Family & Friends Concert
Celebrate Love, Music, and Togetherness This Valentine’s Day!
Saturday, February 14, 2026, 7:30 pm
As our original program with Christine Vlajk has been postponed, we are excited to present a special Valentine’s concert filled with heart-warming passion and beauty:
Full Orchestra:
Vaughan Williams - English Folk Song Suite
Mendelssohn - Symphony #5 Reformation
Featured Soloists
Bruce Skelton (Concertmaster):
Beethoven - Romance #2 opus 50
David Wadley (Principal Viola):
Bruch - Romance for Viola and Orchestra
Yuliia Ostapenko (Principal Cello):
Morricone - Cinema Paradiso
Caroline Déry (friend of the KWCO):
Charpentier - Depuis Le Jour, Gounod's Je Veux Vivre
Biographies:
Bruce Skelton, Concertmaster
Bruce began his orchestra career at the age of 9 with the Georgian Bay Symphony and later became Concertmaster of the group under the baton of Erna Van Daele.
While attending the University of Michigan to obtain a Bachelor of Music degree, he studied with Jacob Krachmalnick, former Concertmaster of the Philadelphia, Concertgebouw, and San Francisco Symphony orchestras.
Currently, in addition to his work leading the KWCO and managing the Leith Quartet, he regularly freelances in Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, and Stratford and maintains a very active teaching studio with more than 40 students.
Dave Wadley, Principal Violist
A native of Sault Ste. Marie, David Wadley began Violin studies in 1966 with David Warner-Smith. He subsequently gained valued knowledge from Lorna Glover, Stephen Kondaks, Lorand Fenyves, Mark Childs, Leo Wigdorchik and Mimi Zweig.
Having played Viola in the Emperor Quartet since 1981 and in the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony since 1983, David has gradually developed a sound that fewer and fewer people find objectionable.
David conducts and creates arrangements for young string groups, occasionally sneaking in an original piece. He has benefited from Composition classes with Tony Gartshore, Walter Babiak, Talivaldis Kenins, Edward Laufer, John Kruspe, Glenn Buhr, Peter Hatch, Allan Gordon Bell, Bill Jordan and David Eagle.
As an Orchestral Administrator, David has worked for the National Youth Orchestra, the Banff Festival Orchestra and the Glenn Gould School in Toronto. For the KWS, he variously served as Personnel Manager, Librarian, Negotiating Team Member, Treasurer, Archivist, and Players’ Committee Chair.
Yuliia Ostapenko, Principal Cellist
Yuliia is a musician from Ukraine, who holds an Honours Master's degree in Music obtained from R. Glier Kyiv Municipal Academy of Music. Her qualifications:
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Musician in a chamber ensemble;
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Musician of an orchestra (orchestral strings instruments, cello);
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Professional cello teacher (teacher-instrumentalist);
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Conductor.
From 2019 to 2022, Yuliia worked in the Ukrainian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Kyiv. She was also a member of the "Infinito" string quartet, which performed at concerts, weddings, and corporate events. Furthermore, in 2018, she worked for four months at the Zhangjiajie Philharmonic Orchestra in Hunan, China.
Yuliia has been giving private classes to kids and adults for more than 5 years.
Caroline Déry, Canadian Lyric Soprano
Caroline spends most of her time between Quebec City and Kitchener-Waterloo where she has been living for many years. She performed extensive recitals of sacred music and opera arias with ensembles such as the York Chamber Ensemble with whom she performed Haendel’s Silete Venti, under the baton of maestro Michael Berec, the K-W Chamber Orchestra, the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, the Wellington Winds, the Waterloo Chamber Players, the Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra and particularly, the Kitchener-Waterloo Community Orchestra in which she has been extremely grateful to be part of many of their productions, including three European tours in Austria, The Netherlands and Italy, under the baton of Maestro Daniel Warren. Caroline is very honoured to join them once again this evening and wishes you all a very happy Valentine's Day!
In the past years, Caroline made her debut as Giulietta at the Lincoln Center with the New York Lyric Opera Theatre, took on the lead role of Blanche in Poulenc's Les Dialogues Des Carmélites of Toronto’s Opera by Request, as well as two productions of Massenet's Manon. Caroline spent the summer of 2012 in Burgundy, France, where she took part in the international school at La Roche d'Hys giving a recital of concert arias. Her other operatic roles have included Queen of the Night in Magic Flute, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Anastasia in Les Noces, Conception in L’Heure Espagnole, Belinda and the first witch in Dido and Æneas, the novitiat in Suor Angelica, and Seconde Prieure in Dialogues des Carmélites.
Caroline's performance of Purves-Smith’s Déjeuner du Matin, may be heard on a commercially available CD. Ms. Déry holds a Bachelor of Music degree in voice from Université Laval and diplomas in opera and performance, both from Wilfrid Laurier University.
