August 27 Virtual Zoom Concert

Luka Coetzee

Canadian cellist Luka Coetzee (b. 2004) has always enjoyed the musical life combining the richness of art, travel, and performing many kinds of music ever since she was able. Her earliest memories consist of deeply connecting to the sound of the cello. She avidly cultivated her passion for music and her zeal for playing the cello, turning it into her mission as a performer to share this music with audiences around the world. Luka has performed as an international soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. She made her solo debut at age eleven with the Calgary Civic Symphony as a winner of the Calgary Concerto Competition. She is the winner of numerous awards and competitions including Second Prize at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Competition as well as receiving the Public’s Choice Stingray Rising Star’s Award. She is a six-time winner of the Canadian Music Competition. As a member of the Echo Klassik-nominated LGT Young Soloists, Luka has performed at the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Victoria Hall in Singapore. She is also featured on a recording of the Beethoven A major Cello Sonata arranged for solo cello and strings on NAXOS.

Throughout her career, Luka has appeared on radio and television. In 2018, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation filmed a documentary on her life as an artist. Other networks include the Canadian Press and Global TV. Moreover, Luka has performed alongside renowned artists Andrés Cárdenes, Simon James, Danielle Belen, Desmond Hoebig, and Ning Feng. She has also worked with distinguished guest artists and string quartets including Johannes Moser, Nicholas Mann, Frans Helmerson, Laurence Lesser, the Calidore String Quartet, the Kronos Quartet, and the Schumann Quartet. An avid chamber musician, Luka participated in the Music@Menlo International Chamber Music Festival and Institute as well as the Young Artists Program in Ottawa, Ontario under the tutelage of Hans Jorgen Jensen.

Throughout her life, Luka always enjoyed performing at schools, hospitals, senior homes, and community events. She is the Calgary Regional Director of the Back to Bach Project, “a global initiative to inspire music and arts education to young children, and to teach them the value of hard work and passion.” Luka also enjoys traveling, swimming, reading, and going to art museums. At the age of one, Luka had her first cello lesson with Christine Bootland and she currently studies with John Kadz and Johanne Perron. Luka is also a pianist, who started lessons at the age of three and currently studies with Derek Chiu. Other mentors include Horacio Contreras and Richard Aaron.

Jessica Yuma

Jessica Yuma completed both the Associateship (ARCT) and Licentiate (LRCM) Performance Diplomas from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto by the age of 11 and has won numerous prizes in competitions at the provincial, national and international level.

Recent accomplishments include: 1st prize at the Canadian Music Competition National Final, 1st prize at the Steinway Young Artists Competition, 1st prize at the CFMTA National Final (Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Association), 3rd prize at Orford Music Award and 3rd prize at the Canadian Chopin Competition (as a result she will be participating 18th International Chopin Competition in 2021, in Warsaw, Poland). Jessica has given numerous solo recitals since the age of 9 and performed with orchestras including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Philharmonic Orchestra, Calgary Civic Symphony Orchestra and the Brunesis Virtuosi Orchestra in Italy since the age of 11. The venues in which she has performed include: the Winspear Centre in Edmonton, Jack Singer Hall in Calgary, Steinway Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York. Jessica has participated in several music festivals including the Morningside Music Bridge in Boston, Orford Music Academy in Quebec, the Young Artists Program in Ottawa, Music fest Perugia in Italy and Coimbra World Piano Meeting in Portugal.

Recently, she was selected as one of the top “30 Under 30” Classical Musician in Cananda by CBC Radio and had a live interview with Edmonton CBC. Jessica studies piano with Krzysztof Jablonski.