asian Olympic games, an event attended by Thailand's Royal Family. Mr. Song returned to Korea in 2005 to perform in the opening concert of Seoul's new Chungmu Art Hall with the EuroAsian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gum Nan-se.

Mr. Song's first CD, a recording of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Rachmaninoff's Variations on a Theme of Corelli, was released on the Canadian label XXI-21 Records. In 2003, Mr. Song was featured in a special volume profiling "100 Korean-Canadians of Note," which was published by Canada's Korean newspaper, the Korea Times. His latest CD release on the Octave/Universal label, "Clair de Lune", has garnered rave reviews and was a national bestseller.

Mr. Song was born in South Korea and grew up in Montreal. He began piano studies at the age of eight and received a full scholarship to Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music in 1994. He earned a Bachelor's degree from Montreal University in 1998 and continued his studies with Anton Kuerti at the University of Toronto and at the Glenn Gould Professional School with Marc Durand. Awarded the first Elinor Bell Fellowship at the University of Minnesota in 2000, he completed his Doctoral studies there with Lydia Artymiw in 2004.