The October 29th Concert at ProArts will be a wonderful collection of cello-inclusive repertoire. This program seeks to offer a wide spectrum of cello music including solo and collaborative works. Violist Ethan Mung will join Takumi for a unique duet rarely performed, with the program rounding out with iconic lyrical repertoire in collaboration with pianist Susanne Ruberg-Gordon. This concert seeks to give a full spectrum tasting as to what the cello has been all about for the past 300 years.
Takumi Rodgers is an emerging musician and cellist with a passion for performance and collaboration. Takumi begun cello at age 9 through a school music program before accelerating his studies in Brisbane, Australia with Lynne Backstrom at 11. He graduated from the University of Calgary’s School of Creative and Performing Arts with a Bachelor of Music in 2025 under the guidance of acclaimed pedagogue Beth Root-Sandvoss. Other significant past instructors include Luis Claret, Mark Rodgers, Brian Manker, among others. He currently studies with various instructors around Calgary and is continuing his learning with the Mount Royal University Conservatory Advanced Performance Program.
Takumi has been various opportunities and scholarships during his time in Calgary, participating in Calgary ProMusica’s 2024-2025 Dick Matthews Young Artist Development Program as the cellist of the Glacier String Quartet where his ensemble received world-class coaching from artists in the Pavel Hass Quartet and Jupiter Quartet among others. Recent accolades include winning the 2025 RBC Concerto Competition and performing with the CPO, as well as being the recipient of various generous scholarships and bursaries.
Takumi can be often seen around Calgary performing in Candlelight concerts, community outreach, and various ensemble performances. He currently plays on a rebuilt English cello on generous loan from the Mount Royal University Conservatory.
Violist Ethan Mung is a graduate of the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Music Performance, and is currently enrolled in the Mount Royal Advanced Performance Program. Born and raised in Calgary, Ethan has been involved with music for most of his life. He started violin lessons when he was five years old, and piano at six. At 14 he began playing the viola, eventually focusing his studies primarily on that instrument. Ethan has won a number of awards and scholarships, including the Norman J. Kennedy Memorial Scholarship for String Instruments in 2020 and 2021, and the John Norman Munro Memorial Award in Music in 2022. Furthermore, from 2024-2025 he was in the Calgary Pro Musica’s Young Artist Development Program alongside his colleagues in the Glacier String Quartet. He has been a member of various orchestral programs, including the National Youth Orchestra in their 2022 season, as well as the Calgary Youth Orchestra. In addition to performance, Ethan has had some experience in composition. His debut work, “Lament for Strings”, was performed by the Mount Royal Sinfonia in 2019 as a part of their Winter Fantasia concert. Ethan currently studies viola with Jesse Morrison. In previous years he has taken lessons with Dean O’Brien and Christina Visy, and was enrolled in the Mount Royal Academy Program, which offers weekly masterclasses and instruction in chamber music. In the 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 season, Ethan trained for and participated in the annual Magyar Gala Ball as a dancer in Viennese Waltz and the Palotás, a Hungarian military dance.
Quoted by the Chronicle Herald as “A superb musician”, Swedish-born pianist Susanne Ruberg-Gordon is a highly regarded and sought after chamber-musician and collaborative pianist. She is recognized for her artistry, nuance and interpretation, and has performed in Canada, the US, China and UAE with artists such as Dame Evelyn Glennie, Andras Diaz, Ron Leonard, Ian Swensen, James Campbell, Timothy Chooi, Nikki Chooi, Desmond Hoebig, John Kimura Parker, Josh Jones and Sydney Lee. Susanne is the pianist and core member of the Juno nominated Land’s End Ensemble in Calgary, a piano-trio that is dedicated to excellence in performance and recording of Canadian and International new music, and to enriching collaborations with eminent composers and artists. The ensemble has premiered over 125 new chamber works and is featured on 8 commercial recordings. www.landsendensemble.ca
As a passionate educator, Susanne is a faculty member at the Mount Royal University Conservatory Academy and APP Programs where she teaches Piano, Chamber Music and is the Artistic Facilitator of Collaborative Pianists. She also teaches at the Valhalla Summer School of Music.
Since 2001, she has been a Collaborative Artist for the prestigious and acclaimed Morningside Music Bridge program in Canada, US, China and Poland.
“This was only one work of many in which Ms. Ruberg-Gordon achieved the finest balance acting as both the core sound and the glue of Land’s End Ensemble, absolutely ideal playing all night” – Calgary Herald
“Everything the composer could wish for” – Calgary Herald
This concert is presented in memory of Benjamin Henry Davenport, B.Mus, LL.B, BCL
1971 – 2017 | Cellist and former Artistic Director of the ProArts Society
