About US
"A triple header of virtuosity," (Toronto Concert Reviews), Bedford Trio presents passionate performances of contemporary and traditional repertoire, with a deep commitment to reshaping the future of piano trio music through contemporary commissions and multi-disciplinary artistic collaborations. The trio's performances interweave a respect for the traditional forms alongside a deep desire to launch to the future, engage with the art and culture of our time, and promote a spirit of artistic collaboration of the highest excellence.
The trio is the 2023/2024 Artist in Residence at the University of Toronto, and will host and adjudicate the Piano Trio Composition Competition as part of the New Music Festival, a position they have held since the Competition's inaugural edition in 2020/2021. Bedford Trio is lauded for their series IMMERSED, currently in it's third edition, which highlights their dedication to multi-artistic collaboration of contemporary works written for the trio, alongside captivating digital, lighting, dance, and visual art. Bedford Trio's yearly concert series has received support by both the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council, and frequently features guest instrumentalists, composers, and artists.
Bedford Trio has performed in Canada, the United States, and Europe. They were a finalist in the 2018 Anton Rubinstein International Chamber Music (Germany) and a semi-finalist group in the 2019 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition (USA). Past appearances include the Career Development Residency at Ottawa Chamberfest under the mentorship of Gryphon Trio. Despite the challenges presented by the 2020 pandemic, the trio performed virtually at several international events, including the season opening gala concert at the Tartini Conservatory in Trieste, Italy, the 2020 Refugee Student Fund Benefit Concert at the University of Toronto’s Innis College, “Concert in the Cloud,” a virtual concert in China celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday, Music in the Atrium at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, and the Skyky Multicultural Learning Foundation’s Youth Fundraising Concert for SickKids Foundation.
Bedford Trio is committed to commissioning and performing contemporary repertoire by both established and emerging composers. Since 2018, the trio has been working with grade 11 composition students at Earl Haig Secondary School, workshopping their compositions throughout the academic year and performing them as part of the year-end showcase. The trio is dedicated to bringing live music performance to a diverse audience and has given recitals in senior residences, community centres, hospices, and hospitals across Ontario. During the 2019-2020 season, the trio delivered sensory-friendly concerts for autistic youth and their families and performed for adults with Alzheimer in collaboration with the charity organization Xenia Concerts.
Bedford Trio was founded in 2016, and features award winning instrumentalists Alessia Disimino (violin), Emma Schmiedecke (cello), and Jialiang Zhu (piano) and is currently based in Toronto, Canada. To learn about Bedford Trio’s latest events, please visit bedfordtrio.com/concerts and follow them on Instagram @bedford trio.
The trio is the 2023/2024 Artist in Residence at the University of Toronto, and will host and adjudicate the Piano Trio Composition Competition as part of the New Music Festival, a position they have held since the Competition's inaugural edition in 2020/2021. Bedford Trio is lauded for their series IMMERSED, currently in it's third edition, which highlights their dedication to multi-artistic collaboration of contemporary works written for the trio, alongside captivating digital, lighting, dance, and visual art. Bedford Trio's yearly concert series has received support by both the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council, and frequently features guest instrumentalists, composers, and artists.
Bedford Trio has performed in Canada, the United States, and Europe. They were a finalist in the 2018 Anton Rubinstein International Chamber Music (Germany) and a semi-finalist group in the 2019 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition (USA). Past appearances include the Career Development Residency at Ottawa Chamberfest under the mentorship of Gryphon Trio. Despite the challenges presented by the 2020 pandemic, the trio performed virtually at several international events, including the season opening gala concert at the Tartini Conservatory in Trieste, Italy, the 2020 Refugee Student Fund Benefit Concert at the University of Toronto’s Innis College, “Concert in the Cloud,” a virtual concert in China celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday, Music in the Atrium at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, and the Skyky Multicultural Learning Foundation’s Youth Fundraising Concert for SickKids Foundation.
Bedford Trio is committed to commissioning and performing contemporary repertoire by both established and emerging composers. Since 2018, the trio has been working with grade 11 composition students at Earl Haig Secondary School, workshopping their compositions throughout the academic year and performing them as part of the year-end showcase. The trio is dedicated to bringing live music performance to a diverse audience and has given recitals in senior residences, community centres, hospices, and hospitals across Ontario. During the 2019-2020 season, the trio delivered sensory-friendly concerts for autistic youth and their families and performed for adults with Alzheimer in collaboration with the charity organization Xenia Concerts.
Bedford Trio was founded in 2016, and features award winning instrumentalists Alessia Disimino (violin), Emma Schmiedecke (cello), and Jialiang Zhu (piano) and is currently based in Toronto, Canada. To learn about Bedford Trio’s latest events, please visit bedfordtrio.com/concerts and follow them on Instagram @bedford trio.
Alessia Disimino - Violin
Award winning Toronto and Boston-based violinist Alessia Disimino is recognized for her thoughtful musicality and instinctive interpretations. Described as "one of Toronto's finest violinists" (Snapd Beaches/Danforth), she is the co-founder and violinist of the Bedford Trio, the 2023/2024 Artist in Residence at the University of Toronto with the Bedford Trio, violinist with the North York Concert Orchestra, and founder and Director of Strings at the North York String Academy, where she teaches the violin on a private and group class basis and curates the violin program. Alessia is a graduate of the University of Toronto's Master of Music in Performance as a scholarship student of Dr. Timothy Ying, and also obtained her Bachelor of Music in Performance with a Minor in English, with Annalee Patipatanakoon of the Gryphon Trio.
Alessia has performed extensively as a chamber musician and soloist, and is the recipient of numerous awards. She has appeared as soloist and concertmaster with the North York Concert Orchestra and the Toronto Concert Orchestra, and performs regularly as a violinist with numerous orchestras including Esprit Orchestra and Kindred Spirits Orchestra.
As a soloist, Alessia received a Fellowship to the prestigious Bowdoin International Music Festival (2022), a competitive subset of the Festival which invites only 30 musicians internationally each year. Here, she focused her studies on performance and discussions on pedagogy and community engagement with internationally acclaimed educators Renée Jolles, Lewis Kaplan, Kurt Sassmannshaus, and David and Phillip Ying of the Ying Quartet. With the Bedford Trio, Alessia has concertized across Ontario, Canada and competed internationally. Bedford Trio is the 2023/2024 Artist in Residence at the University of Toronto, and has been the Piano Trio in residence since 2018, when they were appointed for the inaugural Irene R. Miller Piano Trio Residency. Bedford Trio has worked side by side with renowned artists such as the members of the New Orford String Quartet and the Dover Quartet, Gryphon Trio, Barry Shiffman, Yegor Dyachkov, and Desmond Hoebig.
A recipient of numerous awards, Alessia was awarded the Gordon Cressy Leadership Award for her extracurricular contributions to her community and to the University, and also received an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2017). Previous awards include Gerhard Kander Graduating Award for Violin, the Suba Institute Award for Performing Excellence, the Felix Galimir Award for Excellence in Chamber Music (2015), and the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Centennial Scholarship (2014). Alessia holds her Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto (ARCT) in Violin Performance, is an alumnus of the RCM’s Young Artist’s Performance Academy and the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and has attended summer study programs including the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, the Orford Academy, and the Domaine Forget Academy. For her pedagogical training, Alessia has attended the University of Toronto Wind Conducting Symposium and the Indiana University Violin and Viola Teacher Retreat. During her time at the University of Toronto, Alessia served as concertmaster of the University of Toronto Orchestra and Opera, and has studied with esteemed artists Jonathan Crow, Andrew Wan, Erika Raum, Mark Fewer, Jeanne Lamon, Lara St. John, Gryphon Trio, Rob Kapilow, Menahem Pressler, and the Juilliard String Quartet, amongst others.
Alessia is equally passionate about teaching and community outreach. An experienced teacher for students of all ages and levels, Alessia’s interest focuses on diversifying pedagogy to help students excel as independent, competent, and creative musicians. Alessia has performed outreach concerts for numerous senior residences throughout Toronto and Ontario. In her spare time, Alessia loves to write poetry, commission paintings, and read books on a variety of subjects, including English literature, Fiction, Theology, and translations of Classical literature. Alessia's plays on a 2015 Mark Schnurr violin, which she commissioned.
Alessia has performed extensively as a chamber musician and soloist, and is the recipient of numerous awards. She has appeared as soloist and concertmaster with the North York Concert Orchestra and the Toronto Concert Orchestra, and performs regularly as a violinist with numerous orchestras including Esprit Orchestra and Kindred Spirits Orchestra.
As a soloist, Alessia received a Fellowship to the prestigious Bowdoin International Music Festival (2022), a competitive subset of the Festival which invites only 30 musicians internationally each year. Here, she focused her studies on performance and discussions on pedagogy and community engagement with internationally acclaimed educators Renée Jolles, Lewis Kaplan, Kurt Sassmannshaus, and David and Phillip Ying of the Ying Quartet. With the Bedford Trio, Alessia has concertized across Ontario, Canada and competed internationally. Bedford Trio is the 2023/2024 Artist in Residence at the University of Toronto, and has been the Piano Trio in residence since 2018, when they were appointed for the inaugural Irene R. Miller Piano Trio Residency. Bedford Trio has worked side by side with renowned artists such as the members of the New Orford String Quartet and the Dover Quartet, Gryphon Trio, Barry Shiffman, Yegor Dyachkov, and Desmond Hoebig.
A recipient of numerous awards, Alessia was awarded the Gordon Cressy Leadership Award for her extracurricular contributions to her community and to the University, and also received an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2017). Previous awards include Gerhard Kander Graduating Award for Violin, the Suba Institute Award for Performing Excellence, the Felix Galimir Award for Excellence in Chamber Music (2015), and the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Centennial Scholarship (2014). Alessia holds her Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto (ARCT) in Violin Performance, is an alumnus of the RCM’s Young Artist’s Performance Academy and the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and has attended summer study programs including the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, the Orford Academy, and the Domaine Forget Academy. For her pedagogical training, Alessia has attended the University of Toronto Wind Conducting Symposium and the Indiana University Violin and Viola Teacher Retreat. During her time at the University of Toronto, Alessia served as concertmaster of the University of Toronto Orchestra and Opera, and has studied with esteemed artists Jonathan Crow, Andrew Wan, Erika Raum, Mark Fewer, Jeanne Lamon, Lara St. John, Gryphon Trio, Rob Kapilow, Menahem Pressler, and the Juilliard String Quartet, amongst others.
Alessia is equally passionate about teaching and community outreach. An experienced teacher for students of all ages and levels, Alessia’s interest focuses on diversifying pedagogy to help students excel as independent, competent, and creative musicians. Alessia has performed outreach concerts for numerous senior residences throughout Toronto and Ontario. In her spare time, Alessia loves to write poetry, commission paintings, and read books on a variety of subjects, including English literature, Fiction, Theology, and translations of Classical literature. Alessia's plays on a 2015 Mark Schnurr violin, which she commissioned.
EMMA SCHMIEDECKE - Cello
Praised for her “huge musicality, depth of interpretation, and technical expertise” (Manhattan International Music Competition), cellist Emma Schmiedecke has established herself as a vibrant interpreter of both the classical and contemporary cello repertoire. As guest soloist, Emma has performed with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, and Bravura Philharmonic, and performed in masterclasses for Steven Isserlis, Colin Carr, Raphael Wallfisch, David Geringas, Leon Fleisher, Arnold Steinhardt, and Ani Kavafian, among others. As a chamber musician, she has been mentored by artists including Ida Kavafian, Levon Chilingirian, Daniel Phillips, Scott St. John, Duo Concertante, the Gryphon Trio, and the Shanghai Quartet. Emma has performed at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and the Richard B. Fisher Center, and has appeared at Ottawa Chamberfest and Big Lake Chamber Music Festival with the Continuum HATCH Contemporary Ensemble, as well as Stratford Summer Music and New Music Concerts (Toronto.) She has been a visiting artist at The Banff Centre, the Centre d’Arts Orford, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, Domaine Forget de Charlevoix Chamber Music Festival, Vermont Mozart Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, the Heifetz Institute, the Round Top Festival Institute, the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, the NYU Steinhardt String Quartet Seminar, and the Oxford Cello School in Oxford, England.
Passionate about chamber music and collaboration, Emma is cellist of the Bedford Trio and co-founder of Duo Caprice with oboist/English hornist Luka Marcoux. She has performed in the American Symphony Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Company of Middlebury Orchestra, the Opera Italiana Symphony Orchestra, the Pronto Musica Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de l’Agora, and the Canadian Studio Orchestra. A strong advocate for contemporary music, she has worked closely with composers Joan Tower, John Corigliano, George Tsontakis, Ana Sokolovic, Susan Botti, Stacy Garrop, Linda Catlin-Smith, and Kevin Lau, and has performed with the Da Capo Chamber Players, the American Composers Orchestra, Fifth House Ensemble, Against the Grain Theatre Company, Novarumori Ensemble, and the Contemporaneous New Music Ensemble in multiple world premieres. As an interdisciplinary collaborator, Emma has worked with members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (New York), recorded with Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman–Lee, performed with singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, performed alongside Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, and completed a residency at the Gardiner Museum of Art in Toronto with the Z’otz* Art Collective in 2022.
Awards and prizes include a Silver Medal in the Professional Category of the 4th Manhattan International Music Competition, the Temerty Family Foundation Scholarship, the George Martin/Hans Thatcher Clark Scholarship, the Christopher Bunting Scholarship, the Mai Why and Peter Levitt Graduate Scholarship, the Clive Allen Fellowship, the Denise Ireland & Harry Underwood Fellowship, the Ingeborg and Angela Kramer Award, a McGill University Graduate Dean’s Award, and first prize in the Bravura Philharmonic and Bergen Philharmonic Young Artist Competitions. As an academic researcher and writer, Emma has given lecture-recitals and presentations at the College Music Society Northeast Regional Conference, the York University Graduate Colloquium, and the NAMM/College Music Society GenNext National Conference, and writes for the Toronto based arts publication smART Magazine.
A dedicated teacher, Emma is a chamber music coach at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, is a teaching artist at the Lane School of Music, and teaches in the Department of Strings and Chamber Music at the University of Toronto. She has been a teaching artist in cello for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Youth Orchestra & Music Education Program and Sistema Toronto, and has been a chamber music coach at the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Emma attends the University of Toronto School of Music as a doctoral candidate in Cello Performance in the studio of Joseph Johnson. She obtained both a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma in Cello Performance from the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. She also holds an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, a Bachelor of Music from the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Bard College, all magna cum laude. Her primary teachers include Peter Wiley, Matt Haimovitz, Yegor Dyachkov, Desmond Hoebig, Andrés Diaz, Sophie Shao, Luis Garcia-Renart, André Emelianoff, Bjørn Bantock, and Jonathan Spitz. She plays a 1918 Italian cello “Tutto” by Puglisi of Catania.
Passionate about chamber music and collaboration, Emma is cellist of the Bedford Trio and co-founder of Duo Caprice with oboist/English hornist Luka Marcoux. She has performed in the American Symphony Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Company of Middlebury Orchestra, the Opera Italiana Symphony Orchestra, the Pronto Musica Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de l’Agora, and the Canadian Studio Orchestra. A strong advocate for contemporary music, she has worked closely with composers Joan Tower, John Corigliano, George Tsontakis, Ana Sokolovic, Susan Botti, Stacy Garrop, Linda Catlin-Smith, and Kevin Lau, and has performed with the Da Capo Chamber Players, the American Composers Orchestra, Fifth House Ensemble, Against the Grain Theatre Company, Novarumori Ensemble, and the Contemporaneous New Music Ensemble in multiple world premieres. As an interdisciplinary collaborator, Emma has worked with members of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (New York), recorded with Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman–Lee, performed with singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, performed alongside Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson, and completed a residency at the Gardiner Museum of Art in Toronto with the Z’otz* Art Collective in 2022.
Awards and prizes include a Silver Medal in the Professional Category of the 4th Manhattan International Music Competition, the Temerty Family Foundation Scholarship, the George Martin/Hans Thatcher Clark Scholarship, the Christopher Bunting Scholarship, the Mai Why and Peter Levitt Graduate Scholarship, the Clive Allen Fellowship, the Denise Ireland & Harry Underwood Fellowship, the Ingeborg and Angela Kramer Award, a McGill University Graduate Dean’s Award, and first prize in the Bravura Philharmonic and Bergen Philharmonic Young Artist Competitions. As an academic researcher and writer, Emma has given lecture-recitals and presentations at the College Music Society Northeast Regional Conference, the York University Graduate Colloquium, and the NAMM/College Music Society GenNext National Conference, and writes for the Toronto based arts publication smART Magazine.
A dedicated teacher, Emma is a chamber music coach at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, is a teaching artist at the Lane School of Music, and teaches in the Department of Strings and Chamber Music at the University of Toronto. She has been a teaching artist in cello for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Youth Orchestra & Music Education Program and Sistema Toronto, and has been a chamber music coach at the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Emma attends the University of Toronto School of Music as a doctoral candidate in Cello Performance in the studio of Joseph Johnson. She obtained both a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma in Cello Performance from the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. She also holds an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, a Bachelor of Music from the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Bard College, all magna cum laude. Her primary teachers include Peter Wiley, Matt Haimovitz, Yegor Dyachkov, Desmond Hoebig, Andrés Diaz, Sophie Shao, Luis Garcia-Renart, André Emelianoff, Bjørn Bantock, and Jonathan Spitz. She plays a 1918 Italian cello “Tutto” by Puglisi of Catania.
Jialiang Zhu - Piano
Jialiang Zhu is a native of China and currently calls Toronto, Canada her home. Jialiang completed her Bachelor in Piano Performance and Masters in Piano Performance and Pedagogy with Professor Marietta Orlov at the University of Toronto. She is continuing her studies at the University of Toronto, pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree under the tutelage of Professor Lydia Wong. Jialiang recently won the 2017 Gwendolyn Williams Koldofsky Prize in Accompanying.
Jialiang loves to collaborate with other artists. She is an alumna of both Banff Collaborative Piano Residency and Toronto Summer Music Festival. Her passion for contemporary music has led her to collaborative projects such as: Tapestry New Opera Workshops; the FAWN opera production Herma’s Shepherd: Vision I at the Open Ear Festival of Art, Architecture, and Sound; and the Tapestry Opera/Canadian Stage co-production Noor over Afghan at the Festival of Ideas and Creation. Jialiang is a co-founder of the Bedford Trio. The Bedford Trio performs regularly, is an alumnus of the Orford Music Academy, and recently completed the Career Development Residency at Ottawa Chamberfest.
Jialiang finds equal inspiration in solo piano performance. She was the featured soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the York Chamber Ensemble. Jialiang was a semi-finalist in the 2016 Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition and a finalist in the 2017 Vancouver International Piano Competition. Mostly recently, she won the University of Toronto’s 2018 DMA Recital Competition and will perform in the Thursdays at Noon concert series in March 2019.
A passionate teacher, Jialiang has been working at the University of Toronto Piano Pedagogy Program since 2012. Most recently in May 2018, she adjudicated the Chinese Compositions Group and Bach group in the Canadian International Music Competition. Jialiang also has a studio of private students.
Jialiang loves to collaborate with other artists. She is an alumna of both Banff Collaborative Piano Residency and Toronto Summer Music Festival. Her passion for contemporary music has led her to collaborative projects such as: Tapestry New Opera Workshops; the FAWN opera production Herma’s Shepherd: Vision I at the Open Ear Festival of Art, Architecture, and Sound; and the Tapestry Opera/Canadian Stage co-production Noor over Afghan at the Festival of Ideas and Creation. Jialiang is a co-founder of the Bedford Trio. The Bedford Trio performs regularly, is an alumnus of the Orford Music Academy, and recently completed the Career Development Residency at Ottawa Chamberfest.
Jialiang finds equal inspiration in solo piano performance. She was the featured soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the York Chamber Ensemble. Jialiang was a semi-finalist in the 2016 Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition and a finalist in the 2017 Vancouver International Piano Competition. Mostly recently, she won the University of Toronto’s 2018 DMA Recital Competition and will perform in the Thursdays at Noon concert series in March 2019.
A passionate teacher, Jialiang has been working at the University of Toronto Piano Pedagogy Program since 2012. Most recently in May 2018, she adjudicated the Chinese Compositions Group and Bach group in the Canadian International Music Competition. Jialiang also has a studio of private students.
