An Associate Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium, David Liam Roberts is a versatile Canadian cellist who performs internationally with "infectious joy, thoughtfulness, and integrity" (Winnipeg Free Press). As the founding cellist of the Rilian Trio, David Liam won the 1st Prize, Audience Prize and Commissioned Work Prize at the 12th Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition in Norway, which catapulted the trio to international attention. The 2026-27 season includes a tour of China, a recital with violist Miguel da Silva in Brussels’ Flagey Hall, and a debut recital in Helsinki with the Rilian Trio. Recent engagements include a self-curated solo recital at the International Cello Festival of Canada, the Copenhagen Summer Festival (Denmark), Trondheim Kammermusikkfestival (Norway), as well as debuts in Calgary (Calgary Pro Musica), Bergen and Oslo with the Rilian Trio. David Liam studies with Danjulo Ishizaka at the Basel Academy of Music, as well as chamber music with Corina Belcea, Miguel da Silva and Augustin Dumay at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. He has worked closely with composers Thomas Adès and Magnus Lindberg, and with esteemed musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Barbara Hannigan, Christian Tetzlaff, Joel Krosnick and Donald Weilerstein. David Liam has twice participated in the Open Chamber Music seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall, UK. His recent chamber music collaborators include Hélène Clement (Doric/Ébène Quartet), Molly Carr (Juilliard Quartet), and Thomas Reif (1st Concertmaster Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra). He has performed in Carnegie Hall, recorded with the Sinfonieorchester Basel and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, performed as soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra on several occasions, studied Baroque Cello with members of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, shared the stage with jazz musicians John Patitucci and Larnell Lewis, and performed a metal-inspired concerto on an amplified cello at the Toronto New Music Festival. In March 2026, David Liam won 1st Prize at the Ilmari Hannikainen International Chamber Music Competition with the Rilian Trio in Jyväskylä, Finland, and performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto as soloist with the Jyväskylä Sinfonia. Of this performance, the World Federation of International Music Competitions wrote: “[The Rilian Trio’s] dedication, their raw musicality, and their joy in playing together were so infectious that the orchestra found itself getting carried away as well, lost in the moment during Beethoven’s C Major Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano.” David Liam is grateful to perform on the Cremonese ca. 1690 Francesco Rugeri cello, on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank, and a WE Hill&Sons bow generously loaned from CANIMEX, Inc. from Drummondville, Quebec.
