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Born in Calgary, German-Canadian pianist Julia Haager began playing the piano at the age of four. As a student of the late Janice Waite, she participated in the Mount Royal Conservatory’s Academy Program. In 1998, she moved to Europe where she studied with Avi Schönfeld at the Conservatorium Maastricht (Netherlands), and then went on to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music (USA) with Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Sergei Babayan. In 2006, Ms. Haager returned to Canada to participate in the 2006/2007 Fall and Winter Long-Term Career Development Residency Programs at The Banff Centre.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Haager is a member of the Calgary-based Duo Polaris, a professional cello/piano duo with her husband Kirill Kalmykov. Together they have performed extensively in Alberta and British Columbia, most recently at the Mountain View Festival, The Banff Centre and Instrumental Society of Calgary concert series. Ms. Haager has also collaborated in performances with Israeli clarinettist Chen Halevi, Dutch violist Henk Guittart of the highly acclaimed Schoenberg String Quartet, and has worked with Anton Kuerti, David Moroz, Marc Durand, Lee Kum-Sing, Jean-Paul Sevilla, Pietro de Maria, Dan Zhaoyi, Jozef Stompel, Angela Cheng, Dominique Merlet, Jean-Marie Cottet, Donald Weilerstein (Cleveland String Quartet), Geoff Nutall and Barry Shiffman (St.Lawrence String Quartet), as well as members of the Cleveland Orchestra.
Ms. Haager is a two-time recipient of the CBC Rising Stars Galaxy Award, has received Louise McKinney and RBC Youth Excellence scholarships, was named the masterclass winner of the 2006 Esther Honens Competition, and has also been awarded numerous scholarships to attend both The Banff Centre and the Orford Arts Centre. Currently living in Calgary, Ms. Haager is much in demand as a free-lance pianist, also having played for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kensington Sinfonia. She is on the Piano and Accompanying faculty at the Mount Royal University Conservatory.
Julia Haager is grateful to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for its generous support of her career.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T3E 6K6
403.440.6111
