Our Team

Festival Directors

Susan Magnusson

Founding Director

Susan joined the piano faculty of LCMS in 1973. Her passion to facilitate music education for the broader community led her to administrative positions at LCMS. After assisting with a capital campaign for a new facility, Susan moved from her position of Assistant Principal which she held since 1991 to Principal when the new facility opened in 2001. She served as Principal from 2001 to 2018. Susan was honoured to receive the title Principal Emeritus, and continues to teach at LCMS, sharing her love of music with her students. She also serves as a Director on the LCMS Board. Susan has been recognized by the Langley community through various awards for her contribution to the arts and education. 

Yuel Yawney

Artistic Director

Praised for his “confident, smooth toned, and unobtrusive virtuosic playing,” Yuel Yawney has performed extensively across North America, Europe and Asia performing in major cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, Toronto, San Francisco, Washington DC, Montreal, Ottawa and, in his home town of Vancouver. A founding member of the Borealis String Quartet, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2020, Yuel has performed at such festivals as Festival of the Sound in Ontario, the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, MusicFest Vancouver, the June Music Festival in Albuquerque, NM, the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival and Mendocino Music Festival in California to name a few. Yuel also performs regularly with the Aurora Piano Trio.

Early in his career, Yuel received direction from the many artists he encountered and was fortunate to perform in masterclass and work with such artists as Joseph Suk, Jaime Laredo, Aaron Rosand, Rostislav Dubinsky, Roman Totenberg, Yfrah Neaman, Régis Pasquier, and others. In addition, he has been mentored and performed with members of some of the world’s greatest string quartets inspiring his career in chamber music. He has received coaching from members of the Borodin, Emerson, Prague, Cleveland, Juilliard, Tokyo, Orford, and Purcell string quartets performing in concert with many of them and together with the Borealis String Quartet. 

For over 30 years, Yuel has been teaching violin and chamber music at festivals, universities and music institutions wherever he travels. As the Quartet in Residence at the University of British Columbia, School of Music for ten years, Yuel taught master classes as well as individual lessons and more recently as string faculty at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. He currently is on faculty at the Langley Community Music School and as well as having his own private teaching studio.

www.borealisstringquartet.com

Beatriz Orbegoso

Managing Director

Bea is Canadian-born of Peruvian parents, with two amazing blind brothers. She has visited many parts of the world and has always been drawn to different cultures. She moved to Lima, Peru in 2003 and worked as the General Manager of the country’s largest theatre company, managing over 50 productions during her tenure. During that time she was able to combine her passion for sound and music with her career, creating the sound design for several theatre productions.

She earned her BA in Languages and Theatre at Bishop’s University, Lennoxville, Quebec, and her MBA in Management and Administration at UPC, Lima, Peru. After many years of travel, and manifesting her return to Canada, she was able to move back in 2017 with her children, and continued to expand her horizons working in documentary film production and arts management. Currently she is Managing Director for Elektra Women’s Choir.

She believes that creative expression and the arts are fundamental to an innovative society. She looks to the future with great hope and excitement as she continues her journey collaborating with Cascade Peaks ChamberFest.

Shannon Lythgoe

Marketing Director

Shannon Lythgoe graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor in Voice Performance, as well as from the Pacific Design Academy with a diploma in Graphic Design. Shannon has been involved both personally and professionally in the arts her entire adult life, as a performer, arts administrator, graphic artist, artisan, video editor, and marketing director. As a marketing director, Shannon has worked for the Amy Ferguson Institute (now the Echo Vocal Arts Alliance), Nelson Summer Songfest, Cottonwood Chamber Choir, Elektra Women’s Choir, and the Kootenay Gallery of Art, History and Science.

Working from her home in Nelson, British Columbia, Shannon fills most of her waking hours creating and promoting the visual and performing arts. In addition to her administrative and marketing work, Shannon is active as an artisan in the West Kootenays, where she sells her unique jewelry and her line of art cards.