Pianist and composer Jesse Plessis was born in Sparwood, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, and is a member of the Métis Nation of British Columbia.  His teachers include Arne Sahlen, Allen Reiser, Deanna Oye, Megumi Masaki, Paul Stewart, Norma Fisher, Edith Fischer, Arlan N. Schultz, Patrick Carrabre, Jarred Dunn, and Philippe Leroux. He performs regularly across Canada, he has been heard on stages in England, Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, and recent concerto performances include Bela Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Orchestre 21, led by Paolo Bellomia, and in 2024 his musical endeavors have brought him across Canada and to Ireland, Los Angeles, and French Polynesia. His compositions have been performed by Canadian artists and ensembles including the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Brittany Rae, Jonathon Adams and Lucas Harris, Continuum Contemporary Music’s HATCH! ensemble, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Land’s End Ensemble. Upcoming projects include film music for a documentary about the life and work of Tahitian poet Flora Aurima Devatine, two song cycles based on poetry by Liz Howard, a choral work for Calgary-based ensemble Luminous Voices, a piano trio for the Fibonacci Trio, a concerto for piano and orchestra.

He holds a doctorate in piano performance from the Université de Montréal, and in 2020 he developed a rare neuromuscular condition called focal dystonia which disabled his right hand. While he is recovering from focal dystonia, he continues to perform and also devotes more time and energy to research and writing music, and entered doctoral studies in composition at McGill University supported by the Schulich Excellence Fellowship.

He is also an amateur surfer and distance runner.

Sophie Dupuis is a francophone composer from and based in New Brunswick, interested in music for solo instruments, ensembles and electroacoustics, and in multidisciplinary art. Her work is characterized by rich textures, emotive melodies, and immersive soundscapes. 

Sophie has been commissioned and performed by soloists and groups including Ballet-Opéra-Pantomine, Duo Holz, Ventus Machina, Made in Trio, Din of Shadows, Thin Edge New Music Collective, ECM+, Quasar and Esprit Orchestra. Her first album, Comme bon lui semble, featuring a collection of visual-art-inspired works, was released at Navona Records in October 2023. 

Sophie has been receiving generous funding regularly from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, artsNB, FACTOR and Socan Foundation for her projects. She was chosen by composer James Rolfe to receive the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize Protégée Award, and by contemporary voice specialist Janice Jackson to share the Friends of Canadian Music Award. Her album received a 2024 Music NB Awards nomination for "Enregistrement de l'année" (recording of the year).

Aside from her activities as a composer, she works as a freelance violinist, arranger and music educator. She is actively contributing to the cultural development of her community, volunteering in various art organizations and performing with different groups.

Sophie holds a Bachelor of Music in composition from Dalhousie University, a Master of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Toronto. She lives in Edmundston, NB.

Darren Xu is a Chinese Canadian composer who is currently completing a PhD at the Royal College of Music, where he was recently awarded an Artist Diploma. Darren enjoys writing music for acoustic instruments, electronics, films, dance, and other cross-disciplinary collaborations. Darren has had the opportunity to work with various collaborators, including Standing Wave, the Wallace Collection, the English National Ballet School, Barcelona Modern Ensemble, Roadrunner Trio, TorQ Percussion Quartet, Piano-Erhu Project (PEP), Trio Immersio, Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, and members of Divertimento Ensemble and Prague Modern.

Recent collaborations include solo performances by Riccardo Acciarino, Aleksander Gabrys, Malin Sieberns, and Anna Stavelova at Divertimento Ensemble Rondò 2024 (Italy), Novalis Festival(Croatia), Festival Mixtur (Spain), and Echofluxx 24 (Czechia), respectively. His first orchestral composition, To Liberate, was premiered by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at the Winnipeg New Music Festival in January 2023, and was subsequently read by the VSO. His piano trio, with love, I will get to you, was premiered by Trio Immersio at the Iceberg Institute in Vienna, and later performed at the Sonic Boom Festival in Vancouver. The subsequent edition of the festival saw the premiere of Darren’s saxophone quartet, Whirlwind, by Saxophilia, and it was later performed again at the St. Petersburg International New Music Festival by SeVer Saxophone Quartet. Recently he was a Sandbox Composer at the Three Choirs Festival's New Voices Academy. His film score, Stargazer, was awarded Best Score by New York Film Awards in November 2018.

He received a BCom, BMus, and a MMus from UBC.