How I Learned to Think and Train like an Olympian: The Importance of Mental Skills for Musicians

Leader: Lara Deutsch

Like athletes who spend a lifetime training for an Olympic race, musicians spend years practicing for auditions and performances which sometimes last only minutes. However, most of us focus completely on musical preparation for these opportunities, even though the ability to perform at our best in high-stakes situations is largely a result of mental strength. In this 60-minute presentation, I share how I’ve learned to optimize my performance from my work with renowned Olympic mental coach, Jean-François Ménard. This work has been life-changing for me and, as such, I am a passionate advocate for mental skills coaching in conjunction with all performing arts training.

Essential Skills for the Freelance Musician

Leader: Michael Bridge

We’ll discuss various business skills in an interactive group setting. I will tell real tour stories from Canada and the USA—times that contracts have been renegotiated and how, the two ways I use to estimate the time in a project and how to communicate that effectively to an employer (leading to a better fee), and much more. Here is a business question to ponder beforehand: what is holding you back from getting to the next level?

Recording Projects, from Concept to Realization

Leader: Yolanda Bruno

In addition to her many other musical accomplishments, Yolanda Bruno has recorded two albums. 'The Wild Swans', which she recorded in 2014 with pianist Isabelle David, explores fairy-tale themes through the music of female composers ranging from Hildegard von Bingen to Lera Auerbach.  'Dear Jeanne', released in 2025, is a tribute to the late great Jeanne Lamon, and was recorded on Lamon's violin.  In this workshop, Yolanda will talk about the process of recording an album - from building a cohesive concept, to working with a record label (or not!), to funding options, and finally to public release and publicity.  

How to Practice Less and Better: Strategies for Efficient Practicing for Pianists

Leader: Suren Barry

We have all heard tales of very fine musicians with stellar work ethics locking themselves away in a practice room for hours on end. But while feverish dedication and hard work definitely have their place, I would argue that we should aim to practice as little as possible, and ideally as enjoyably as possible. This workshop addresses how to develop physically and mentally healthy practice habits, making our time at the instrument more efficient and rewarding.

Radical Connections of Music and Wellness

Leader: Carol Wiebe

Music-making  is known to contribute to cognitive and emotional wellness. At the same time, practising, performing, and competing can be hard on our bodies and our mental health. As a classical musician and family doctor, Carol Wiebe has first-hand knowledge of this. With her non-profit Radical Connections and the duo Concert Docs, she has seen people in healthcare spaces benefit from interactions with artists and musicians.  Less talked about, yet more relevant to this workshop, is how those performances affect musicians. We will explore tools to help us be more playful and mindful when we practise and perform. We will also learn more about self-compassion,  often lacking in high-performing musicians.  This will be an interactive workshop, incorporating movement and journaling, while learning from each other.

The Magical World of Mushrooms: A Guided Mushroom Hike in the Hills

Leader: Celine Perrier  

Ramble with me on my private trail and as we go on a treasure hunt for fungal jewels and truly connect with the forest’s hidden, and often quite delicious, kingdom! In this Workshop we’ll enjoy a mushroom snack while discussing fungi anatomy, ethical foraging techniques, medicinal and deadly mushrooms, and we’ll share fungi facts and folklore. You'll marvel at my dried collection and mushroom spore art and then we’ll hit the trail to share knowledge and discuss our findings as a group.  Let me lead you into a fairytale you never knew existed!

Dr. Carson Becke, piano instructor and course director

Born and raised in Ottawa, Canadian pianist and composer Carson Becke has performed worldwide.  He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, UK, and at the University of Oxford, where he completed a doctorate in musicology.  As a chamber musician, Carson enjoys frequent collaborations with pianist Suren Barry as Duo Octavian (www.duooctavian.com), soprano Meghan Lindsay, and cellist Julia MacLaine.  As a composer, Carson’s work is generally concerned with the idea of placefulness, and is often inspired by his surroundings in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec.  His 2025 song cycle The Forest received funding from the English Language Arts Network in Quebec, and is based on newly commissioned poetry about trees by six Gatineau Hills-based poets.  As an arranger, he written transcriptions of music by Mendelssohn (Hebrides Overture - solo piano), Puccini (Fantasy on themes from Tosca - solo piano), Holst (The Planets - piano duo), Richard Strauss (Vier Letzte Lieder - piano and voice), and others.  Carson lives in Wakefield, Quebec.  

Dr. Suren Barry, piano instructor, workshop leader

Hailing from Ottawa (Canada), Suren is a versatile artist, equally at home on piano, fortepiano, and harpsichord. Having performed with some of the world's leading early music ensembles, Suren has established himself as a sought-after early music specialist, recently having been awarded second prize at the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition as well as a fellowship with The English Concert of America. Suren teaches harpsichord continuo at the University of Montreal, and regularly collaborates with various ensembles in Canada and the US, such as Les Violons du Roy, Twelfth Night Ensemble, Ensemble Caprice, and I Musici de Montréal. Suren also maintains an active career as a pianist, regularly performing alongside Carson Becke as part of Duo Octavian, a piano duo dedicated to commissioning new music and arranging orchestral works.  A self-professed generalist, Suren is happiest when learning new things and engaging in conversation, and has perhaps spent more time playing chess than he cares to admit.

Yolanda Bruno, violin collaborator, workshop leader

Yolanda Bruno is an Ottawa-born violinist, praised for her “total control of her instrument with infinite variety in the sound palette” (La Presse). She’s won Grand Prizes at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition and the inaugural Isabel Overton Bader Violin Competition. She received the Canada Council for the Arts’ Virginia Parker Prize—the nation’s highest honour for young musicians. As a soloist, she’s performed with the Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Orchestra of the Americas, and London Mozart Players. Her most memorable and rewarding musical experiences have happened in unexpected places—playing for children in a parking lot in South-East London, giving a concert in a high-security penitentiary, playing in parks, subways, hospitals. She believes deeply in the power of music to break down barriers of all kinds—personal, cultural, even political.  As a chamber musician, soloist, recording artist, orchestral player and teacher, Yolanda leads a varied musical life. She was Concertmaster at the Kingston Symphony Orchestra and Associate Concertmaster at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. She teaches chamber music at The Glenn Gould School and has served on faculty at the Eastern Music Festival and Le Domaine Forget.

Fanny Bray-Marks, cello collaborator

French/British cellist Fanny Marks entered the local music school at age 9, going on to earn her Bachelor of Music from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London), her postgraduate degree in music from the Royal Academy of Music (London) and her postgraduate Performance Diploma from the University of Indiana (USA) in the studio of Janos Starker.  Most of her career has consisted in touring with orchestras (such as the Nederlands Kamerorkest and the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest) and chamber music groups in concert halls and theatres across Europe and the Americas.  Throughout her music life she has developed a passion for working with kids – music theatre, children’s operas, workshops for disabled kids or kids with special needs /low-income families and youth music summer camps in Europe, but also in her numerous travels around the world.  Fanny moved to Wakefield, Quebec in September 2014 and started her own cello teaching studio there.  Since 2015, she has been a regular substitute at the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.  This academic year saw her become a chamber music coach at the pre-college program at the University of Ottawa.

Lara Deutsch, workshop leader

Named one of 2020’s “Rising Stars” by BBC Music Magazine, flutist Lara Deutsch is a versatile soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player known for her engaging warmth and ability to connect with audiences. Recipient of the $125,000 Prix Goyer for 2019-2020, Lara was also a first prize winner of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s 2014 Manulife Competition and the Grand Prize Winner of theNational Arts Centre Orchestra Bursary Competition. An avid chamber musician, Lara’s recent performance highlights include a ten-concert tour of the Northern United Kingdom, as well as recitals across Canada and the United States. She has recorded three chamber music albums on the Leaf Music Label: Origins (2019, Duo Kalysta), Night Light (2022, with Philip Chiu), and Wanderlust (2023, with Adam Cicchillitti).  Dedicated to sharing her transformative experiences working with Olympic mental performance coach Jean François Ménard, Lara has hosted workshops internationally for performers of all ages. In 2020, she joined the music faculty at Carleton University as a performance instructor and, as of 2023, now serves on the faculty of the Breno Italy International Music Academy.  Lara performs on a 14k gold Haynes flute, generously loaned by Canimex Inc. of Drummondville, Québec.

Dr. Carol Wiebe, workshop leader

As a family physician, chamber musician, and former hospital executive, Dr Carol Wiebe uses her broad training and experience as well as ingrained collaborative skills to design opportunities and spaces where people can find meaning and heal. Carol studied music performance (piano, flute) before becoming a family physician. Her medical career shifted from HIV primary care to elder care in hospital and long-term care, where she led clinical and informatics programs, followed by several years as VP, Medical Affairs at Bruyère.Dr. Wiebe co-founded the Bruyère Artist in Residence program and ConcertDocs, with both programs bringing the arts and a great deal of joy into residential care.She completed an MBA at Rotman School of Management in 2021, using the GEMBA-HLS (Global Executive MBA in Healthcare and the Life Sciences) as a springboard to launch Radical Connections, an organization that reimagines the role of the arts in healthcare.

Celine Perrier, workshop leader

Fauna, flora and fungi freak, bird-nerd, citizen scientist, beekeeper, beeswax candle maker, and loud car singer. Listening to some good tunes, rambling on a trail with friends or paddling with my best dog The Mighty Quinn is the perfect day for me. I’ve been exploring the Gatineau Hills and beyond for a long time, feeding my curiosity and learning through experience. For 16 years, I have lived deep in the Boreal forest where the wild things are.

Dr. Michael Bridge, workshop leader

Michael Bridge is a musical maverick. “A wizard of the accordion” (CBC), he’s a virtuoso performer on both the acoustic accordion and its 21st Century cousin, the digital accordion. His concerts and improvisations capture the energy and panache of stadium rock with the elegance and discipline of chamber music. It all began when Bridge was five, growing up in Calgary, when his mom bought him a $5 accordion at a garage sale. He has since performed throughout Europe, 25 US states, and all Canadian provinces. He received his doctorate in accordion performance from the University of Toronto. He’s at home with classical, contemporary, jazz and folk music and has premiered 60 new works.  He gives lectures and masterclasses at North American and European conservatories, and he teaches Music Business at the University of Toronto. Dr. Bridge embraces a musical aesthetic that is alternatively irreverent, deadly serious, meticulously prepared and completely in-the-moment. Ultimately, he aims to make your world more bearable, beautiful and human—even if only for the length of a concert.