Introduction:  Flora Liebich, IC4C Coordinator

Opening Words: Bun Leng Men

Bun Leng Men

, voice | Stanford Cheung, piano

• Champa Battambang

Stanford Cheung, piano

• 

From an Overgrown Path (Leoš Janáček)



  • Book I:  


    • Naše večery (Our Evenings) 


    • Lístek odvanutý (A Blown-Away Leaf) 

    • 
Pojďte s námi! (Come With Us!) 


    • Frýdecká panna Maria (The Madonna of Frydek) 


    • Štěbetaly jak laštovičky (They Chattered Like Swallows) 


    • Nelze domluvit! (Words Fail!) 


    • Dobrou noc! (Good Night!) 


    • Tak neskonale úzko (Unutterable Anguish) 


    • V pláči (In Tears) 


    • Sýček neodletěl! (The Barn Owl Has Not Flown Away!) 

  • Book II 

    • Andante 

    • Allegretto – Presto 
      

• 
Piano Folio… to a Disappeared Pleiad (Takashi Yoshimatsu)

Xueao Yang, violin | Kendra Grittani, cello

• 8 Duets for Violin and Cello (Reinhold Moritzevich Glière)

  • Movements I, II, III, IV, and V

• Bun Leng Men
  Cambodian Canadian, Bun Leng Men, is currently on sabbatical leave from the Trade Commission at the Office of the Embassy of Canada in Phnom Penh.  Bun Leng has worked for over twenty-five years for the Government of Canada in Cambodia: first, for the International Development Research Centre, then as Commercial and Development Officer at the Embassy of Canada, Director of the Canadian Cooperation Office in Cambodia and later, as Field Project Director for the Cambodia-Canada Legislative Support Project.  
  
  Following the Peace Agreement of 1991, which ended almost two decades of conflict and occupation in Cambodia, Bun Leng became Program Manager and Deputy Head of Mission for the International Organization for Migration in Phnom Penh. In this capacity, he managed the “Return of Talent Program”, bringing expatriate Cambodian professionals and experts back to Cambodia.
  
  Bun Leng was born in Cambodia.   As a child, during the Khmer Rouge period, he fled with his sister to the refugee camps on the Thai border. He was sponsored by his brother to come to Canada and completed his education in Montreal. Before returning to Cambodia, he worked as a financial analyst for the CBC and for the Government of Quebec in Montreal. 
  
  It is Bun Leng who first introduced IC4C Coordinator, Flora Liebich, to the Peaceful Children’s Homes on her first CIDA mission to Cambodia in January 1998.

• Stanford Cheung
  Stanford Cheung is currently studying toward his Ph.D. in Piano Performance at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, studying with Professor Kyoko Hashimoto. His research dissertation is “Wabi-Sabi Behind the Scenes in Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Async”. Stanford holds a Fellowship in Piano Performance from Trinity College, London (U.K.), as well as a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the University of Toronto, and a Master’s Degree in Music from McGill University.  
  
  Stanford maintains an active performing career as a recitalist and soloist across North America, the UK, and Asia, notably Japan.  He is a top prize winner at the San Jose International Piano Competition, the Steinway Piano Competition, and Canadian Music Competitions. He has performed at international venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Living Arts Centre in Toronto, as well as the Kusatsu Performance Centre in Tokyo. Past engagements include opening the 44th Season of the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra as well as touring with the OCMS Philharmonic for two consecutive seasons.  His 2022 engagements include: a duo piano recital in Montreal and a sound installation at the 40th Rhubarb Festival in Toronto (February); sound and electronics concerts at Harvard University (April) and in Florida (June); as well as piano recitals in Fukuoka and Osaka, Japan (October). 
  
  Born in Toronto, Stanford was raised in a family of musicians.  In addition to playing several instruments, Stanford is also a published poet and a highly creative multimedia sound artist, with a passion for books and film. 

• Xueao Yang
  A native of China, Xueao Yang began studying the violin at the age of four. At the age of twelve, she was accepted into the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Xueao has served as guest Principal Second violin at Regina Symphony Orchestra and as Concertmaster of the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra. She has also played with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony, McGill Chamber Orchestra and National Academy Orchestra of Canada. In October 2021, she performed with Les Jeunes Virtuoses de Montréal at the Montreal Chamber Music Festival. 
  
  Xueao has participated in many music festivals such as the Chamber Music Festival of lesles de la Madeleine, the Zodiac Music Festival, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and the Pacific Music Festival. She has played in solo masterclasses for James Ehnes, Daniel Philips, Donald Weilerstein and Qian Zhou. 
  
  Xueao is a past recipient of the Lloyd Carr-Harris String Scholarship, HP Robert Fung scholarship, Bill and Judy Watson Scholarship, and the Williamson Music Foundation scholarship. Xueao received her Performance Certificate in violin at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and earned her Bachelor's Degree with Outstanding Achievement and her Master's degree from McGill University. She was a student of Kevin Lawrence, Violaine Melançon, Denise Lupien and Felicia Moye.

• Kendra Grittani
  Kendra Grittani is an accomplished young cellist, having started at only four years old. Kendra has completed her Masters in cello performance at McGill University with renowned symphonic and chamber musician and cello professor, Elizabeth Dolin.
  
  After forming the piano trio, Trio Meira, the chamber group swept the McGill Chamber Music Competition 2018, being awarded 1st prize. Along with a début performance in Montreal, Trio Meira was awarded a week-long residency at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
  
  Kendra has also had the privilege to perform alongside accomplished professionals such as Axel Strauss, Stéphane Lemelin, Elizabeth Dolin, Ariel Barnes, Riko Higuma and many more. Kendra is currently a substitute musician with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, and the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. Kendra is working as a freelance cellist, chamber musician and as a private teacher in Toronto.