David Liam Roberts

Winner of the Michael Measures Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, Métis-Canadian cellist David Liam Roberts enjoys an international performing career as a soloist and chamber musician. The 2024-25 season included a 40-concert tour of the Canadian Prairies with pianist Godwin Friesen presented by Prairie Debut. With his Rilian Trio, David Liam won the 1st Prize, Audience Prize and Commissioned Work Prize at the 12th Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition in Norway.

Recent and upcoming appearances include the Copenhagen Summer Festival (Denmark) and the Prince Edward County Festival (Ontario), Trondheim Kammermusikkfestival (Norway), as well as debuts in Calgary (Calgary Pro Musica), Bergen and Oslo with the Rilian Trio. He has participated in the Open Chamber Music seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall, UK, and has studied with Steven Isserlis, Barbara Hannigan, Thomas Adès, Christian Tetzlaff and Miguel da Silva. He has performed as a guest with the Toronto Symphony and recently won the audition for a cello internship with the Basel Symphony Orchestra.

David Liam holds a bachelor's degree and Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he studied with Hans Jørgen Jensen and Andrés Díaz. He is now studying with Danjulo Ishizaka in the Masters program at the Basel Academy of Music in Switzerland. He also studies Historical Cello with Petr Skalka at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. In the 2025-26 season, his Rilian Trio are Associate Artists in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium.

David Liam performs on the 1690 Francesco Rugeri cello, on loan by the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. He also performs on a bow by W.E. Hill&Sons, generously loaned to him by CANIMEX, Inc.