Stephanie Sebastian

Sebastian, Stephanie

Stephanie Sebastian. Pianist, teacher, b New York 20 Jan 1946; B MUS 1968 (Cal Institute of the Arts); naturalized Canadian 1991. She studied piano and chamber music at the Los Angeles Cons 1960-4, at the California Institute of the Arts 1964-8 with principal teachers Earle Voorhies and Cesare Pascarella, and in master classes with Rosina Lhevinne. She made her debut with the Young Musicians Foundation Symphony (Los Angeles 1966), and performed for Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic (1967). In 1968 Sebastian moved to Canada. She won the TS Mozart Competition in 1970, and has appeared with such major Canadian orchestras as the NACO, the MSO, and the TS, as well as on CBC recitals.

In 1983 Sebastian joined the staff at York University to teach piano and chamber music. She was a member 1983-8 of the Canadian Piano Trio, the ensemble-in-residence at York University, with Jaime Weisenblum, violin, and Nina Tobias, cello. As a chamber musician, she has toured extensively with the Canadian Chamber Ensemble (eg, South America and Mexico 1988; Holland and Germany 1990), and as a recitalist has performed and given masterclasses with the violinist Marta Hidy in China, Japan, and Hong Kong in 1989. Sebastian has recorded Beethoven's piano sonatas Opus 10, no. 3 and Opus 31, no. 2 (1968, Select CC-15-003). With the Canadian Piano Trio she has recorded works by Shostakovich, Victor Davies, Gershwin (arranged by Davies), and Laloux (1985, Fanfare DFL-9021, Gershwin reissued on Fanfare DFCD-9020/ProArte CDD-383) and, with cellist Shauna Rolston, I Got Plenty of Gershwin (1988, Pro-Arte CDG-3321).