ACNMPWe have two wonderful adjudicators for our 2022 submissions for the National Awards, please check our their bios and websites!
Alex Chen is a collaborative pianist, baritone, and vocal coach whose curiosity brings fresh
perspectives on a diverse body of musical works. In the words of his mentor John Hess, he is
“an immensely musical and sensitive player” with “a deeply inquisitive mind.”
Alex performs regularly in the Victoria music community, exploring genres such as art song,
opera, and choral music. Moreover, as a faculty member at the Victoria Conservatory of Music
he supports a wide variety of students and young professional singers from the piano. He is
dedicated to education and engagement, striving to create lasting impressions with his
performances & foster a desire to learn more with his innovative artistic projects.
Recent professional highlights include performing in solo voice & chorus capacities with Pacific
Opera Victoria in their Civic Engagement Program & mainstage productions, respectively;
producing a visual album of Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées as part of the Gay4Nature Art Song
Collective; and creating the Citizen Soundscape – a crowdsourced, immersive sound installation
– for BC Culture Days & Swan Lake Nature House. He continues to refine his musical skills
through training with acclaimed Baroque soprano Nancy Argenta and pianist Robert Holliston.
In a past life, Alex handled birds of prey for educational programs and contemplated the
physiological factors affecting birdsong during a BSc in Zoology. To keep in touch with his
background in biology, he loves spending time outdoors and spotting local flora and fauna.
Alissa Cheung’s works have been performed at the Winspear Centre (Edmonton) by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, at Salle Bourgie (Montréal) by Quatuor Bozzini, at the University of Michigan by Arx Duo, percussion duo, at New York and Chicago by Instruments of Happiness electric guitar quartet, in Jordan Hall (Boston) by the Boston and Turtle Island String Quartets, in Australia by Duo Myburgh-Feakes, and in Switzerland by Duo Luce. She is regularly featured as composer-in-residence at C’mon Festival in Edmonton. In recent works she experiments with improvisational aspects and open forms, resulting in a co-composed piece that differs from performance to performance. Upcoming projects include a co-composition with Duo d’Entre-Deux saxophone duo, and an outdoor live-installation project based on whale songs with Alain Lefort.
Alissa Cheung is also a violinist of Quatuor Bozzini, based in Montreal, QC. Her solo and chamber performances have taken her throughout Canada, USA, Europe and Asia, and her work has been featured in the New York Times, The Guardian UK, Le Devoir, the Edmonton Journal, and has been broadcast on British Broadcasting Corporation (UK), Österreichischen Rundfunks (Austria), Schweizer Radio und Fernsehn (Switzerland), Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (Netherlands), and CBC Radio (Canada).