Performing Young Artists Festival 2026 and Gryphon Trio Concert
Complementary Educational Concert open to the community for
4:30pm to 5:30pm. Doors open at 4:00pm)
Please register your seats to save your spot.
The Stained Glass Centre for the Performing Arts is hosting a Performing Young Artists Festival on February 7, 2026, at 34 Church Street North in Stouffville. Young local artists ages 7-17, will have the opportunity to perform in multiple genres of music and receive feedback from established musicians being provided for young people.
Music Unlocked: The Gryphon Trio & Rob Kapilow
As part of the Gryphon Trio’ commitment to education, the three members, under the auspices of Stained Glass Centre for the Performing Arts and Daniel Mehdizadeh, will host a masterclass that will bring together talented students, ensembles, string players, and pianists together advance of the afternoon’s concert. Recommended for students Gr. 7 (RCM) and above, please register with SGC with your name, instrument, and proposed performance piece. Limited spots available, register soon!
Music Unlocked invites audiences into a dynamic performance as the three-time JUNO winning Gryphon Trio plays a signature trio work, followed by Rob Kapilow’s engaging commentary, step-inside-the-music exploration that reveals the composer’s inner brilliance.
Rob Kapilow appears in partnership with Music Toronto.
Goals of the Performing Young Artists Festival
Celebrate student progress and creativity
Foster confidence through performance
Build community among students, families, and educators
Constructive feedback will be provided by the jury
Provide more art and culture integration in our region
The Stained Glass Centre for the Performing Arts is a new venue within Whitchurch-Stouffville and has established a working group led by Dr. Daniel Mehdizadeh, Music & Choir Director of Stouffville United Church,
who has years of experience working and connecting musically with all ages and abilities. Dr. Mehdizadeh is the founder and director of East Chamber Music, an organization that established and successfully ran multiple international composer festival series featuring emerging and professional artists. In addition, he currently coordinates and manages the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra’s (SPO) New Generation Composer Program, where he also mentors and adjudicates composers from across Canada. Each year, Dr. Mehdizadeh also mentors high school composition students from the University of Toronto Schools (UTS), guiding them to create and premiere original works. In the past two years, several of these students have had their compositions featured on professionally recorded albums through the SPO. Beyond composition, Dr. Mehdizadeh works closely with numerous community choirs and ensembles and is an experienced educator who fosters accessible and inclusive music-making opportunities.
Participants will be asked to submit a $12.00 Registration Fee
Your festival ticket includes concert admission and access to the student performance segment.
Open to musicians 7-17 years old at the time of the Young Performing Artists Festival.
Participants can register for performance which will be organized by RCM levels 1 through 10 and ARCT to ensure a balanced schedule.
Students do not have to be registered with RCM or perform RCM pieces necessarily, but it is a way for us to group the students by level. An approximate RCM level is perfectly fine — please ask your teacher if you are unsure.
Attendance: Teachers attend free if they have registered students.
Parents and guardians of registered students attend free as well.
Masterclass: After performances, a jury-selected group of students will be invited to a limited-space masterclass.
Deadline to apply: Sunday January 19th, 2026. (extended deadline)
Duration: Maximum performance time is 5 minutes (RCM Level 1-8) and 8 minutes (RCM Level 9 and above). For multi-movement works, the festival may request only one movement to stay within time.
If you’re not sure which pieces you’ll be performing yet, you can still register now to save your spot. In the “Repertoire” box, simply write “will email titles of pieces later by registration deadline.”
Accompanist: Students needing a piano accompanist must arrange and bring their own.
Participants will be notified by email with the Festival Schedule after registration closes.
The Performing Young Artists Festival is sponsored by the Whitchurch-Stouffville Legacy Fund.
