The Galena Trio

About Us

"Their music making is warm, intelligent, passionate, very pure and honest and that makes them an exception in today's world. Never a dull moment with the Galena Trio in whatever repertoire, classical, romantic or modern. Highly recommended!"
-Henk Guittart, Conductor/Violist/Founding member of the Schoenberg Quartet

Sharing a contagious passion for the art of chamber music, the trio was formed in the summer of 2011 by cellist Johanne Perron, clarinetist Nicola Everton and pianist Susanne Ruberg-Gordon while on faculty at the Valhalla Summer School of Music and is now the trio -in-residence for the Valhalla Arts Foundation.

Although all three musicians are individually busy professional performers and educators, the rich repertoire and sound of this instrument combination has inspired the trio to continue further exploration with performances in B.C . and Alberta.

The Galena Trio just completed a 2-week residency at the Banff Centre working primarily with Henk Guittart (Director) as well as Jane Coop and Lesley Robertson.

Nicola Everton

Clarinetist Nicola Everton has recently become a resident of the Kootenays after spending twenty years as a member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Highlights for Nicola durning her tenure with the orchestra include participating in the 2008 Grammy and Juno award winning recording with James Ehnes and performing at the Beijing International Music Festival.

Her post secondary music studies began with a full scholarship to Arizona State University and continued for a further four years at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she obtained a Bachelor of Music Degree. Before joining the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 1989, she spent the winter at the Banff School of Fine Arts. Principal teachers for Nicola include Ronald de Kant and Donald Montanaro.

Chamber music has long been a passion for Nicola and since moving to the Kootenays, she has taken on the role of artistic director of the Kootenay Gallery concert series and is the coordinator for the Kootenay Chapter of the Health Arts Society.

Nicola has served on the faculty of the Vancouver Academy of Music and has performed and taught at summer festivals in Sun Valley Idaho, at the University of British Columbia and in the Slocan Valley at the Valhalla School of Fine Arts.

Susanne Ruberg-Gordon

Quoted by the Chronicle Herald as "A superb musician", Swedish-born pianist Susanne Ruberg-Gordon is a highly regarded chamber musician and collaborative artist. She has performed with artists such as Andrés Cárdenes, Andrés Diaz, Ron Leonard, Desmond Hoebig, Ian Swensen, James Campbell, Alain Trudel, Jens Lindemann, Ning Feng, Catherine Monoukian, Ni Tao, Arnold Choi and Nikki Chooi.

Susanne is a core member of the Land's End Chamber Ensemble in Calgary, an ensemble that is dedicated to introducing audiences to new music by local and Canadian composers and to performing landmark chamber works of the 20th and 21st centuries.

After graduating from the Edsberg Institute of Music in Stockholm with a Diploma in Chamber Music, her studies brought her to the Banff Centre Music and Sound Program. Her primary teachers were Greta Eriksson and José Ribera but she also appreciates learning from Gilbert Kalish, Marc Durand and David Moroz. Susanne has also performed in various master-classes with Geoffrey Parsons, Richard Goode, Frans Helmerson, Lynn Harrell, Lawrence Lesser, Janos Starker, Henk Guittart and Siegfried Palm.

As a collaborative pianist, Susanne has been featured on Swedish Radio, CBC Radio and Radio Canada. She also has performed in competitions as the Montreal International Violin Competition, the MSO Standard Life Competition, the Wieniawski International Violin Competition and the Shean Competition.

Susanne has been on the faculty at the Mont Royal University Conservatory since 1991 where she is the coordinator of Collaborative Pianists, works extensively with the senior string students and teaches chamber music. She has also been a Collaborative Artist for the acclaimed Morningside Music Bridge program in Canada, China and Poland since 2001.

"The perfect collaborative pianist, elegant and refined and her shaping, everything the connoisseur of the composer could wish" - The Calgary Herald

Johanne Perron

An international cello artist, Johanne Perron presently pursues a career as a chamber musician, solo performer and educator. As a soloist, she has played with orchestras including the Montreal, Mexico and Lisbon Symphonies among others under the direction of Charles Dutoit, Franz-Paul Decker, Arthur Weisberg, Otto Werner Muller and the assistant conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Zeev Doorman. She has presented recitals in Canada, Brazil, Mexico and the United States as well as in Europe and has collaborated as chamber musician on the American stage with members of the Philadelphia piano quartet and Classic Chamber concerts of Naples Florida and also appeared at the Luzerne NY chamber music festival. She has been a first -prize winner of several contests and founder/member of the Cellissimo Duo and Trio Garami. She has been featured numerous times on radio and television broadcasts in Canada and on WQXR in New York.

Born in Chicoutimi, Quebec, she was awarded the first prize in cello and chamber music at the Conservatoire d Québec with Pierre Morin. As a Canada Council grant recipient, she obtained a Master's degree at Yale with Aldo Parisot and thereafter studied with Leonard Rose at the Juliiard School of Music in New York. She has attended several master classes with distinguished artists including Janos Starker in Banff, Perre Fournier in Geneva and Paul Tortelier in Los Angeles. She has won several awards including the Prix d'Europe as well as first prize in strings at the Tremplin International des Concours de Musique du Canada.

Critics of the Musical America magazine have described her as "An artist of extraordinary musical demension, compelling intensity and deep inner serenity." The day following a recital which she had given as part of the series Sons et brioches, Gilles Potvin wrote "Her sonority is unswervingly beautiful and of great fluidity. What is most striking about her are the musical gifts which enable her to phrase with sensitivity and elegance."

Johanne Perron has served on the faculty of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and at the Lynn Univeristy Music Conservatory at Boca Raton, Florida formerly known as the HARID Conservatory. She has taught and given masterclasses in Brazil, Canada and the United States. Since 2000, she is on faculty at the Domaine Forget International Summer Music Festival. In 2005, after a twenty year absence from Canada, Johanne Perron returned to serve on the artist faculty at the University of Montreal strings department, which attracts young and talented musicians from around the world.

For her, the purpose of teaching is not only to transfer knowledge but also to create a dialogue with younger people. Attesting to this are her three daughters who have in turn adopted a passion for musicianship. Johanne adds, "This human dimension demands a lot of personal investment of time and energy but results in a great satisfaction within my teaching career." She plays a 1901 Gustav Bernardel cello made in Paris.