Music Director / Coaches

Michael Newnham, Conductor

Michael Newnham is best known for his intense and inspiring conducting style, based on a deep knowledge of the score and informed by a strong interest in languages, cultures and history. A born communicator, his open and direct contact with musicians and audiences creates performances full of expression and energy. Mr. Newnham has conducted many orchestras and opera companies throughout Poland, Slovakia, Italy, South Korea, as well as his native Canada.  He will return to Poland in March 2012, his first trip since residing there, to conduct the Sudecka Philharmonic Orchestra.

Michael holds the Music Director posts with Symphony New Brunswick, the Northumberland Orchestra and Choir, and the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra. He is on the faculty as conductor and coach for Music at Port Milford, an intensive four-week summer chamber music program for gifted string players, and is the founding conductor of the Kawartha Youth Orchestra, which celebrates its 10^th anniversary in the 2011/2012 season.  He also taught for two years as Guest Professor and Orchestra Conductor at Taegu-Hyosung University in South Korea, and was a staff conductor of the Warsaw Chamber Opera in the 1990s.

Mr. Newnham’s musical interests are wide, ranging from Baroque through the Viennese masters and late Romantics as well as contemporary works. He actively promotes the music of Canadian and Polish composers, and has received the “Order of Merit” from the Republic of Poland. In Toronto, he conducted concert events marking the milestones of Pope John Paul II at Air Canada Centre and twice at Roy Thomson Hall, and conducted an acclaimed production of R. Murray Schafer’s “Patria: The Enchanted Forest”, in the Haliburton Forest.

Michael Newnham performed as a trombonist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.  He has a Master’s Degree in conducting from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, and also studied at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, the University of Toronto and the Banff Centre.

Offstage, Michael has a passion for all kinds of music, is an avid reader, and enjoys cycling and cross-country skiing.  Michael is bilingual in English and Polish, and is fluently conversational in French, German and Italian.

For more information, please visit Richard Paul Concert Artists at www.greatconcerts.com or Michael’s own website at www.michaelnewnham.ca

 Witold Swoboda, String Coach

Witold Swoboda holds a Masters Degree in Violin Performance from the Cracow Academy of Music in Poland. Formerly a member of the Polish Radio and Television Orchestra and the Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra, Swoboda also taught at Algoma University, Mohawk College and prestigious international music camps. Swoboda is the founder and artistic director of the International Chamber Music Workshop in Pulawy, Poland and Peterborough’s Accademia Musica.

Scott Wight, Wind Coach

Scott Wight is the principal clarinetist of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra. He studied clarinet performance at Wilfrid Laurier University and Indiana University. He also enjoyed tenure as a Resident Artist at the Banff School of Fine Arts and performs in a number of professional and semi-professional ensembles.

Zuzanna Chomicka-Newnham, Cello Coach

Zuzanna holds a Master’s Degree in Cello Performance from the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland. She was a member of the Polish Radio Orchestra, and taught cello at the Taegu-Hyosung University in South Korea. She currently enjoys a successful career as the principal cellist of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra, as an ensemble performer, and as a private cello teacher on staff at Peterborough’s Accademia Musica.