OUR ARTISTIC STAFF

ORCHESTRA

James Malmberg,
Conductor

A graduate of the University of BC School of Music, James Malmberg enjoys a career of teaching and performing. He is on the faculty of the Richmond Music School and he has studios in Vancouver and Tsawwassen. He is also a faculty member of the Delta Youth Orchestra and has spent his summers teaching at the Yukon Summer Music Festival in Whitehorse, the UBC Summer Music Institute, the Edmonton Suzuki Institute and the Valhalla Suzuki Institute in New Denver BC. He has recently adjudicated at the Langley Community Music School, Powell River Festival for the Performing Arts, the Sechelt Kiwanis Music Festival and the Kootney Music Festival. He has also been a guest teacher with the Bulkley Valley Classical Strings Society in Smithers BC. As a performer he is a member of the Sinfonia of the North Shore, a member of the Orca string quartet and he can be found freelancing throughout the Vancouver area. Since graduating from UBC he has continued his studies in Suzuki Pedagogy in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Edmonton. He was appointed conductor of the Richmond Orchestra in 2007.

 

                                       Larisa Lebeda,

                                       Concertmaster

                                       

Larisa Lebeda, Master of Music, accomplished her studies in Gnessin College of Music, Gnessin Academy of Music in Moscow (Russia) and Karol Lipinski Academy of Music Wroclaw (Poland)

During her career, she has performed as soloist (violin and viola) with orchestras in Poland, Tunisia, Germany, Colombia and Canada.

She performed as a soloist in international music festivals in Poland, Tunisia, and Colombia. She also recorded as a soloist for TV and Radio of Tunisia and Colombia and a sound track for a Tunisian movie.

Larisa’s teaching carrier includes such universities as Wroclaw Academy of Music, Conservatoire National de Tunisia and Institute Superior de Music en Tunis, University of Ibague and Javeriana University in Bogota - Colombia.  Many of her students are members of professional orchestras and/or have been accepted to prominent conservatories in the world.

Since her arrival in Canada in September 1999, Larisa has played with various orchestras such as Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Island (Assistant), and Kamloops (Concertmaster), and taught in Douglas College and Vancouver Academy of Music.

CHORUS

Brigid Coult,
Chorus Conductor

Brigid Coult trained and worked in England until coming to Canada in 1982. She has been directing Richmond Chorus since 1994, and in her hands the Chorus has grown both in numbers and musicianship. Currently she is Director of Music at St. Mary’s Kerrisdale Anglican Church, and she has also served on diocesan and national church committees. She still sings at Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, when she has time, sometimes leading the music at Compline services, and she has been a member of Canada’s award-winning women’s choir, ELEKTRA.
Ms. Coult was President of the British Columbia Choral Federation (BCCF) for 13 years, and is still heavily involved with the organization, currently as its Project Manager; she has served with the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors (ACCC) as National Youth Choir liaison and as President, and she is currently on the Board of ChoralNet. She was involved in the planning and execution of the World Symposium on Choral Music (III) held here in Vancouver in 1993, the World of Children’s Choirs – 2001, and the recent ACCC /BCCF ChorPodium conference, held in Victoria in 2006. She teaches voice and piano locally, and has served as an adjudicator and choral clinician for festivals throughout BC.

 

Tom McPherson

Chorus Accompanist

Tom McPherson earns his living primarily as a self-employed musician. He has accompanied Richmond Chorus since 2002, and he is a regular pianist for the North Shore Unitarian Church in West Vancouver. Tom teaches piano at his studio in Kitsilano, a place where he also enjoys composing and arranging music. He works in collaboration with his longtime friend, Lezlie Wade, to provide music via internet for her “Theatremanation” company based in Toronto. As well as having diplomas from the Eastman School of Music, The Royal Conservatory of Music, and the University of Toronto, Tom earned a certificate from London’s Faculty of Astrological Studies. In 2007, Tom launched “The Twelfth House Studio Choir” as a means of linking astrological symbolism and choral music, and to explore theories of how sound can stimulate healing. Details on his work can be seen at TomMcPherson.ca.