Lucas Olsen-Willford, violin

Lucas Olsen-Willford was born and raised in Kamloops, BC. Lucas has performed in the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, Kamloops Brandenburg Orchestra, Thompson Valley Orchestra, L'Orchestre de la Francophonie, and the University of Ottawa Symphony Orchestra. Lucas has also served on the board of directors with the Kamloops Festival of the Performing Arts, the Thompson Valley Orchestra, and is currently Vice-President of Finance with the University of Ottawa Music Students Association (ADEMSA). As an aspiring educator, Lucas has had many opportunities to work with young students, including teaching as an Assistant-Faculty Member with the Kamloops Music Collective and most recently as a violin Teaching Artist and Program Assistant at OrKidstra, a charitable social development program that empowers kids from under-served communities by teaching life skills through the universal language of music. Lucas was the winner of the Marc Lamothe Memorial Award, the Peter Collins Memorial Fund, and was a finalist for the Kamloops Mayor's Gala for the Arts Emerging Artist Award in 2020. Lucas currently studies violin and viola with Timothy Chooi and Michael Van Der Sloot, having previously studied with renowned pedagogue Yehonatan Berick at the University of Ottawa.