MESSIAH 2018 SOLOISTS: THOMAS BEARD, CELLO
Originally from Wingham, Ontario, Thomas Beard is now based in Montreal. He is presently Principal Cellist of the Agora Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Principal Cellist of the Sherbrooke Symphony Orchestra.
Thomas completed his Bachelor of Music Performance degree at Wilfrid Laurier University (with Paul Pulford) and Artist Diploma and Master of Music Performance at McGill University with Yegor Dyachkov.
Thomas’ orchestral experience includes playing with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada (2009/2010), Stratford Symphony Orchestra (2010/2011), McGill Symphony Orchestra (2011-18), Pronto Musica (2013-17), l’Orchestre de la Francophonie (2014), Cambridge Symphony Orchestra (2015-17), McGill Chamber Orchestra (2017), and National Academy Orchestra (2018).
Other notable highlights include winning the Stratford Concerto competition (2011), winning the McGill Chamber Competition (2014), and participating in masterclasses with Philippe Mueller, Chris Hoyle and Ralph Kirshbaum.
Outside the classical realm, Thomas has enjoyed playing with artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Heather Headley, Caroline Campbell, and collaborations with singer/songwriters and JUNO award-winners Mike Rud and Shari Ulrich, folk musician Kyrie Kristmanson, pop artist ‘Gabriella’, and a variety of other Indie groups, taking him across Canada, parts of the USA, and Austria.