First prize winner of the Canada Council for the Arts 2021 Michael Measures Prize, David Liam Roberts is recognized as one of Canada’s top young musicians. In 2019, Roberts was named one of Canada’s “30 Top Classical Musicians under 30” by CBC, and he recently won first prize at the 2022 WMC McLellan Competition, performing Schumann’s Cello Concerto with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Daniel Raiskin in the competition’s final round. Recent engagements included a three-week recital tour of the Maritime provinces in March 2023 with pianist LaLa Lee as 2022-23 Debut Atlantic touring artists, as well as collaborations with the Viano Quartet, cellists Rachel Mercer, Cameron Crozman and Bryan Cheng, and violinist Scott St. John at the Prince Edward County festival as the festival’s 2023 Young Artist-in-Residence. Chamber music has been an integral part of Roberts’ life since he started busking with his older siblings performing Métis fiddle tunes in his home province of Manitoba. He traces his musical heritage to his Lutheran church organist grandmother on his mother’s side, and his Métis fiddler great-grandfather on his father’s side. Roberts plays a Ruggeri-model cello that was made for him in 2017 by Winnipeg-based luthier Garth Lee.
