Santiago Rivera Laugerud, born in Guatemala in 1997, is a Multidisciplinary Artist dedicated to the arts from an early age. Influenced by contemporary dance and physical theatre, he has specialized in juggling where he has been able to fuse these different art forms together. Santiago is the first Central American to be accepted into Montreal’s National Circus School in Canada. His work has been recognized by multiple organizations such as Guatecirko, Montréal Complètement Cirque, TOHU, Cirque Éloize, and Les 7 Doigts de la Main.

Zack Martel is a multidisciplinary circus artist specializing primarily in juggling and movement. Born in Toronto, he was exposed to the world of art at a very young age by his art loving mother and musician father. Zack is strongly influenced by art forms outside of the world of circus including Film, Music, Painting, Writing, Dance, etc. He is inspired by bold colours, surreal concepts, and 80’s funk. His idols include Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, David Lynch, Jim Carrey, and Bootsy Collins.

Michael Bridge is a musical maverick. He’s a virtuoso performer on both the acoustic accordion and its 21st Century cousin, the digital accordion. His concerts capture the energy and panache of stadium rock with the elegance and discipline of chamber music.

He’s won a slew of competitions in Canada and abroad and was named one of CBC’s 30 under 30 classical musicians. He is completing a doctorate in performance at the University of Toronto with Joseph Macerollo and became a Rebanks Fellow at the Glenn Gould School. He gives over 100 concerts a year as a soloist and as a member of Bridge & Wolak and Ladom Ensemble. He’s in high demand for masterclasses around the world.

Bridge embraces a musical aesthetic that is alternatively irreverent, deadly serious, meticulously prepared and completely in-the-moment. He’s at home with classical, contemporary, jazz and folk music and has premiered 53 new works. 

Ultimately, he aims to make your world more bearable, beautiful and human—even if only for the length of a concert.

Described as “authoritative, poised, and dripping with élan” (Jonathan Freeman-Atwood), 26 year-old South Korean cellist Daniel Hamin Go is recognised as a special emerging talent. Daniel has performed throughout North America and Europe collaborating with renowned musicians including Jonathan Biss, Miriam Fried, Rachel Podger, and Fazil Say; appearing in concert halls such as Berliner Philharmonie, Carnegie, Flagey Studios, and Konzerthaus Berlin. 

Daniel studied at the Manhattan School of Music, Hochschule für Musik 'Hanns Eisler' Berlin, Royal Academy of Music, and the coveted Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. From September, Daniel will join the Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Residency Program.

Daniel plays on a Francesco Rugeri, 1960, and a rare Joseph Henry bow, both generously on loan from private collections.

Hailed for his “technical prowess [and] perfect conveyance of…wit, humor, and effect” (Sarasota Herald-Tribune), clarinetist Brad Cherwin is one of “Toronto’s best young chamber musicians” (Bachtrack). His playing has been lauded as “astounding” and “a total success … as flexible in tone as possible” (Calgary Herald). 

Highlights of Cherwin’s most recent season include performances with Barbara Hannigan as an Equilibrium Young Artist at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, and a sold-out European recital debut at Hamburg’s Tonali Saal with Ema Nikolovska, Hagar Sharvit, and Daniel Gerzenberg. 

Cherwin is the co-founder, clarinetist, and graphic designer for Toronto’s West End Micro Music Festival. After a sold-out first season titled MOZART IS DEAD, the festival returns in 2022 with minMAX. 

Cherwin is also the director of The Happenstancers, a Toronto-based ensemble that features "an obscene amount of talent" (The WholeNote). Their concerts have been praised as “superbly planned, with a rich banquet of textures and colours…Next time these people throw a recital, run, don’t walk” (Lydia Perovic, Definitely the Opera).

Basile Pucek is a French Canadian young man who was born in Montreal, a charming and lively city that allows him to evolve over the years.

Basile's education was built with the help of his family and friends, as well as his studies at the National Circus School of Montreal, an institution that helped him discover his passion for the art of movement.

He forges his identity through the experiences he undertakes, his many decisive trips, but also with his sensitivity regarding the world, and the elements that surround him.

Analyzing, innovating and planning guide him during his time on earth.

Originally from Brive-la-Gaillarde (France), Clémence Dinard graduated from the Montreal School of Contemporary Dance in 2022.

She began dancing at the age of three with ballet, passionate about the universe and the imagination brought to her by classical music.

In search of perfecting her dance, she joined the regional conservatory of Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris, France) at the age of seventeen, which brought her maturity and experience. Clémence flew to the School of Contemporary Dance in Montreal in 2019. There followed three particularly rich years where she cultivated her sincerity, leading her to assume the sensitive being that drives her through her listening to herself and to the other. These enriching collaborations will only strengthen his imagination as well as his ability to appropriate movement in a more personal and more introspective way. Today, Clémence is overflowing with desire and curiosity, and aspires to feed on multiple choreographic universes in order to continue this search for movement that drives her so much.

Philippe is a Quebec circus artist who graduated from the National Circus School of Montreal where he specialized in juggling and acrobatics. Philippe has had the opportunity to work with several internationally renowned companies. He has also had the opportunity to realize several artistic projects in self-production and in collaboration with other artists from the Quebec milieu.

 In addition to his passion for the circus, Philippe is always looking for new projects. He is guided by his curiosity to discover and explore more. With his open-mindedness, perseverance and creativity, this enterprising artist is always ready to take on new challenges.

Early in life I found an interest in martial arts, namely capoeira. Later in life this
curious interest grew into something more as I studied every martial art I could try. Quickly
and unexpectedly, I found a passion and appreciation for all types of movement; expanding
from martial arts into dance, acrobatics, and even theater.

Capoeira offered a base to build upon and with this my interest in acrobatic research
began. Growing older the realization came that all this movement vocabulary is without
purpose if there is no application for it. So here I am continuing my search with those dear
to me.

You can often find me rolling or slamming my body into the ground (or Friends) trying
to learn something, forever curious.

Leah Houston is an artist who has been cultivating a dynamic, multi-disciplinary community-based arts practice for almost 20 years. Her work incorporates public space transformation, performance and community ritual with people of all ages and backgrounds. Leah has created and produced many community arts projects and events both locally and internationally and has led a number of artists to create new work that tells the ordinary, extraordinary stories of our lives. Her most consuming project to date has been the ongoing collaborative transformation of the Mabelle Park, a once-neglected green space in the heart of the Mabelle neighbourhood with thousands of residents and dozens of artists, architects, gardeners and builders at MABELLEarts. Along with a smart, imaginative and incredibly-committed team of artists and community developers, Leah and MABELLEarts are redefining the role of arts in our communities.

Syma Shah is a senior arts and cultural leader, a city animator and a cultural planner. As the Executive Director of Programming she has contributed to the revitalization of Union Station with Osmington Inc., since 2013. She helped create and implement the programming vision to highlight Union Station as a destination by showcasing its iconic heritage components along with creating free year-round multidisciplinary programming + activations.

She works with the community to connect with major and grassroots arts and cultural organizations within the city and internationally to create continuous contemporary programming in one of Canada’s most iconic buildings. She am an extremely passionate arts and cultural placemaker with a commitment to inclusivity + diversity.

Anna Gallagher-Ross (she/her) is a curator working across performance, dance, and visual arts, with an emphasis on site-specific and socially-engaged practices. Currently, she is Senior Manager of Programming at The Bentway, an innovative site in downtown Toronto that commissions and presents performances, public art projects, and community events that are of the city; about the city; for the city. From 2017 - 2021, Anna was Co-Artistic Director & Curator of Fusebox Festival, the acclaimed international performance festival, which features interdisciplinary artists from Austin, the U.S., and around the world. At Fusebox, Anna also curated year-round performances, artist residencies, public art projects, and civic initiatives. In 2020, Anna was a guest curator at Performance Space Sydney’s Live Works Festival. She was also part of the inaugural cohort of GENERATE (2019 - 2020), a joint program of the British Council and Arts Council England that promotes exchange between a select group of US and UK performance curators and producers.