Winner of the 2021 Michael Measures Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, Métis-Canadian cellist David Liam Roberts enjoys an international career as a soloist and chamber musician. Besides being named to CBC’s list of 30 Classical Musicians under 30, David Liam was awarded both the 1st Prize and Grand Award at the 2018 National Music Festival of Canada and won 1st Prize of the 2022 biennial WMC McLellan Competition after performing the Schumann Cello Concerto as soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in the competition’s final round. His Rilian Trio recently won the 1st Prize, Audience Prize and Commission Prize at the 12th Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition in Norway.
The 2024-25 season includes two tours of central Canada with pianist Godwin Friesen (together they are known as Prairie Sons) as Prairie Debut touring artists. The upcoming season also includes appearances at the Copenhagen Summer Festival (Denmark) and Prince Edward County Festival (Ontario), as well as debuts in Calgary (Calgary Pro Musica) and Oslo (Norway) with the Rilian Trio. Recent engagements include debuts in Tromsø, Norway, as well as recitals presented by the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium,
Music Toronto and the Gallery Chamber Players of Niagara.
David Liam has studied with many of the foremost classical music pedagogues, including Steven Isserlis, Christian Tetzlaff, Donald Weilerstein and Joel Krosnick, having attended festivals such as the Perlman Music Program, Morningside Music Bridge, and International Music Seminar at Prussia Cove. He has also participated in the Open Chamber Music seminar at Prussia Cove. David Liam holds a Bachelors and Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he studied with Hans Jørgen Jensen and Andres Díaz. He his currently pursuing a Masters at the Basel Academy of Music in Switzerland, studying with the acclaimed cellist Danjulo Ishizaka.
David Liam plays a cello crafted in Milan by Carlo Antonio Monzino VI in 1928 and a bow by W.E. Hill&Sons, both generously loaned to him by CANIMEX, inc.
