Meet Music’s 2025 Concerto Competition student winners

by | Oct 28, 2025 | Award, Events, School of Music, Undergraduate

This year’s UVic Concerto Competition celebrates exceptional musicians whose talents span genres, generations, and geographies. The competition finals were held in April 2025 and we can’t wait to hear them perform their winning concertos with the UVic Symphony Orchestra and UVic Wind Symphony in our 2025-26 concert season. Congratulations go out to School of Music students Tamsyn Klazek-Schryer, Olivia Pryce-Digby and Ethan Page!

Tamsyn Klazek-Schryer

Violinist Tamsyn Klazek-Schryer is a vibrant and versatile artist whose musical life bridges classical performance, traditional fiddle, jazz vocals, and even silver jewelry design. Currently completing her degree in violin performance under the guidance of Ann Elliott-Goldschmid, Tamsyn brings her creative spirit to every note.

Before coming to UVic, Tamsyn studied at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music and has received numerous accolades, including awards from the GVYO, Musicians Performance Trust Fund, and Early Music Vancouver. She’s participated in prestigious programs such as PRISMA, Quartet Fest West, and Victoria Baroque, and was invited to the 2024 Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Competition in Whitehorse.

A Playful Mozart with Serious Demands

Tamsyn won the competition with Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Major which she will perform with the UVic Symphony Orchestra on November 1. “I love the playfulness in Mozart’s writing,” says Tamsyn. “He was only 19 when he wrote this concerto, and you can hear his youthful spirit in every phrase. It’s a very joyful experience to perform.” 

Despite its cheerful nature, the piece demands incredible finesse. “The precision required to play any Mozart concerto is always a challenging ambition. It took a lot of careful study to bring it to life. There were no answers in the ink. With the guidance of my instructor, I had to figure out how to bring meaning to the music,” she says. “I composed all my own cadenzas for the performance, which pushed my creativity even further.”

Blending Traditions, Finding Her Own Voice

At UVic, Tamsyn has found a space that nurtures artistic freedom and cross-disciplinary exploration. “I used to think classical music was about finding one ‘correct’ sound. UVic has shown me that our unique voice on our instrument is just as important. There’s deep value in blending tradition with self-expression.”

Beyond classical music, Tamsyn performs with Celtic group Aràen and folk group The Four Folks, and shares her handmade jewelry through Juliet Creatives.

On her playlist: Djaliya by Ablaye Cissoko, Hideous Towns by The Sundays, Finn’s Rescue by The Foreign Landers.

Watch her perform here or follow her creative worlds on Instagram: 
@araen.theband, 
@thefourfolks
, @julietcreatives

Olivia Pryce-Digby

Whether singing in cathedrals, Off-Broadway productions, or multidisciplinary operatic showcases, soprano Olivia Pryce-Digby is a storyteller at heart. A fourth-year voice student studying with Benjamin Butterfield, Olivia brings a deep emotional sensibility to her performances, grounded in both classical training and creative curiosity.

Olivia has worked with some of Canada’s top vocal ensembles, including the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Vox Humana, and That Choir, and serves as a choral scholar at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria. Her theatrical experience includes featured roles in The Little Mermaid and Fearless, as well as a collaboration with South African dancer Gregory Maqoma in Broken Chord. Olivia also recently created March Madness, a bold, multidisciplinary work reclaiming the narrative of the “hysterical woman” through operatic performance.

Finding Depth in Barber’s Knoxville

Olivia will be performing Knoxville: Summer of 1915 by Samuel Barber with the UVic Symphony Orchestra on November 28.
“I still remember the first time I heard this piece — it was enchanting and emotional from start to finish,” Olivia says of Barber’s Knoxville. “The poem is a love letter to family, to home, to the magic of the everyday. It may simultaneously break your heart and heal something deep within.”

With its lyrical complexity and emotional nuance, the work is both technically demanding and richly expressive. “My biggest challenge has been managing my breath efficiently while maintaining the effortless storytelling quality that the piece demands,” she says. “Working in small sections and using breathing exercises has been my strategy.”

Olivia came to UVic after encouragement from Professor Butterfield and says her time here has reshaped her understanding of music. “I thought I knew a lot before, but I was just scratching the surface. UVic has fostered a deep curiosity and a love of detail that will stay with me forever.”

As she prepares to graduate, Olivia is aiming for graduate studies and a future in opera and oratorio, with a growing interest in teaching and mentorship.

On her playlist: Everything from medieval troubadour dances to Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder — and she was one of the top 0.01% Mozart listeners in 2024!

Follow her journey on Instagram: @livprycedig

Ethan Page

Percussionist Ethan Page is in his fifth year of Music Performance at UVic, where he is a 4-year Entrance Scholarship recipient and a leader across ensembles. As section leader in both the Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra, Ethan plays an impressive range of instruments — from timpani and snare drum to vibraphone and marimba (his personal favourite). He has performed widely in Victoria’s music community with the Canadian College of Performing Arts, Ensemble Laude, the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra.

A Rare and Radiant Marimba Voice

Ethan chose Séjourné’s Concerto for Marimba and Strings for its rare combination of neo-romantic lyricism and virtuosic brilliance. He will perform the piece with the UVic Wind Symphony on March 27.
“There aren’t many pieces like this in the marimba repertoire. I love how dynamic and colourful it is — from the melancholic and cathartic first movement to the energetic, lively second movement,” describes Ethan.

Though captivating, the concerto comes with technical hurdles. “The eleven-tuplet runs were especially tricky,” Ethan explains. “I spent many hours practicing slowly with a metronome and I’ve gotten to the point where I’m fairly comfortable with those sections now.”

Studying at UVic has been transformative for Ethan, expanding his percussive horizons beyond drum kit to mallet instruments and chamber repertoire. “Seeing my professor and peers play marimba with four mallets inspired me immediately. With my instructor,  Aaron Mattock’s guidance, I’ve developed a work ethic and technique I never thought possible.”

Looking ahead, Ethan plans to continue performing and collaborating in Victoria while also pursuing a second degree in Computer Science.

All 3 concerts will take place in the Farqhar at UVic. Tickets are available through the UVic Ticket Centre and at the door. UVic students with a valid ONECard can attend for free, and special ticket pricing is available for school groups.

Southam Lecturer explores journalism in polarized times

by | Oct 1, 2025 | donor, Events, Writing

At a time when unity in the face of American threats is crucial, Canadians are increasingly divided. While Americans may be on the brink of civil war, Canadians are sorting ourselves into mutually hostile camps. The fragmentation of our media ecosystem is both cause and symptom. Journalists are being similarly sorted into opposing camps, reporting starkly different stories to divided audiences even as the industry shrinks.

As this year’s Harvey Stevenson Southam Lecturer, award-winning political journalist Stephen Maher will examine the role reporters play in an increasingly fractured society, arguing that in order to keep faith with a shrinking audience, mainstream journalists need to question their own biases.

All are welcome to hear his free public talk, Journalism in Polarized Times, running from 7-8:30pm Wednesday, October 8 in room A104 of UVic’s Bob Wright Building.

Rise of the algorithm

As Stephen Maher explains, one of the main shifts that has led to the dramatic decline of the mainstream media is the rise of algorithmic social media.

“Before Facebook, everyone consumed their news from outlets with a shared sense of news values. Since the rise of the social platforms, the old outlets lost their monopolistic role as clearing houses for advertising,” he explains. “The platforms took the revenue but don’t fulfill a journalistic function. In order to maximize user attention, the platforms prioritize emotional content —  particularly anger.”

Read more of Maher’s insights on current journalism in this October 6 interview in The Tyee, written by Writing professor Deborah Campbell.  

Maher well knows of which he speaks: he’s been writing about Canadian politics since 1989 for the likes of the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Maclean’s, Walrus, Time and the Chronicle Herald, Postmedia News, Times of London and others. He has often set the agenda on Parliament Hill, covering political corruption, electoral wrongdoing, misinformation and human rights abuses.

But putting emotion ahead of facts has led to an increase in what sociologists call “affective polarization,” says Maher, where people have become more intensely identified with their partisan community . . . and hostile to other communities.

Misinformation & regionalism

Add to this both the pandemic, when misinformation became more widespread, and a sense of regionalism — especially a rural-urban divide — and you’ve got the groundwork for what he describes as “a powerful emotional reaction to what many people see as an assault on traditional values.”

While this has created a ground-up phenomenon not being led by political parties, Maher says it’s clear that vote-seeking politicians are taking advantage of this shift in the opinion environment, making Canadian politics more ideological and less traditionally oriented. Apply that to the media landscape, and Maher feels news outlets are now able to tailor their content to narrower communities, helping to intensify this divisive process — think Fox News or True North News — so that Canadians increasingly find themselves in “information silos”.

But, he warns, “we should note that journalists, like other Canadians, undergo this same processes as non-journalists.”

The annual Harvey Stevenson Southam Lectureship — named after UVic alumnus Harvey Southam — is made possible by a gift from one of the country’s leading publishing families. 

One-day art action supports Indigenous sovereignty

by | Jul 15, 2025 | Alumni, climate, Events, Faculty, indigenous, Research, Visual Arts

First it was taking an orchestra onto the surface of a glacier, then it was putting a glittering digital projection into the background of a Metallica video. Now, two University of Victoria art professors are using their unique creative talents to join over 100 people working to present an extraordinary day of art on the land — but they are not seeking an audience.

On July 24, Department of Visual Arts professors Paul Walde and Kelly Richardson will join Ma’amtagila artist Makwala-Rande Cook to present Ax’nakwala (Part 1) at the unpopulated traditional village site of Hiladi on the east coast of Vancouver Island. Translating as “growing endlessly in relation with the living planet,” Ax’nakwala will offer open-air performances and media installations to draw attention to the urgent need to save precious old-growth forest and return unceded lands to Indigenous stewardship.

If a tree sings in the forest 

The day begins with Paul Walde’s Forestorium, a new full-length, site-specific operatic performance addressing the primary forests of Vancouver Island and the challenges they face. Featuring 17 vocalists, 18 instrumentalists and a crew of 20 (including 5 camera operators and 3 audio recorders), Forestorium echoes Walde’s 2013 Requiem For A Glacier in both its creative audacity and environmental concerns.

“Forestorium will help raise awareness of the complexity of these old-growth forest ecosystems, which continue to be clearcut at an alarming rate,” says Walde. “From my work on Requiem I believe that art, because of its non-oppositional and experiential nature, can reach audiences and engage the media in different ways than science and traditional activism.”

After sunset, Kelly Richardson will project her large-scale video installation Origin Stories — famously used in the 2023 Metallica  video 72 Seasons and at galleries worldwide, but never before in BC — which uses a cosmic field of shimmering crystalline forms to visualize our sixth mass-extinction crisis, partially fueled by ongoing resource extraction in Ma’amtagila territory.

“For many years I’ve used art to encourage the public to ask urgent, crucial questions about what it is that we truly value as a species,” says Richardson. “Through this work, I try to speak with everyone, not just those who understand contemporary art or frequent galleries. Art can be a powerful tool to reach the whole of who we are as a species, connecting the head with the heart and inspire much-needed action.”

Makwala-Rande Cook, Land Claim

Former Audain Professor & event co-organizer dances

The day will also feature two performances by artist, hereditary chief and former UVic Audain Professor Makwala-Rande Cook. In the world premiere of Dance of the Fungi Kingdom: A Mycelial Odyssey in Ma’amtagila Territory, Cook will introduce a Kwakwaka’wakw dance for these fungal beings. He and dancers will then perform the Maʻamtagilaʻs origin story, the Dance of the Seagull, while covered with the sparkling imagery of Richardson’s Origin Stories. This cross-cultural collaboration calls for united work to protect all species — including humans — and their homes.

All this will be filmed and recorded for future gallery and theatrical exhibitions, including a possible Fall 2025 presentation in Victoria.

Ax’nakwala is presented by Hase’ — a collective comprised of Cook, Richardson and Walde along with artist and current UVic Audain Professor Lindsay Delaronde and curator Stephanie Smith — in partnership with the Awi’nakola Foundation and at the invitation of Ma’amtagila leaders. Ax’nakwala (Part 1) supports Ma’amtagila efforts to regain sovereignty of their territories under Crown law, stop ecologically harmful practices on their lands, and enact a conservation vision to care for both land and people.

The performances are part of the fifth annual Tree of Life Gathering, facilitated by the Awi’nakola Foundation in partnership with Indigenous Nations. At the invitation of the Ma’amtagila, the 2025 Tree of Life gathering will take place at their traditional village site of Hiladi, and will see Kwakwaka’wakw knowledge keepers, artists, scientists, students, NGO representatives, policy makers and other community members gather to build relationships, share knowledge, and seek paths to larger-scale action.

Across Lands & Waters CERC gathering

by | Apr 29, 2025 | Alumni, Art History & Visual Studies, climate, Events, Faculty, indigenous, Undergraduate, Visual Arts

The Qiaqsutuq installation will be on view at Across Lands and Waters

Victoria may not immediately come to mind as the obvious location for an international gathering of 60 circumpolar and Pacific artists and curators, but that’s one of the advantages that comes with Dr Heather Igloliorte now calling UVic home.

As the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Decolonial & Transformational Indigenous Art Practices, Igloliorte has held this prestigious eight-year, $8-million position in UVic’s Department of Visual Arts since November 2023 — and, out of 45 current CERC chair holders, remains the only artist/curator in a field dominated by hard sciences.

Running April 29-May 1, Across Lands and Waters will be the first major gathering of Igloliorte’s CERC network of mostly Indigenous artists, scholars, museum/gallery directors, curators, students and community members. Over three days, participants will gather for lively discussions, gallery visits, land-based activities and performances, sharing current research and projects while making plans for future collaborations. They’ll also engage with the public via Igloliorte’s new Taqsiqtuut Research-Creation Lab.

Noting that her attendees are coming from nearly every time zone in the world, Igloliorte feels Across Lands and Waters offers an unprecedented opportunity to connect in-person. Representing a wide variety of nations and cultures — including Inuk, Kanaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian), Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw, Sami, Sāmoan/Persian/Cantonese, Sugpiaq, Ts’msyen and Zuni Pueblo — participants will be coming from as far afield as Norway, Greenland, Rankin Inlet, New Mexico and Honolulu.

“Victoria is nestled at the center of both the Pacific and the North, from the west coast of North America on up to Alaska, then across the Arctic and around the circumpolar world, but also over to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Samoa,” says Igloliorte. “I have a large network of colleagues and artists I’ve been working with for a long time — partners who are working and thinking across Indigenous cultures and learning from each other in order to move towards this place of transformation and decolonization.”

While attending, Across Lands and Waters invited guests will engage in Pecha Kucha-style research presentations; an “On The Land” session focusing on the removal of invasive species and replanting of native plants; a site visit to the studio of UVic Impact Chair Carey Newman; a visit to Island Timber salvage operation, which provides timber to Indigenous artists; a tour of new Legacy Gallery exhibit, GEORGE CLUTESI: ḥašaḥʔap / ʔaapḥii / ʕc̓ik  / ḥaaʔaksuqƛ / ʔiiḥmisʔap; plus performances and storytelling by Indigenous artists, with an opening from Chief David Knox at Mungo Martin House.

Public participation

Across Lands and Waters culminates in a free public event on Thursday, May 1, featuring panel sessions from 1-5pm (Phillip T Young Recital Hall, MacLaurin B-Wing) and a reception with art installations and interactive projects from 5-7pm (Visual Arts building). During this time, the public is invited to:

  • engage with Carey Newman’s new Witness Blanket VR project
  • explore Qiaqsutuq, a multimedia sculptural installation which offers an Inuit perspective on climate change, as told Greek Chorus-style from the perspectives of five gigantic Arctic animals or beings
  • watch 3D Sami films via VR headsets
  • participate in a group stop-motion short film project
  • hear panels on “Sovereignty & the Arts”, “Institutional Practices”, “Resistance & Transformation” and “These Lands & Waters” (see UVic Calendar link for details)
  • view the exhibition Continuum, showcasing work by past, present and future Indigenous students from UVic’s Visual Arts program (co-curated by Alexandra Nordstrom and Jasmine Sihra, Concordia University PhD students)
  • enjoy a reception with live music and light refreshments.

Carey Newman’s Witness Blanket VR 

About Heather Igloliorte

Canada’s first Inuk art historian to hold a doctoral degree, Igloliorte has developed a well-deserved reputation as an internationally renowned curator whose work has positioned circumpolar Indigenous arts and knowledge at the centre of global exhibition practices. In addition to her teaching duties, her other current projects include curating Newfoundland’s international Bonavista Biennale (August-Sept) and being on the jury for both the upcoming Salt Spring National Art Prize (Sept-Oct) and Yukon Art Prize (Oct).

As UVic’s only CERC, Igloliorte is focused on advancing reconciliation through the transformative power of art and innovative exhibition practices. “Indigenous people don’t necessarily have access to the same cutting-edge technologies that others do, just like they lack access to museums and galleries in the North,” she says. She is supporting a new generation of students, researchers, educators, curators and artists to drive change through artistic practice.

As such, her Taqsiqtuut Research Creation lab is focused on not only sharing practical digital skills but also the creation of exhibitions, the training and mentoring of students and youth, and the development of new policies and best practices for institutions that engage with Indigenous art and artists.

Heather Igloliorte

New Phoenix season announced

by | Apr 14, 2025 | Events, Graduate, Theatre, Undergraduate

While the 2024/25 academic season is coming to a close, it’s the ideal time to pick up a subscription to the 2025/26 mainstage season at UVic’s Phoenix Theatre. This year, we saw a remarkable season highlighted by productions of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Killing Game and Twelfth Night, plus bonus shows like Eyes of the Beast and im:print 2024 — let’s see what’s coming up next year!

The season kicks off with The Salty Scent of Home (October 9-18). Directed and created by Theatre chair Yasmine Kandil, this powerful and celebratory theatre performance brings to life the stories of six newcomer immigrants and refugees, capturing their journeys as they navigate the challenges and embrace the rewards of immigration and settlement.

Interwoven with these personal stories are poignant and lyrical poems inspired by the migratory patterns of birds — symbolizing freedom, resilience and tenacity. This production is a moving tribute to the strength found in community and the universal desire to find a place to call home.*

Following that is the American classic Our Town (November 6-22). Led by guest director Soheil Parsa, this timeless Pulitzer Prize-winning classic by Thornton Wilder still captures the beauty and fragility of everyday life. Set in the small town of Grover’s Corners, the play follows the lives of its residents — ordinary people experiencing love, loss and the passage of time. Guided by the omniscient Stage Manager, audiences witness the joys and sorrows of the Gibbs and Webb families as they navigate childhood, marriage and mortality.

Despite being first performed in 1938, Our Town remains a poignant, heartwarming and deeply moving exploration of human awareness and the often-overlooked beauty of everyday moments.

 

Spring 2026 sees the staging of Sami Ibrahim’s A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain (February 12-21), directed by MFA candidate Sophia Treanor. In a land where myth and reality intertwine, we follow Elif, a young immigrant whose days are spent shearing sheep—each tuft of wool rising into the sky, forming clouds that bring rain to a distant, wealthy city. But when she becomes a mother, her priorities become clear.

Determined to secure citizenship for her child, she travels to the capital, only to encounter an unforgiving bureaucracy and an immigration system designed to keep her out. A hauntingly beautiful fable of perseverance and sacrifice.

Finally, the season rounds out with Rick Waines’ In My Day * (March 12-21), as directed by former Belfry Theatre artistic director Roy Surette. This  powerful and deeply moving play sheds light on a pivotal chapter in our history: set during the HIV/AIDS crisis, this poignant production celebrates the resilience of diverse communities who came together in extraordinary ways. Through vivid storytelling, richly drawn characters and moments of humour and joy, Victoria-based playwright Rick Waines honours the voices of those who lived, loved and endured during an era marked by loss, fear and stigma.

Actually inspired by a UVic community-based research project, In My Day brings to life the true stories of long-term survivors living with HIV and their caregivers from the first 15 years of the HIV pandemic in British Columbia. Highlighting the experiences of diverse communities — including women, people of colour, Indigenous peoples, trans individuals, and more — it gives voice to those whose perspectives have often been overlooked. “My aim with In My Day was to accurately, without losing meaning, tell the story of the first 15 years of the AIDS pandemic using the testimonies of the participants in a theatrically exciting way,” says Waines.

* The Salty Scent of Home is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded performance, while In My Day is partially supported by SSHRC funding. 

Subscriptions to the 2025-26 Phoenix Theatre season are now on sale for just $51-$68, which lets you choose 3 or 4 plays from our season and save up to 50% off single ticket prices. For more subscription benefits, please see the Phoenix Tickets site. 

Annual Visual Arts BFA exhibit opens April 11

by | Apr 2, 2025 | Art History & Visual Studies, Events, Visual Arts

Once a year — and for one week only — UVic’s entire Visual Arts building gets transformed into Vancouver Island’s largest pop-up gallery of emerging artists! Don’t miss your chance to see If Traces Remain, an exciting exhibit of contemporary art by 35 graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts students: expect an inspiring mix of work ranging from painting, sculpture and photography to digital, installations and more.

Please join us for the opening reception from 7-10pm Friday, April 11, where you can meet the student artists, view their work, chat with faculty members and celebrate the creative accomplishments of this year’s graduating Visual Arts class. The free exhibit then runs 10am-6pm daily to April 20 throughout the Visual Arts building.

We’re also thrilled that UVic’s Alumni Association is hosting a special reception and viewing for the exhibit from 7-9pm Saturday, April 12, which is open to all UVic alumni!