E-gre winners tour, featuring Linda Ruan and Stephanie Chua

Join us for an exciting evening of dynamic piano playing at the CMC. Up and coming pianist Linda Ruan joins us for the Toronto leg of the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition National Tour. Linda's program features a programme celebrating Asian-Canadian composers across the country including Keiko Deveaux, Vincent Ho, Alice Ping-Yee Ho as well as the E-gre Commissioned work this year by Rita Ueda. Linda is joined by a stallwart in the Toronto new music scene, pianist Stephanie Chua. Stephanie complements Linda's program with a selection of adventurous Canadian music from her repertoire.

The evening will conclude with a post concert chat between Linda and Stephanie.

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Named one of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Hot 30 under 30 Canadian Classical Musicians, Chinese-Canadian pianist Linda Ruan is passionate about sharing the potential of music to overcome boundaries across cultures. Since being introduced to the drums at the age of four and then the piano at the age of seven, music has remained a stabilizing force in her diverse childhood from Tokyo, Shanghai to Vancouver. Her unconventional path from a young age broadened her horizons and cultivated a fascination for diverse cultures. Her curiosity guided her beyond her solo piano studies, expanding to music pedagogy and community engagement, the fortepiano, conducting and a wide range of chamber music projects.

Linda is a top prize winner in a number of international piano competitions including the VI Odin International Music Competition, Music Without Limits International Competition, and the Seattle International Piano Competition. Her piano duo La Fiammata is the second prize winner of the ARD International Music Competition 2021. She has performed in venues across the world, from Carnegie’s Weill Hall and Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio to a recital tour in China spanning Guangzhou to Shanghai. Additionally, she made her orchestral debut with the Xinghai Philharmonic.

Linda received her Bachelor of Music degree with Honours and Master of Music degrees from The Glenn Gould School, The Juilliard School, and the Tianjin School respectively. Her past teachers include James Anagnoson, Hung-Kuan Chen, Corey Hamm, Xiao Li, Li Wang, Xiaohan Wang, and Jia Xie. Currently, she is studying at the UBC School of Music with Dr. Corey Hamm.

Stephanie Chua is an expressive and versatile Canadian pianist devoted to presenting and performing contemporary works through musical insight, innovative programming, and dynamic collaborations. She has performed in solo and chamber recitals across Canada, Europe, and Asia. Recent highlights include being a featured performer in Soundstreams’ ‘Keyed Up’ Piano Festival (Toronto) and the STRATA New Music Festival (Saskatoon), solo recitals at SOUL Live Music Project in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) in partnership with Saigon Classical, New Music Edmonton, and Music Toronto’s Discovery Series; along with performances at Shanghai New Music Festival, and Impuls Contemporary Music Festival (Graz, Austria).

As a much sought-after collaborative pianist, Stephanie has performed in some of Canada's most important contemporary ensembles including Array Music, Continuum Contemporary Music, Esprit Orchestra, New Music Concerts, and Trio Fibonacci. In 2009, Stephanie co-founded junctQín keyboard collective with Elaine Lau and Joseph Ferretti. junctQín is a trio of pianists committed to performances of contemporary music and commissioning new works for their unique instrumentation. Since its inception, the group has commissioned and premiered over 40 new works from emerging to internationally established living composers. junctQín recently launched the digital platform PLAYrePLAY (playreplay.ca) with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, featuring breakthrough interactive compositions for the ensemble by composer-creators Germaine Liu, Nicole Lizée, and Lieke van der Voort. Stephanie also performs regularly in duo with violinist Véronique Mathieu. They recently released their second recording ‘Invocation’ featuring all female-identifying composers spanning over 200 years on Navona Records.

A dedicated educator, Stephanie has taught masterclasses and given lectures at the University of Toronto Scarborough, University of Western Ontario, University of Saskatchewan, University of Lethbridge, Lakehead University, and the Victoria Conservatory of Music. She has adjudicated at the Ontario Music Festivals Association’s 2025 and 2024 Provincials, Contemporary Showcase Festival in Mississauga and Saskatoon, and the Kiwanis Festival in Orillia. Stephanie is a proud Artist Mentor through the Toronto District School Board’s tdsbCREATES program.

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