West Coast Symphony – Conductors

Maestro Bujar Llapaj Principal Conductor

Albanian-born, multi-award winning conductor Bujar Llapaj is a prominent figure in the Balkan classical music scene. He received his formal training at the Academy of Arts in Tirana and the Conservatoire National de Rueil Malmaison in France. He was appointed as the Principal Conductor of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra in 2008. Bujar has conducted concerts throughout Europe and he still travels abroad as a guest conductor.

Bujar is known for his dedication to the pursuit of excellence in music and music education. He acted as the artistic director of the Albanian National Theater of Opera and Ballet where he featured performances of music by famous composers like Mozart, Rossini, and Verdi, as well as hosted world premiers of works by upcoming Albanian composers. Bujar also founded the New Philharmonic Orchestra where he acted as both the artistic director and conductor. Before his moving to Canada, Bujar was the department chairman of conducting and singing at the Academy of Arts in Tirana, where he developed new programs in conducting and pedagogy.

Frank Klassen Guest Conductor

Frank is a favourite conductor of West Coast Symphony players and comes to the WCSO with an extensive conducting background. He has conducted orchestras and opera companies throughout Canada, Europe and South America, his repertoire encompasses more than 50 operas, 30 operettas, ballets, musicals, incidental music and much of the standard concert repertoire. Born in Vancouver, he received training in Winnipeg, New York and in Germany, where he subsequently worked as a professional conductor for over 15 years. Frank has recently returned to live on the West Coast.

Frank is Artistic Director and conductor of Opera Appassionata, a non-profit organization that presents an eclectic mix of high quality performances of opera and opera related events as site-specific theatre in highly interesting venues. Mascagni’s L'amico Fritz and Cavaleria Rusticana set in a heritage barn, as well as Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, set in the drug-scene streets of Vancouver are but a few of the recent innovative productions of this inventive company.

Yariv Aloni Guest conductor

Yariv Aloni has received praise for conducting “impassioned, inspiring” and “magnificently right” interpretations of major orchestral and choral repertoire. Reviewers also describe him as “a musician of considerable insight and impeccable taste.”

Yariv Aloni studied conducting under the tutelage of the Hungarian conductor János Sándor, former music director of the Budapest State Opera, the Györ Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera Pecs. He also studied with conductors Helmuth Rilling and Gustav Meyer.

He is music director of the Galiano Ensemble of Victoria which he founded in 1999 and since 1995 he is also the music director of the Victoria Chamber Orchestra. In 2002 he was named the associate music director of the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra. For fourteen years Yariv Aloni was the artistic director and conductor or the Courtenay Youth Music Centre in the Comox valley, British Columbia.

Yariv Aloni guest appearances include the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the West Coast Symphony in Vancouver, the Civic Orchestra of Victoria, The Victoria Choral Society and Prima Youth Choir. In 2007 he released his first CD of English music for strings with the Galiano Ensemble of Victoria.

Born on a kibbutz in Israel, Yariv Aloni began studying the violin at the age of eight and turned to the viola when he was sixteen. He studied viola with David Chen at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, Daniel Benyamini, principal violist of the Israel Philharmonic and Michael Tree and the Guarneri String Quartet. With an emphasis on chamber music he also studied at the Jerusalem Music Centre with distinguished visiting faculty from around the world including the Isaac Stern, the Amadeus and the Guarneri String Quartets, and many others.

He was a finalist at the François Shapira competition in Tel-Aviv. His awards included the Israel Broadcasting Authority award for chamber music performance and numerous awards and annual scholarships from the American-Israel Cultural foundation.

As the violist of both the Aviv and the Penderecki string quartets, he has performed in many concert halls around the world including Lincoln Centre in New York, the Louvre in Paris, Tonhalle in Zurich, and numerous concert halls in Canada, the United States, Germany, Italy, Holland, Mexico, France, Poland and many more. In 1985 he was invited to join Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zuckerman to play a gala concert at Carnegie Hall in New York.

An avid and dedicated teacher he is teaching chamber music at the University of Victoria, British Columbia and is a former faculty member of Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. He has given master classes at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Brandon University, University of Alberta in Edmonton, and Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. In 1994 he became a faculty member and subsequently the artistic director of the Courtenay Youth Music Centre in the Comox Valley, British Columbia. In 2002 he was named the associate music director for the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra.

Aloni recorded for the United, Marquise, Tritonus, and CBC labels as well as independent CD labels. He appears regularly with the Vetta Ensemble in Vancouver and performs in numerous chamber music festivals and recitals series. He is the founder and music director of the Galiano Ensemble of Victoria and the music director of the Victoria Chamber Orchestra.

DWIGHT BENNETT Guest Conductor

Dwight Bennett has an extensive international career conducting orchestras and opera companies around the world. In addition to his guest conducting, he is the new Director of the UBC Orchestra. Maestro Bennett studied with Karel Ancerl, Julius Herford, Franco Ferrara, Kiril Kondrashin, and Bernard Haitink. After winning first prize at the Heinz Unger Conductor's Competition, he conducted over 100 performances in North America with the Canadian Opera Company.

Mr. Bennett conducted complete symphonic cycles of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms while serving as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and the Windsor Symphony. He has recorded with CBC, Verdi and Bongiovanni Records. He was Assistant Conductor (Vienna State Opera), Resident Conductor (Canadian Opera Company), Chief Conductor/Head of Music (New Israeli Opera), Artistic Director (Royal Opera Canada), and Principal Guest Conductor (Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra). He has worked at such Festivals as Gars, Westben and Strasbourg, and conducted numerous orchestral tours of Europe and Asia. He has recently conducted in Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Croatia, Taiwan, Korea, and China, including a new production/DVD of Massenet’s Don Quichotte for Teatro Verdi (Trieste) and symphonic programs with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2007, he was awarded the title “Commendatore Stella Della Solidarietà Italiana” from the President of Italy for his contribution to Italian culture and art.