Alberta-born pianist Kathleen van Mourik earned a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Calgary in Piano Performance before moving to the Netherlands, where she studied lied and chamber music at the Hilversum Conservatory under Hans Broekman, receiving the Uitvoerend Musicus degree. Upon returning to Canada, she received a Master of Music degree in piano performance under the tutelage of Vladimir Levtov at the University of Calgary. Other important teachers include the late Greta Kraus and Rudolf Jansen.

She also studied with Martin Isepp at the Banff Centre and completed a two piano residency there with her husband, pianist Charles Foreman. As a two-piano team, they commissioned works by several composers, and recorded a CD of French two-piano music released on the Arktos label, En blanc et noir, which was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award in 2008.

Ms. Van Mourik is the founder and co-artistic director of the Mountain View International Festival of Song, Canada’s only summer master class programme and concert festival combining art song and chamber music, as well as the Mountain View Connection, Calgary’s only concert series devoted to presenting emerging artists in concert.

In addition to her work with Mountain View, she maintains an active performing schedule, and has appeared across Canada, as well as in the United States, Belgium and the Netherlands. She is also in demand as an adjudicator, and has been a jury member for the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition in Brandon, Manitoba. She has been a soloist with the Kensington Sinfonia, playing Mozart and Schumann, and performed For the Time Being by Juno-nominated Canadian composer Brian Current for national CBC radio during the 2008 Juno Awards weekend. She also performs regularly as orchestral pianist with the Red Deer Symphony.

She has developed a reputation as an outstanding chamber musician and vocal accompanist, collaborating with such artists as violinists Edmond Agopian, Donovan Seidle and Olivier Thouin, cellists Yegor Dyachkov and Kirill Kalmykov, mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill, dancer Denise Clarke, sopranos Allison Angelo and Frédérique Vézina, and flautist Christie Reside. She can be heard on the Laura Taler DVD Love Songs featuring soprano Tracy Smith Bessette recorded by Bravo!FACT. Her work is regularly broadcast on national and regional CBC Radio, and she has also appeared on radio and television in the Netherlands.

Flautist Matthew McGuigan received his Bachelor of Music in Education from the University of Calgary where he studied with Gwen Klassen and Mary Sullivan.  During his senior year he debuted as a soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra as a winner of the 2010 University of Calgary concerto competition, performing Carl Nielsen’s concerto for flute and orchestra.

Matthew has enjoyed taking part in Alberta’s music community over the years as an ensemble player and chamber musician, having performed with the Calgary Youth Orchestra, Alberta Winds, and the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra.  In 2009 he was selected as one of three musicians in the debut year of Calgary Pro Musica Society’s Young Artist Development Program. He performed as a guest artist with the Mountain View Festival of Song and Chamber music this past summer.