Jonathan Ward

Jonathan Ward has been Principal Viola of the Regina Symphony Orchestra since 1989. In addition, he is on the faculty of the University of Regina Conservatory for the Performing Arts. From 2004 to 2020, he was the instructor of the Regina Public Schools Fiddle Program, which took place in three inner-city schools. He has also been active as a composer, and his works have been performed in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe in addition to being recorded for national broadcasts on both CBC Radio and Radio Canada.

Karley Parovsky

Karley Parovsky is a violin/fiddle performer, composer and educator from Treaty 4 territory. As a lifelong student of the violin, Karley has travelled the world learning from masters of the instrument in genres ranging from fiddle to funk, to bluegrass and beyond. Karley has been teaching violin through the Regina Conservatory of Performing Arts for over 15 years. In 2018, she delivered a TEDx talk at the Regina Public Library entitled Music Education Is the Tool for Self-Discovery.

Karley has performed with the Regina Symphony Orchestra since her teens and has enjoyed opportunities to make music with groups such as the Andino Suns and Wolf Willow, to name a few. Most recently, Karley is exploring traditional and modern bluegrass music in her trio Soil & Grass. In 2020, Karley wrote and arranged music for an installation in Trespassers Waltz, a series of site-specific vignettes performed in the prairie landscape, presented by Curtain Razors.

In 2022, she released her first EP titled Me, Myself & I music inspired by the varied emotional states brought on by the global pandemic – anxiety and despair, but also solidarity, love, and hope. She is currently coordinating a SK Arts-funded project, The Intercultural String Exchange, which brings together artists and composers from many backgrounds to explore string music beyond the classical Western canon. Karley believes in the power of music to touch the human heart and build community.