Christopher Gaze

Christopher Gaze was born on May 12, 1952 and educated at Hurstpierpoint College boarding school in Sussex, England from 1960-70. Whilst there he decided that he wanted to be an actor. During the summer holidays, Christopher gained experience with Britain’s National Youth Theatre and from 1970-1973 he went to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, a great training ground for many actors, including Olivia Colman and Sir Patrick Stewart, plus his contemporary and friend Pete Postlethwaite. From there he worked in repertory theatre until he was inspired to come to Canada in 1975 by his mentor, legendary Shakespearean actor Douglas Campbell. He spent three seasons at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake and acted at various theatre companies across Canada and the USA, moving to Vancouver in 1983. After a couple of experiences with other tented Shakespeare festivals, Christopher recognized the potential in blending excellent Shakespeare productions with Vancouver’s spectacular location as a backdrop. In 1990, he founded Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, where Bard’s signature open-ended tent allowed actors to perform against the view of the city, the sea and the mountains.

The first summer of Bard on the Beach was a huge success. Beginning as an Equity Co-op production, it staged one play in a rented tent in Sen̓áḵw/Vanier Park on a budget of $35,000. Today the Festival has a budget of $10 million and has seen its attendance rocket from 6,000 in that first summer to over 100,000 annually. The growth has been steady and organic, and the Festival has been able to sustain its mandate “to provide quality Shakespeare productions that are accessible and affordable”.

Not only has patronage flourished within the local community but Bard has contributed significantly to the city as a major tourist attraction, with approximately one-tenth of its patrons coming from outside BC’s Lower Mainland and productions playing nationally and internationally.

Christopher nurtured Bard’s “Young Shakespeareans” Summer Camp Program, which provides an opportunity every summer for well over 200 young people to train with company artist/instructors on the Bard stages. The Festival has also developed a Student Matinee series that annually brings as many as 8,000 students to performances, introducing them to the magic of Shakespeare’s stories and language.

During the past several years, Bard has expanded its education programs with Bard in the Classroom, Bard in your Neighbourhood and Riotous Youth programs for young people, students and teachers. No child or school is turned away, and subsidies are available so all may participate. This commitment to youth outreach and education is making an important contribution to the development of a knowledgeable and enthusiastic “audience of the future” for the performing arts in general.

Christopher is an accomplished actor and director. Over his extensive 50-year career in the theatre he has performed at major centres across Canada, England and the USA. In 2004 he was honoured with the Jessie Richardson Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the Playhouse production of Equus, and a Career Achievement award in 2014.

In addition to his role as Artistic Director, Christopher has frequently performed and directed at Bard on the Beach. His directing credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1990 and 2003), As You Like It (1991) The Winter’s Tale (1997), Henry V (2002) and Shakespeare’s Rebel (2015). Favourite roles among the innumerable characters he has played at Bard are Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, the title roles in Richard III and King Lear as well as Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

A gifted public speaker, Christopher frequently shares his insights into the theatre and Shakespeare in the community at large, with school groups, service organizations and local businesses. He works with many other arts organizations, notably as host of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Traditional Christmas Concerts series since 1993 and its legendary Tea & Trumpets series since 2002. Christopher also works extensively as a character actor in film and radio, and he narrated the Emmy Award-winning animation series Madeline. He serves as a Board Member for many different organizations and plays a leadership role as a cultural ambassador in BC. As an Olympic ambassador, Christopher was honoured to run with the Olympic flame for the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

Christopher’s many honours include induction into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, Canada’s Meritorious Service Medal (2004), Honorary Doctorates from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, the BC Community Achievement Award (2007), the Gold Medallion from the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America (2007), the (Vancouver) Mayor’s Arts Award for Theatre (2011) and the Order of British Columbia (2012).

Amanda Chan

Professor & Division Chair, Piano

Amanda Chan has achieved recognition and critical acclaim in her career as pianist, teacher, lecturer, adjudicator and examiner. She has given concerts all over Canada, USA, China and Europe as a soloist and chamber player. Much in demand as a chamber musician, her collaborations have included projects with musicians such as Mark Steinberg, Curtis Stewart, Timothy Chooi, Adrian Fung, James Campbell and Measha Brueggergosman as well as musicians from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Vancouver Opera. She appears regularly on local series such as Music in the Morning, VSO Chamber Players Series, Academy Chamber Players and Vancouver Chamber Music Society. As a member of the Koerner Piano Trio, their performances have included educational mandates with outreach initiatives. Her passion for tango jazz led to her becoming the pianist for Tango Paradiso, whose performances included invitations at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Their CD “Passion” achieved critical acclaim at its release and earned Favorite CD pick from CD Baby.

Early in her career, she garnered many top prizes at prestigious Canadian competitions such as the Canadian Music Competition, National Canadian Music Festival, Canadian National Bach Competition, CBC National Young Performers Competition, and Concours Orchestre Symphonie de Montreal. She received the gold medal for the Royal Conservatory of Music ARCT diploma and was also awarded full scholarships and major Canada Council Arts grants for her studies. Earning her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of British Columbia and her Master of Music degree at the University of Southern California, she received the top graduate awards at both institutions. She then continued on with doctoral and post-graduate studies at the University of Southern California and the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto. Her teachers have included John Perry, Marc Durand, Andre Laplante, Jon Kimura Parker, Karl-Heinz Kammerling, Robin Wood, Kum-Sing Lee and Edward Parker.

Equally passionate as an educator and mentor, her students have achieved much success, winning awards at national and international competitions, many continuing on to establish rewarding professional careers. She is regularly invited to adjudicate festivals, competitions and give masterclasses in Canada, China and Europe. She is Professor and Piano Division Chair at the Vancouver Academy of Music and serves on the faculty of the University of British Columbia, School of Music teaching piano and chamber music.

Adrian Fung

Adrian Fung, an award-winning cellist, educator, and arts executive, is recognized as one of Musical America’s 30 Innovators of the Year. He is the Executive and Artistic Director of Vancouver’s celebrated concert organization, Music In The Morning Concert Society and cellist of Afiara Quartet. He has held senior executive roles at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and The Royal Conservatory. In addition, he served as associate dean and tenured associate professor at the University of Oklahoma’s Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts. In Oklahoma, he created the International Arts Incubator and both undergraduate and graduate programs in arts entrepreneurship. As the founding cellist of the critically-acclaimed Afiara Quartet, Mr. Fung is a winner of the Concert Artist Guild International Competition, Young Canadian Musicians Award, 2nd prizes at the Munich ARD and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, and the Szekely Prize for Best Interpretation of Beethoven. A JUNO-nominated artist and producer, his projects have been featured by Forbes and CBC Music in each of their Top 10 Albums of the Year and praised by the Toronto Star as “one of the most attention-grabbing shows of the year.” Mr. Fung has performed over 600 performances in extensive tours worldwide including such storied stages as Carnegie Hall, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Kennedy Center. He earned his Bachelor of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory, the Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, and an MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. He was featured in Fortune magazine as one of the Best and Brightest Executive MBAs worldwide.

James Campbell

Dubbed “Canada’s premier clarinetist” by the Ottawa Citizen, James Campbell has performed as soloist and chamber musician in over 35 countries with over 60 orchestras including the Boston Pops, Montreal Symphony and the London Symphony. He has collaborated with Glenn Gould and Aaron Copland and toured with over 35 string quartets, including the Guarneri, Amadeus and Vermeer. Of his over 40 recordings, the BBC and the Times of London rated his recording of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet as the best available and his CD Stolen Gems (Marquis Records) won a JUNO. He has been named Canada’s Artist of the Year, awarded the Queen’s Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medal, an Honourary Doctor of Law, and the Order of Canada. James Campbell has been Artistic Director of the Festival of the Sound since 1985 and was Professor of Music at the famed Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University from 1988-2019 and continues to give masterclasses worldwide.

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Use for any combination of Festival of the Bay concerts! July 11, 17, 31, August 6 & 9

Available at Midland Cultural Centre box office or at the door

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Presented by Brookside Music Association