Conductor – Lisa Kyriakides
Lisa Kyriakides enjoys a busy and varied career as a soloist, educator, musical director, performer, and conductor. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Music (Music Education) and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Western Ontario as well as certificates in Voice, Piano, Theory, Counterpoint and History from the Royal Conservatory of Music. Lisa taught music in the school systems in Toronto and York Region for 12 years. She was an elementary and secondary school music teacher and a Music Consultant with the Toronto Board of Education and the Head of Music at The Country Day School in King City. Lisa has conducted countless choirs, been a guest clinician and vocal coach with several local choirs, has organized and run elementary music camps, and was the Voice and Choir Adjudicator at the Sunderland Music Festival in 2015 and Music Alive in 2016-2018. Since 2008, Lisa has been the conductor of the Ballantrae Adult Choir.
Over 15 years ago, Lisa developed an interest and love of Handbells, and currently runs the Handbell Program at Aurora United Church, which includes conducting 2 Handbell Choirs and performing in EmBellished, a Handbell Quartet. In the last 3 years, Lisa was chosen to be the Canadian conductor at the International Handbell Symposium, was on the podium for the 2025 Ontario Guild of English Handbell Ringers Conference, and was a guest conductor at Classic Bronze in Calgary.
Lisa conducted the Encore choir in 2023 for their Spring Concert entitled “Seize the Day” and is thrilled to be able to make music with these wonderful singers again in 2026.
Accompanist – Greg Vandikas
Greg has recently completed his Master of Music in Performance Piano degree at
the Université de Montréal, after earning his undergraduate degree in Performance Piano at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. Throughout his studies at both institutions, Greg has been deeply committed to ensemble work, collaborating extensively with fellow musicians in chamber music settings and other projects.
He has achieved his Associate Diploma and Licentiate Diploma, earning First-class honours with Distinction and a national gold medal. Greg has participated in numerous prestigious events and festivals in the Netherlands and Quebec. His competition successes include winning the Crescendo International Piano Competition, which led to a memorable performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, and first place finishes at both the International Music Competition and Festival in Markham and the GOCAA International Piano Competition in Boston.
As part of his piano duo, Duo con Fuoco, he also secured first place at the CMC National Finals, and made his concerto debut with the Kindred Spirit Orchestra. In 2022, Greg performed with the McGill Symphony Orchestra after winning the Schulich School of Music Romantic Concerto competition. Most recently, in 2024, he placed second in the Université de Montréal concerto competition, which awarded him the opportunity to perform with l’Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal and present a solo recital.
Greg is the son of our previous accompanist, Mr. George Vandikas, who is taking a well-deserved one year sabbatical.
Welcome, Greg!
Encore! Choir 