Faculty
Lucía Rodríguez was born and raised in Monterrey, N.L. México where she began her musical studies in the Orquestas, Coros y Bandas Juveniles de Nuevo León program. In 2002 she continued her violin studies at the Escuela Superior De Música y Danza de Monterrey conservatory of music under the tutelage of Mercedes Cisneros. In 2009, she co-founded and performed as soloist with an orchestral project called “Proyecto Sinfónico con Brio”. She continued her studies in Canada in 2009 and completed her bachelor’s degree in music performance in 2012 at the University of Western Ontario under the tutelage of Annette-Barbara Vogel and Jamie Weisenblum. An avid orchestral player, she has spent several summers performing with renowned youth orchestras in Canada and South America, including l’Orchestre de la Francophonie (2011-2014) and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (2012), and had the opportunity to work with conductors Carlos Miguel Prieto, Benjamin Zanders and Jean Phillipe Tremblay. In 2014 she graduated with a master’s degree in violin performance from the University of Montreal where she had the opportunity to study with Vladimir Landsman. She is currently a member of the NBYO / Sistema New Brunswick faculty, and working as a Teaching Artist in the Moncton Center.
Eliezer Roman was born in 1982 in Caracas, Venezuela.
He started to study the viola at the age of 13.
Between 1997 and 2002, he attended the Simón Bolívar Conservatory of Music in Caracas, Venezuela, where he had complementary and superior studies in Viola.
Between 2002 and 2005, he attended the Conservatoire to the Rayonnement Régional de Toulouse, France, where he obtained the first prize in viola.
In 2005 he attended the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Danse de Lyon, France. In the year of 2015, he obtained the Degree in Viola Performance at the Royal College of London (ABRSM).
In 2021 he attended the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa in Portugal to do a Master Degree in Music specialized in Viola Performance.
He has performed regularly with different orchestras in Venezuela, Mexico, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany and Ireland. He collaborated with several chamber music ensembles and recitals. He performed solo with the Orquesta Municipal de Caracas (Venezuela) where he was Principal Viola between 2012 and 2015.
Since then, he has played freelanced with several orchestras in different countries. At the present time, he resides in Edmundston, Canada, where he performs as a professor in music for “Sistema New Brunswick”.
Yusela Perez, is from Caracas, Venezuela.
She has been active in both playing and teaching roles. As a cellist, she participated in master classes with renowned cellists Nicolas Sarpe, Yo-Yo Ma, Germán Marcano, Uri Vardi, and Rosa Rodriguez.
She was a cello member of the Miranda Symphony Orchestra as Co-Principal. In addition, she is the former cellist of the Youth Arches of Venezuela Chamber Orchestra and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Band. Also participated with the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Carabobo Symphony Orchestra, and Aragua Symphony Orchestra as well as other orchestras and ensembles with whom she toured several times in Venezuela and Latin America.
Yusela participated for many years at Sistema Venezuela as a coach and worked alongside renowned conductors like Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, Giuseppe Sinopolis, Claudio Abbado, and Gregory Carreño among others.
Since 2011, Yusela has been based in Moncton NB and her artistry can be seen at Sistema New Brunswick, participating as a main faculty for the Moncton Youth Orchestra (MYO) and New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO). With a passion for music education and community outreach, Yusela founded and conducted the acclaimed Moncton Cello Ensemble and obtained outstanding reviews from adjudicators and the public. She is a Tutta Musica orchestra member and is regularly invited to perform with Orchestre Philarmonique du Haut Saint Jean and local groups.
As a conductor, Yusela was invited to participate actively in the conducting workshop at Cambrian College with DR. Gillian Mackay in Sudbury, Ontario.
She has participated in conducting the MYO String Orchestra, Mozart Orchestra and Vivaldi Orchestra from Sistema Moncton, NB.
Yusela attended workshops and masterclasses with the CelloBello Teacher Training Seminar with the Founder and Artistic Director Paul Katz. Masterclass with Minna Rose Co-author of the book Cello Mind.
She has attended as an observer to the Youth Artist Program (YAP) with Professor Paul Pulford and Professor Katie Schlaikjer holder of the chair of Cello at Wilfrid Laurier University offered by Southwestern Ontario Suzuki Institute.
She is also doing the Suzuki Pedagogy Program at Wilfrid Laurier University as part of the Suzuki String School of Guelph program.
Maestro Gregory Parra's career as a clarinetist and saxophonist have led him across Europe and the Americas as a soloist and orchestral performer. Originally from Venezuala, Gregory was a member of the National Philharmonic Orchestra, principal clarinet in the National Typical Orchestra, the Caracas Clarinet Quartet, the Camerata Criolla Gurrufío Ensemble, and the Onkora Group. He has also participated in many recordings including the Grammy Award winning album by Ilan Chester, Tesoros De La Musica Venezolana – Caracas (2009).
Gregory maintains a teaching career in music and is regularly invited to give lectures and play concerts inside and outside Venezuela. In 2016 Gregory was one of 200 clarinetists from around the world selected to audition for the principal position in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The following year Gregory won a national audition for Assistant Principal Clarinet with the Regina Symphony Orchestra and remained with them for two seasons while commuting from Moncton to Saskatchewan every month. During this time, he received praises from colleagues, conductors, and the school boards in Regina for his participation as a coach for Link Up, an integrated children’s music program maintained by the RSO.
Gregory currently resides in Moncton and participates in cultural activities around the province as a performer. He is a member of Tutta Musica Orchestra and a teacher/conductor for Sistema NB Moncton Centre.
www.gregoryparra.com
Since situating himself in the city and musical community of Saint John, New Brunswick, Jon Fisher has built a rich and fulfilling musical life. Jon is active across the province as a horn player, teacher, and band conductor. His diverse interests in music, both old and new, have landed him in a variety of performance settings. He is equally at home performing from the middle of a lake or in an old parking garage as he is on stage at a concert hall.
Jon is an experienced orchestral musician, having performed in many orchestral settings over the course of his career. He can currently be found performing with Symphony New Brunswick where he is Acting Second Horn, a position he has held since 2013.
Most notably, though, Jon is the newest member of the Ventus Machina Woodwind Quintet, one the province’s foremost chamber ensembles. His playing can be heard on their upcoming album, entitled Folklore.
In addition to his work on the horn, Jon dabbles in wind band conducting. He is the music director of Saint Mary’s Band, one of Canada’s oldest and longest running concert bands, and is thrilled to see the accomplishments of the band under his baton.
Jon is committed to the field of music education. He is on faculty at Sistema New Brunswick in Saint John, where he teaches horn, and also manages the Saint John Youth Orchestra. His students mean the world to him, and he is very proud of their many accomplishments.
Jon grew up in Deep Cove, North Vancouver, BC. He worked his way eastward across Canada as he pursued degrees in horn performance at the University of Calgary, The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music, and the University of Toronto.
When Jon is not performing on or teaching the horn, he enjoys… practicing the horn.
David Parker has been Principal Hornist of Symphony Nova Scotia since 2000. He has been a member of orchestras in Kitchener-Waterloo, Barcelona, Quebec City, Israel, and Mexico City. He has also performed with the Toronto Symphony, the Hamilton Philharmonic, the Boston Lyric Opera, the Boston Pops, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and Les Violons du Roy. He is a graduate of Boston University, the University of Toronto, and Acadia University. Mr. Parker has had generous support from the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, and the Canada Council for the Arts. Mr. Parker is a founding member of the Canadian National Brass Project. He has appeared in chamber music festivals including Scotia Festival of Music, the Toronto Chamber Music Festival, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Festival of the Sound, the Garden Room, the Charlottetown Festival, and the Festival de Lago in Ajijic, Mexico.
Bermudian-Canadian trumpeter Matthew Ross is the Trumpet Teaching Artist at the Sistema New Brunswick Moncton Centre and a member of Tutta Musica and East Coast Brass.
Matthew completed his Master’s degree at the Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler. He received his B.Mus in trumpet performance at the University of Toronto and his Artist Diploma at the Glenn Gould School, studying with Anita McAlister and Andrew McCandless.
Matthew has also performed with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Symphony New Brunswick, Hannaford Street Silver Band, Weston Silver Band, Hogtown Brass Quintet, and Soundstreams.
Trombonist Jim Tranquilla is an active soloist, chamber and orchestral musician who travels throughout Canada and abroad with chamber music ensembles, bands, stage shows and orchestras. His affable approach to collaboration has earned requests to participate in major events including the Juno Awards, East Coast Music Awards and 2010 Winter Olympics and he has shared the stage with a wide range of stars including rock legend Sting, Weird Al Yankovic, Canadian icons Michael Bublé, Dianna Krall and Fred Penner, trumpet virtuoso Jens Lindemann and opera diva Measha Bruggergosman. As co-founder of the trombone quintet iTromboni, Jim tours extensively and performs at several of Canada’s finest concert halls and prominent festivals.
Jim is also a sought-after educator, adjudicator, clinician and arranger, having led workshops and masterclasses at schools and universities from coast to coast. He has worked as a Development Agent with Jeunesses Musicales of Canada (Montreal, QC) and as brass instructor/ensemble director at Memorial University of Newfoundland (St. John’s, NL) and Mount Allison University (Sackville, NB). While living in Newfoundland, he was Director of Education & Outreach for the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director, Conductor & Orchestra Manager of the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Orchestra. Now living back in his home province of New Brunswick, Jim is the Director of Community Engagement with the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and trombonist with Tutta Musica Orchestra, Symphony New Brunswick and Vancouver Opera.
