Dr. Gerard Yun
Gerard Yun is a community music professor and practitioner, intercultural music performer, and student of the interface between musics and multiple ways of knowing in our shared world.
A native of the Sierra Nevada Foothills of Northern California, he is a descendent of San Francisco Chinese with a background rich in varied musical traditions rooted in North America, Africa, and Asia. Alongside his formal training and professional work as a Western classical choral-orchestral conductor, his studies include traditional training in Zen Buddhist shakuhachi, Native American flute, Asian overtone singing, and West African drumming.
His scholarly interests focus on the connections between music, spirituality, and social justice through practices such as intercultural improvisation and restorative, contemplative musical forms. Currently, assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Gerard is in demand as a clinician and workshop leader. He also hosts the “Authentic Voice” podcast and “The Contemplative Music Pause,” a live and online ecast hosted by the Kanata Centre at Martin Luther University College.
Rev. Sebastian Meadows-Helmer
Sebastian Meadows-Helmer holds a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance from McGill University, where he studied with Mark Gothoni and Yehonatan Berick. He participated in masterclasses with Ani Kavafian, Martin Chalifour, Helmut Zehetmair and Pierre Amoyal and pursued further musical education at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Marktoberdorf International Summer Music Academy.
A First Prize winner in the Canadian Music Competition, Sebastian has performed as a soloist in Germany, Austria and Canada, and was a member of the Festival Ensemble of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra. He was principal second violin of the Sherbrooke Symphony Orchestra, and has been a substitute first violin section player with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
He received his M.Div. and M.A. in Theology: Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy from Waterloo Lutheran Seminary (now Martin Luther University College). Sebastian and his wife Carey are both pastors at St. Matthews Lutheran Church in Kitchener. They have three children; Gabrielle, James and Elise.
Deacon Scott Knarr
Scott Knarr holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Ottawa where he studied organ with Karen Holmes and Frances Macdonnell. He did further study at Laval University in Quebec City with Father Antoine Bouchard.
Scott has served as music director at churches in Ottawa, Quebec City and Montreal. After 12 years at Mount Zion Lutheran Church, Waterloo, he began as Diaconal Minister of Music at St. Matthews Lutheran Church, Kitchener, in 2019.
He received his Master of Arts in Theology: Christian Studies from Waterloo Lutheran Seminary (now Martin Luther University College) and was ordained deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. In 2019 Scott was music director for the Diakonia of the Americas and the Caribbean conference held in Vancouver. He serves as facilitator for the Music for the Spirit youth music program on Six Nations of the Grand River Territory.
April 2 Concert Page
Music at St. Matthews Concert Series
