Foodie Fridays

Hyeonbeen is a Korea born violist currently pursuing her master’s degree in music performance at the University of British Columbia’s School of Music. Her music education began at the age of 7 on piano and at the age of 12 she had her first exposure to the viola from a community youth orchestra.

Hyeonbeen has earned her bachelor’s degree at UBC School of Music with high distinction under the tutelage of Marina Thibeault. She is currently studying with Ryan Davis, newly appointed assistant professor of viola at UBC School of Music. Hyeonbeen is a recipient of many awards and scholarships including a bronze medal at the 2023 Vancouver International Music Competition. She has previously participated in summer music festivals such as VSO Institute at Whistler in 2018, VSO Virtual Institute in 2020, and the Domaine Forget in 2023. She has performed in multiple masterclasses and has played for many artists such as Emerson String Quartet, Viano Quartet, Ivo- Jan Van der Werff, Lynn Ramsy, and Jennifer Stumm. As an aspiring young musician, she wishes to contribute to her communities with the healing and uniting properties of music.

Cellist Isidora Nojkovic is an active soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. Praised for her "great control" (Chicago Classical Review), she has a passion for contemporary music and commissioning, having premiered over 50 works, and is one half of the contemporary violin/cello duo Orbit (“the new cross-continental duo to pay attention to.” – Classical Post). A founding member of Varo String Quartet, she also performs regularly with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Illinois Symphony, Vancouver’s Turning Point Ensemble, and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra. She has completed two tours with Lincoln Center Stage, performing in twenty-two countries as part of a piano quintet. 

Isidora is currently cello faculty at Millikin University in Illinois and coaches chamber music for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. She is a graduate of University of Ottawa (BMus.) and Manhattan School of Music (MMus.). 

Kent Dykstra  (B.Ed. Trinity Western Univ., M.Ed. Univ. of Alberta) is the music teacher and principal at Credo Christian High School, Langley, BC. He trained as a youth in both violin and piano, and has served as church organist and choir director. From 2000 to 2008, Kent successfully built a band program at Parkland Immanuel Christian School, Edmonton, which sent groups on tours to BC, Manitoba, and Ontario. His passion is composing and arranging music for his students, for both band and stringed instruments, especially based upon the Genevan Psalms. He released three CDs of Genevan Psalms arranged for string orchestra.

He has been the director of the Reformed String Camp in Canada for seventeen years.

Former concert master of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra. Delgado-Guevara has held principal positions in several orchestras in United States, Latin America,and Europe. 

Trained as a violin and viola pedagogue by Mimi Zweig, and Karen-Michele Kimmet, Mr. Delgado-Guevara has worked as part of the Gifted Young Violinists at Andrews University in Michigan.

José Delgado-Guevara is a trained composer as well as conductor. He is also a visual artist. Currently Mr.Delgado-Guevara runs his own private string studio as well as painting and composing. 

Concert violinist Dr. Calvin Dyck wears many hats ​(literally and figuratively). He is in his 25th season as Concertmaster for the Vancouver Island Symphony (Nanaimo), and is in demand as an adjudicator for music festivals across the country. Calvin is the Artistic Director for Oceanside Classical Concerts, the Artistic Director of the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra, has a teaching studio with 25 students, and is a busy producer with his company Songs, Strings and Steps Events Ltd.  In his spare time he runs a Christmas tree farm in Mission.
 
Calvin has his Doctor of Musical Arts (in violin performance) from the University of Southern California​ with minors in conducting, music education and music history.  He has produced 4 CDs which help raise money for Communitas, a charity which supports people living with disabilities.

Highlights from the past few years include producing concerts with the Celtic Tenors, Barrage, and Cirque Musica. In 2012 Calvin was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to the community and in April 2013 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities by Trinity Western University. In 2024, Calvin was awarded the “Order of Abbotsford” to recognize his work with youth.

Dennis Colpitts, a graduate from the Department of Music (UBC, 1976), has taught music in the Lower Mainland and Okanagan at all levels of the school system. His blended major of trumpet, voice and conducting have enabled him to participate in a wide variety of musical opportunities including the Vancouver Cantata Singers, Phoenix, a Chamber Choir, the Okanagan Festival Singers, the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra. He conducted the Kelowna City Concert Band from 1992 to 2000 and 2011 to 2020, and co-conducted the Okanagan Symphony Youth Orchestra with Rosemary Thomson from 2010 to 2022.

Mr. Colpitts has been second chair in the horn section of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra since 2000 and plays trumpet in the OSO Brass Quintet (aka Fish On Five). In 2011 Mr. Colpitts retired from 34 years of teaching and began a busy life as a Teacher On call and a volunteer working with brass students in the schools. He also conducts the OSO Wind Ensemble for the UBC Okanagan's convocation ceremonies each year. 

Mr. Colpitts has played the Last Post since 1994 for Kelowna's Remembrance Day Ceremony and since 2001 has played on an authentic World War I bugle.

Roxi Dykstra (Doctorate Kunstuniversitat Graz, Austria, Masters, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et Dance Lyon, France, M.Mus. Univ. de Montréal, ARCT Piano) has been working as a professional musician since 2004. She held the principal viola position of the Prince George Symphony for three years, an assistant principal viola position in the Orquestra do Norte in Portugal, and a permanent full-time position at the National Portuguese Orchestra (with the national opera at the historic Teatro Sao Carlo). She performs chamber, orchestral, and solo work across Europe and Canada, including with the Vancouver, Toronto and Okanagan symphonies and with chamber ensembles in the area, and most recently, has been filling in for concertmaster for the Prince George Symphony. 

​An enthusiastic northerner, Roxi works hard to promote musical opportunities and musical excellence in the north. She is the founder and co-director of the Orchestra North Summer Program, and director of its Academy program, which is committed to developing professional development opportunities for northern professionals and emerging artists from across BC.

​Roxi has extensive experience as a teacher, director and workshop host- she has been a Royal Conservatory of Music instructor for over 15 years, adjudicates with the British Columbia Performing Arts Festival Association, as well as on many occasions directed bands, choirs and orchestras, including most recently in 2021, a production of Peter and the Wolf with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra. She is also the artistic director of the Spirit of the North Classical Music Festival which typically brings dozens of classical concerts annually in August to Smithers and area.  

Luke Ongman is a clarinet and saxophone player from the city of Prince George in Northern British Columbia, though he currently resides in Victoria, British Columbia, where he is studying clarinet performance at the University of Victoria, in the studio of David Boutin-Bourque; Luke completed his undergraduate degree in clarinet performance in 2026, and will be staying at the University of Victoria to pursue a masters degree, beginning in September 2026.

 Luke has performed with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra as a side-by-side musician while studying with Simon Cole, principal clarinet of the PGSO, and was the principal clarinet with the University of Victoria Wind Symphony between from 2022 to 2024, and again for the 2025/26 season, during which time he was also principal clarinet in the University of Victoria Symphony Orchestra. Luke has also performed with the Island Chamber Winds ensemble and the Meridiem Wind Orchestra. In addition to music, Luke is also a lawyer, having been called to the bar in 2020, though he does not currently maintain his own private practice.