About us
Richard Hornsby
Director, Centre for Musical Arts
Richard Hornsby is an active performer, educator, arts administrator and arts advocate. His varied activities have had a positive effect on the development of the arts in New Brunswick and throughout Canada. His professional life and his volunteer work have enriched the lives of the people of New Brunswick and he continues to work for the betterment of the arts and the artist.
Professionally, he has performed with the Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, and New Music Concerts of Canada as well as frequently recording for C.B.C. Radio of Canada. He continues performing as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. He is a member of New Brunswick’s new music ensemble, Motion which has recently toured throughout much of Canada and performed in New York City.
He has also served on the faculties of the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), the University of Toronto, and St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Currently he is Director of Music at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.
Since coming to New Brunswick he has been the founder and Director of the UNB Music Camp, founder and President of Musical Ventures Inc, and Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the New Brunswick Summer Music Festival. He also started the UNB Music Conservatory, a community music program at UNB.
Richard is currently president of the Cultural Human Resources Council of Canada and was a founding member of the Fredericton Arts Alliance. Recently he was voted onto the board of MusicNB, the New Brunswick music industry association.
He is passionate about the role of the arts in our society, and works on issues of arts education, status of the artist, access to the arts and training for cultural workers through a variety of organizations.
Björn Runefors
Director, UNB Conservatory
The Swedish conductor, flutist and singer Björn Runefors relocated to New Brunswick in 2003. Björn is actively involved in the Fredericton music life as a teacher, singer, flutist and conductor.
Björn is currently conducting the UNB Chorale and the UNB Concert Band. He teaches Music Theory at UNB, and gives private flute lessons. Björn is also the Music Director of the Fredericton Choral Society.
Björn is a multi-faceted musician. He has performed in professional orchestras and choirs both in Sweden and in Canada. He has written music for and performed as an actor at theatres in Sweden. As a teacher, Björn has been on faculty at music colleges in Sweden and in Stockholm he was the founder and director of a youth orchestra that toured extensively across Europe.
Björn completed his undergraduate studies at Lund University in Sweden and went on to earn a Master of Music degree from McGill in Flute Performance.
During the late 80’s and the 90’s in Stockholm, Sweden and London, England, Björn also had a career as localizer of computer programs, subtitler of movies and manager of translation projects.
Sheryl Pepin
Administrator, Centre for Musical Arts
Sheryl Pepin graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 2006 with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Before coming to UNB’s Centre for Musical Arts, Sheryl worked as a Project Assistant for River Valley Health (Horizon Health), Office Manager of CEL’s Adult Learning Knowledge Centre and as a Financial Officer for School District 18.
Nadia Francavilla
Musician in Residence, UNBF
Violinist Nadia Francavilla is an accomplished recitalist and chamber musician. She was a member of both Quatuor Arthur-LeBlanc and Quatuor Bozzini with which she made frequent tours in Canada, the United States and Europe.
A graduate of McGill University, she received solid musical training under the direction of Mauricio Fuks, Raphael Druian and Joseph Silverstein.
She is a member of Motion Ensemble and Moineaux d'Entendre where she explores new horizons in improvisation, electronics, aleatory music and multimedia. Diversified, the journey of this artist reflects her commitment towards many different forms of musical creativity. Her participation in different contemporary music ensembles also demonstrates her great interest towards music of our time.
During the 2010-2011 season, Mrs. Francavilla will be Musician in Residence at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton where she will perform recitals, give lectures and masterclasses and will also teach violin at the Université de Moncton.
Mahmoud Hussein
Emerging Musician in Residence
A native of Fredericton, Mahmoud Hussein received his early musical training under Sylbie Roy and Ron MacDonald and his formal education under the guidance of André Roy (Montréal), Martha Strongin Katz (Boston) and Siegfried Führlinger (Vienna). He has performed at festivals such as the Salzburg Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum, Hamburg International Mendelssohn Summer Festival, and the Banff Arts Centre in Alberta.
Mahmoud Hussein has received the New Brunswick Arts Board Grant, a Merit and Dean's List award at the New England Conservatory, the Royal Bank of Canada Youth Excellence Award and the Fredericton Foundation Performing Arts Scholarship. He has performed internationally in concert venues ranging from the Musikverein, Vienna to Carnegie Hall, New York in ensembles such as the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Wien Klang, Atout chamber ensemble, Anton von Weber Orchester, Harvard Baroque Orchestra, NEC Chamber Orchestra and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Mahmoud Hussein holds a Bachelor of Music degree from McGill University and a Master of Music degree at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He is currently a PhD candidate in Vienna, specializing in the study of musical rhetoric and semantics.
