Theresa Thordarson’s boundless creative drive stems from a lifetime of musical risk-taking. Whether writing original compositions, playing piano in traditional settings, or collaborating with artists across genres and disciplines, she thrives in musical explorations veering off the beaten path.

Growing up in rural Manitoba, Theresa experienced the classical canon as just one of many viable influences. Her curiosity has led her to investigate unexpected connections across disparate musical worlds. Her creations embrace playful poetry based on local history, harmonies lifted from Debussy’s piano works, and faint disco beats sputtering from a rundown electronic organ.

Theresa performs traditional and contemporary repertoire as a soloist and collaborative pianist, with recent engagements including concerts for Send and Receive, Virtuosi Concerts, Nuit Blanche Winnipeg, Winterruption, and Lethbridge’s Centric Festival. She also sings, plays synth, and writes adventurous pop music as one half of the duo Bicycle Face with guitarist Ava Glendinning and recently released a solo EP under the name Theresa Thor.

A passionate educator, Theresa instructs with a flexible, student-centred approach, encouraging students to think holistically about their connections to music and identity. Her experience overcoming a repetitive stress injury has given her a valuable pedagogical perspective informed by the Taubman piano approach. Theresa has studied and served as a sessional instructor at both Brandon University and the State University of New York, Fredonia, where she was also employed as a staff collaborative pianist.

Theresa makes her home in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Dawn Bruch-Wiens holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice from McGill University and both a Post-Baccalaureate and Master of Music degree from the University of Manitoba, where she studied with Tracy Dahl. Praised as a "mesmerizing" singer with "effervescent vocal agility" (Opera Canada), Dawn has performed with Manitoba Opera, The Little Opera Company, Flipside Opera and Art Song Collective, Manitoba Underground Opera, Groundswell, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, and Opera on the Avalon. 

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With over 18 years of experience teaching private voice lessons, Dawn has also served as a sessional instructor at Canadian Mennonite University for five years. Passionate about the festival movement, she has contributed as a performer, teacher, adjudicator, and administrator for more than 30 years.