L-R: Maestro Carlos Bastidas; oboist Beverly Wang; violinist David Baik (Photos courtesy of the artists)

In partnership with Canada Virtuoso Ensemble

Toronto welcomes a brand new professional chamber ensemble with the Canada Virtuoso Ensemble, a group made up of some of Canada’s most talented young musicians. The Ensemble makes its debut with an afternoon of rich Baroque music in Toronto on November 2.

The program is titled Vivaldi’s Four Seasons & Handel’s Water Music, and spotlights the talents of two rising Canadian soloists — violinist David Baik, and oboist Beverly Wang.

Maestro Carlos Bastidas conducts the newly formed Canada Virtuoso Ensemble, and he’s got ambitious plans for the talented group.

“This elite ensemble of musicians will represent Canada’s musical excellence on the international stage, beginning with a tour across Latin America,” Bastidas comments.

Audiences have the chance to experience some of Canada’s next gen of classical superstars in concert, guided by the experienced Maestro; find more information about the members here.

The Soloists

Both of the concert’s soloists are poised to launch international careers.

Davie Baik, violin

Violinist David Baik is a native of South Korea, and came to Canada as a child. He studied music at the University of Toronto, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree under the mentorship of Jonathan Crow. After graduating, he was awarded a fellowship at the Schulich School of Music in Montréal, where he continued his studies with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Concertmaster Andrew Wan.

During 2024/25, David continued advanced studies as a resident of the Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Residency Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

His technical and expressive artistry has been recognized by several awards that include the 2023 Peter-Mendell Award from the Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation, and the Grand Prize at the 2021 NAC Bursary Competition. He also took home back to back First Prizes at the 2016 and 2017 Canadian Music Competition, along with other awards that include the Sturdevant Prize, Gerhard Kander Graduating Award, Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Fellowship, and the Gabriella Dory Prize.

As a performer, he’s collaborated with widely acclaimed artists such as Charles Richard Hamelin, Jennifer Koh, Andrew Wan, Desmond Hoebig, Jonathan Crow, Peter Bruns, Camden Shaw, and Philip Chiu. David has appeared as a soloist with Sinfonia Toronto, the Toronto Summer Music Festival Orchestra, Durham Chamber Orchestra, North York Symphony Orchestra, and the Ottawa Youth Orchestra. He has also appeared as a soloist at the Toronto Summer Music festival, Schiermonnikoog Festival in The Netherlands, Geneva International String Academy, Aspen Music Festival, Netherlands String Quartet Academy, Orford Music Festival, and the Meadowmount School of Music.

David is a dedicated chamber musician, and his string quartet, the Stelios Quartet has won several awards, including the 2024 Schiermonnikoog Festival Audience Award and the Grand Prize at the 2023 McGill Chamber Music Competition. Founded in 2023 in Montréal, the ensemble has performed in the Netherlands and throughout Québec.

Baik plays on the 1871 Vuillaume violin (‘Messiah’ Strad) as the winner of the 2023 Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank competition.

Beverly Wang, oboe

Beverly has been playing the oboe since the age of eight, and began studying music in Toronto, where she performed as a member of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra for six years. She went on to study at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where she recently graduated.

She has performed as the Principal Oboe of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra since 2013, and as a guest soloist for ensembles across North America, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and National Arts Centre Orchestra, and a number of chamber ensembles. Beverly has worked with renowned conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Fabio Luisi, Christoph Eschenbach, Jahja Ling, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and others, and at prominent music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Taipei Music Academy & Festival, Artosphere Festival, Domaine Forget International Music Festival, and as part of the Young Artists Program with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NAC).

Alongside her performing career, Beverly is also passionate about music education, and helping the next generation of oboists find their voice.

Maestro Bastidas

Internationally acclaimed conductor and multi-instrumentalist Carlos Bastidas studied bassoon, composition, conducting, and chamber music at the University of Ottawa.

As a child in his native Colombia, Bastidas was enamoured of Arthur Fiedler and his iconic Boston Pops Orchestra, and on arriving in Canada, he was inspired to found a similar organization — the Ontario Pops Orchestra (OPO).

Along with his role as Music Director of the OPO, Maestro Bastidas is Emeritus Conductor of the Durham Chamber Orchestra, and has also guest conducted with the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra in Cuba.

Recognizing the importance of digital media early, Bastidas has developed a solid online following in addition to his live performing career in order to spread the joy of classical music beyond the region.

With OPO, Bastidas released the album Breaking Barriers digitally in 2022, followed by a CD release in 2023. The release features music by Bach, Vivaldi, Holst and Mahler, and spotlights three Black women soloists as part of OPO’s commitment to inclusivity and diversity.

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons & Handel’s Water Music: The Music

The program features four works of the Baroque period:

Vivaldi — The Four Seasons
Marcello — Oboe Concerto in D minor
Geminiani — Concerto Grosso in D minor ‘La Folia’
Handel — Selections from Water Music

Antonio Vivaldi’s now iconic The Four Seasons was likely composed some time between 1718 and 1723, and was originally published in Amsterdam. It’s easily the best known of the composers works, and represented a landmark in composition in its musical depiction of several specific species of birds, a shepherd and his dog, among other things. He published the music together with a set of sonnets, which he may have written himself, that describe the spirit of each season. It’s one of the earliest examples in Western music of what is known as program music, i.e. music with a narrative.

Venetian composer Alessandro Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D minor, S D935, and the earliest known manuscript dates from 1715, when J.S. Bach wrote a solo keyboard arrangement of the work (his BWV 974). It was published in Amsterdam in 1717. For decades, the work was attributed to others — Bach published his arrangement as a treatment of a work by Vivaldi, and in the early 20th century, it was thought to be written by Benedetto Marcello, Alessandro’s brother. In its original published version, the melodic lines are presented unembellished, leaving it up to the performer to add trills and other ornaments.

Born in Tuscany in 1687, Francesco Geminiani studied music in Rome with master composer Arcangelo Corelli. Along with his compositions, Geminiani was known in his time as a virtuoso violinist. Concerto grosso after Corelli, No. 12 in D minor ‘La Folia’, H.143, which he published in 1726/27, comes from two sets of concerti grossi that were arranged from Corelli’s Opus 5. Largely, Geminiani leaves the virtuoso violin part of Corelli’s original work intact, adding a second solo violin part. It’s a fiery work that showcases the soloists, and plays with the contrasts between the soloists and the ensemble.

George Frideric Handel’s The Water Music is a collection of orchestra music that premiered on July 17, 1717. The work was composed after a request from King George I for music for a concert on the River Thames, to be performed by 50 musicians. Many of the movements are written in a lively dance form. The work was performed on a barge on the river to entertain the monarch’s guests on a royal cruise. While portions of the suite were published before Handel’s death, the entire collection would first be assembled about 30 years later, in 1788.

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons & Handel’s Water Music: The Concert

The concert takes place on Sunday, November 2, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. at the Glenn Gould Studio (250 Front Street West, Toronto).

Tickets at $25 and are available [HERE].

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Anya Wassenberg

Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto City Editor at Ludwig Van. Previously, she was a freelance writer with a specialty in culture and travel for three decades, and a creative writing instructor for Ontariolearn.