“The trio plays as if they were one organism. This level of interplay … is a rare find.”

Nordlys (Tromsø, 2024)

Brought together by their shared passion for chamber music and musical narrative, the Rilian Trio is composed of three of Canada’s leading young musicians—pianist Godwin Friesen, violinist Daniel Dastoor, and cellist David Liam Roberts—who joined forces in 2021 at the Glenn Gould School (GGS) of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In September 2023, they were awarded the first prize, the audience prize, and the prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned piece at the 12th Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition.

Upcoming engagements include debuts in Oslo and Trømsø, Norway; Waterloo, Belgium; and Niagara, Canada. The 2024-25 season will also see the trio return to Trondheim as festival artists at the Trondheim Kammermusikkfestival.

The Rilian Trio’s earliest mentorship came from cellist Bryan Epperson at the Glenn Gould School (GGS), where they were awarded first prize at the GGS Chamber Music Competition. They have participated in programs at the Trondheim International Chamber Academy, and at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, and have worked with artists such as Miguel da Silva, Steven Isserlis, Elisabeth Kufferath, Stefan Mendl, Régis Pasquier, and Christian Tetzlaff. Along with a quickly growing repertoire of established works, they have also premiered a new work for piano quartet by their pianist, Godwin Friesen.

Godwin grew up making music with his eight-person family, touring Canada and recording three albums. In 2015 he placed first in piano at the National Music Festival and in 2019 he won the GGS Concerto Competition. In 2022, he won the OSM Competition, performing a concerto with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.

Daniel is a winner of the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank, the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award and the Calgary Philharmonic’s Marley Rynd Scholarship. Among his many competition wins are first and second prize at the GGS Chamber Competition and first and second prize at the Fontainebleau Festival’s Prix Ravel.

First prize winner of the Canada Council for the Arts 2021 Michael Measures Prize, David Liam was a Debut Atlantic touring artist in 2023 and is a 2024-25 Prairie Debut touring artist. He recently won first prize at the 2022 WMC McLellan Competition, performing Schumann’s Cello Concerto with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in the competition’s final round.

Daniel performs on the 1700 Taft Stradivari violin, on loan by the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. He also performs on a 1950 Louis Henri Gillet bow, generously on loan from CANIMEX. David Liam plays a Ruggeri-model cello that was made for him in 2017 by Winnipeg-based luthier Garth Lee.

March 2024

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