Category: faculty

Maghan McPhee, BIIMA Founder & Soprano

Maghan McPhee, soprano and BIIMA Founder

Founder & Artistic Director, Breno Italy International Music Academy (BIIMA) Lyric Coloratura Soprano | Vocal Mentor | Creator of Release Your Inner Voice

Lyric coloratura soprano Maghan McPhee is an acclaimed performer and mentor known for her artistry, empathy, and innovative approach to vocal training. As Founder and Artistic Director of the Breno Italy International Music Academy (BIIMA), she has created an immersive program in the Italian Alps that blends high-level musical coaching with personal discovery. BIIMA’s mission is to nurture the whole artist—helping singers and pianists cultivate confidence, artistry, and authentic expression in a supportive, collaborative environment.

Beyond BIIMA, Maghan is the creator of Release Your Inner Voice, a groundbreaking online mentorship program that helps singers around the world free their sound, reconnect with their breath, and rediscover joy in music-making.

An active performer, Maghan specializes in the works of living composers, bringing each performance to life with vocal clarity and emotional resonance. Through all her work, she empowers artists to find freedom, connection, and courage in their unique voices.

Learn more about Maghan in this recent interview with Barczablog: https://barczablog.com/2024/03/13/finding-out-about-maghan-mcphee-soprano/

“[Maghan has] full command of her instrument, precise in her attacks, and stylish in her approach to the songs…”

–Barcza Blog

“Few composers can boast more refinement in their music than Ravel… listen to McPhee’s exquisite account of the Cinq mélodies populaires grecques.”

– Wolfgang’s Tonic”

“[Maghan]immediately had the public holding their breath during her brief but remarkable solo” – Le Droit

Carl Philippe Gionet, Pianist

“Carl Philippe Gionet is a pianist and multidisciplinary artist. Whether as a soloist, collaborative pianist, or pedagogue, Carl is in high demand, mainly in Europe and Canada.”

Carl Philippe Gionet is a pianist and multidisciplinary artist. Whether as a soloist, collaborative pianist, or pedagogue, Carl is in high demand, performing mainly in Europe and Canada. He completed his doctorate in piano performance at the Université de Montréal under the direction of Paul Stewart. He has also received specialized training in collaborative piano in Austria and England, and participated in numerous prestigious international summer programs. In 2013, he founded Musique sur mer en Acadie, an organization dedicated to education and diffusion of classical music in francophone minority communities, and since 2014 he has been collaborative piano professor and vocal coach at Breno Italy International Music Academy. Carl is also a visual artist, primarily painting and video installations, working almost exclusively in black and white. Inspired by the contrasts observed in nature, his work is both introspective and contemplative, allowing the work to express itself, therefore offering countless avenues of interpretation. In 2024 he has made his European debut with two solo exhibitions, in Italy during the Cantieri Culturali – Val Camonica with Méditation sur saint Sébastien, and in Iceland at the Sigurjón Ólafsson Museum in Reykjavik with Laugarneshughrif (Imprints of Laugarnes). He is represented by Galerie ART-ARTISTE. Carl is also a writer. Nominated for the Prix Antonine-Maillet – Acadie Vie with his book Icare (Icarus), published by Éditions Prise de parole in 2021, his latest book, a translation of The Incredible Adventures of Mary Jane Mosquito by cree author Tomson Highway, has been released in March 2024. His latest album, Tu me voyais, featuring his Douze chansons folkloriques acadiennes with soprano Christina Raphaëlle Haldane was released by Leaf Music in 2022. The score for his arrangements is published and distributed by Éditions Doberman-Yppan, and two of these songs have been included in the prestigious collection of the Royal Conservatory of Music in their latest edition.

Michel-Alexandre Broekaert, Collaborative Pianist

One of the most sought-after pianists on the Canadian music scene, Dr. Michel-Alexandre Broekaert is a collaborative pianist, pedagogue, and an expert in Opera and Art Song.

He is a faculty member of piano and accompaniment at the Conservatoire de musique de Rimouski, where he is also head of the Opera studio. His recent engagements include an Opera Gala tour in China in Autumn 2024 with the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, and the Artistic Direction of a production of Humperdink’s Hänsel & Gretel. In Summer 2025, he returns as pianist and coach at La Semaine Chantante at the Jardins de Métis in Eastern Québec, a musical rendezvous uniting opera singers from 5 different conservatories across the province.

He has collaborated with Jeunesses Musicales du Canada for numerous chamber music and opera tours across Canada, where he was the Artistic Director for Puccini’s La Bohème. Dr. Broekaert regularly collaborates with the Institut Canadien d’Art Vocal, Opéra de Montréal, the OSM Competition, the Société d’art vocal de Montréal, and Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, to name a few. He has also attended many prestigious summer academies, including the Franz-Schubert-Institut in Austria.

He is an prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions, including the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition, the Nadia and Lili Boulanger International Piano and Voice Competition (Paris), the Mary Trueman Vocal Art Song Competition (New York), Récital-Concours International de mélodies françaises du Festival Classica (Best Collaborative Pianist Award), and the Canadian Music Competition several times.

Dr. Broekaert holds a Doctorate in Piano Performance from the Université de Montréal under the tutelage of Mr. Jean Saulnier, and a Graduate Diploma in Piano-Vocal Arts from McGill University under Michael McMahon. He also studied in Vienna (Austria) with the renowned pedagogue Avedis Kouyoumdjian.

Margaret Maria, Composer

MARGARET MARIA, COMPOSER/CELLIST

‘I listened in awe’ – The WholeNote Magazine

‘A brilliant display of virtuosity’ – The WholeNote Magazine

‘edgy, challenging and incredibly powerful’ – Bluewolf Reviews

‘Absolutely fantastic’ – Bluewolf reviews

‘Mesmerizing’ – CBC Radio

‘Absolutely transporting’ – CBC Radio

‘A magic in itself’ – Ottawa Life Magazine

‘I take heart from Margaret Maria’s music. It does have healing powers’ – WholeNote Magazine

‘She creates mesmerizing soundscapes with her cello and some technological tricks in her studio’ – CBC Radio

With her masterful skills as an extraordinary cellist merging with the intuition of a gifted creator, Margaret Maria is a unique and exciting new voice in the world of new music. Her compositional talents have been described by her colleagues as, ‘an unstoppable force of nature – seamless in its complete unification of technical and subconscious realms’.

‘With a kind of synesthesia, I take energy waves of a moment in time, expand its emotions within me, then coat it in musical notes that are sent back out into the world as music. It is my voice making a statement on what it means to be a spirit in a human form living in this world today.’

A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, her performance career has seen her play on concert stages around the globe and in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Her later in life transition into composition has seen her work performed on stage in her very first World Premiere. ’Between Worlds’ was premiered in 2019 by the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra, with the great Canadian soprano Donna Brown and the soprano with cello orchestra version was released June 2022 on CMC’s Centrediscs/NAXOS Labels.

From releasing 15 Studio albums, co-creating Rage Angel (Toronto) and Cinematic Steampunk (Los Angeles), co-creating ‘Art in Divine Harmony’ videos with the incredible Spanish surrealist painter Ángel Muriel, co-creating spontaneous improvised creations as part of a duo with pianist Bill Gilliam called ‘Marbyllia’, receiving Ontario Arts Council recording grants and Canada Council Grants for study abroad and music creation, to being a Kickass Canadian, the sky is the limit when it comes to Margaret Maria’s imagination and creations.

Sara Mastrangelo, Violinist

Sara Mastrangelo is an avid performer, violin teacher and string ensemble coach.

She has been a member of several orchestras: first violin in Flint, MI, concertmaster/section of New World Symphony in Miami, first violin with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for twelve years, and since 2013 she has been first violin of Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings and regular violinist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Mastrangelo obtained a BMus Performance from McGill University under Mauricio Fuks, MMus in Performance from University of Michigan with Paul Kantor and Performance Residency Certificate from Carnegie Mellon University with Andres Cardenes.

She has held teaching positions at Hamilton College and Hobart and William Smith Colleges (NY), St. Peter’s Arts Institute (NY) and served as coach of Ottawa’s international touring violin ensemble, “Stellae Boreales”, a post she held for six years. Under her direction, the group travelled to China, Argentina, Boston, New York City, and Stratford. Mastrangelo maintains a private studio and is director of Suzuki Violin West Ottawa.

Mastrangelo is active as a chamber musician, performing regularly at Music and Beyond (Ottawa), Skaneateles Music Festival (NY) and spent many summers as principal second of the Breckenridge Music Festival (CO). Other music festivals include Tanglewood (MA), Banff, Schleswig Holstein (Germany), Bach and Beyond (NY) and Domaine-Forget.

Boran Zaza, Marketing & Program Coordinator

BORAN ZAZA, PROGRAM COORDINATOR

A committed lifelong learner who fluently communicates in multiple languages and dialects, Boran Zaza is a seasoned Arts Administrator, pianist and chorister who holds degrees in piano, music education, musicology, and web development from top institutions in Iraq, Lebanon and Canada, and was most recenly graduated from the prestigious Schulich School of Music of McGill University. Boran’s professional musical engagements have led her to perform in reputable venues in Canada, Iraq, Lebanon, Oman, Dubai, Italy and the USA. Her piano performances have been acclaimed by the press as “dramatic and full of vivid emotion” — (Arts and Culture Today).

Growing up in Iraq, Boran was a pianist and percussionist of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq; and hosted her own classical music radio program called “Behind the Music”, which was the first radio program dedicated to classical music in the country.

Currently based in Rimouski, Québec, Boran was the Executive and Artistic Director of the Oasis Musicale Concert Series and the Marketing Manager of the Orchestre classique de Montréal. She is currently Director of Communications and Development at Orchestras Canada.

In 2022, she founded “The Zaza Award for the Best Interpretation of a work by a Female Composer”, which was presented as part of the Stepping Stone division of the Canadian Music Competition. In her free time, Boran is an award-winning videographer who also enjoys public speaking, giving lectures on social media for classical musicians, and recording and performing new arrangements of Kurdish and Middle Eastern music on piano.

Lee Carter, Choral Conductor

Lee Carter is a choral director, musician, and educator whose passion for music and teaching others to love music are found in all facets of his career.

Lee Carter has been Artistic Director of Nepean Choir since 2018 and is in his 12th season as Artistic Director for Castenchel Choir based in Chelsea, QC. Mr. Carter continues as a full-time performing arts teacher at Nepean High School in Ottawa. In addition to being Regional Coordinator for the CRMF Choral Music Festival, Lee has also conducted workshops for CAMMAC Ottawa-Gatineau, and other choirs in the National Capital Region. Lee is the current Artistic Director for the BIIMA Choral Retreat, held in Breno, Italy every other summer.

Lee believes in bringing the most music to the most people and is committed to collaborative music making with diverse performers. He also loves bringing new choral music to light and has commissioned and premiered new works from several Canadian composers.

Lee lives in Aylmer, QC with his wonderful wife, three beautiful children, and their good dog, Hank the Tank. When he’s not musicking, Lee enjoys good food, puttering in his pollinator garden, and going backcountry camping.