Timothy Chooi

Timothy Chooi

Timothy Chooi in the streets of Auckland, New Zealand
Background information
Birth name Timothy Chooi
Born (1993-12-17) December 17, 1993
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Genres Classical
Occupation(s) Violinist
Instruments 1717 "Windsor" Stradivarius Violin
Associated acts The Chooi Brothers
Website www.timothychooi.com

Timothy Chooi (born December 17, 1993) is a Canadian violinist . He was the Grand Prize winner of the 2010 Montreal Standard Life Competition [1] and recently won top prizes at the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and 2015 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand.

Life and career

Timothy Chooi was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He started playing the violin at the age of three with the Suzuki method at the Victoria Conservatory of Music with Esther Tsang. He made his orchestral debut at the age of seven performing with his brother and the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. In 2007, when Chooi was twelve years old, he was invited to perform with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra at the celebration concert "Splash" for an audience of over 50,000 people [2]

When Chooi was fourteen years old, he was accepted with full scholarship to attend the Academy Program at the Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary, Canada. Chooi communicated by airplane once every two weeks to Calgary in order to attend his highschool in Victoria [3] Two years later after commuting between Victoria to Calgary, Chooi was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at the age of sixteen where he studied and still currently studies with Ida Kavafian. A few months after enrolling at the Curtis Institute of Music, Chooi was awarded the Grand Prize award at the 2010 Montreal Standard Life Competition [1] and made his concerto debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jean Francois Rivest. His performance was described as "the miracle violinist" by Montreal's harshest critic, Claude Gringras.

Over the years, Chooi has performed with orchestras in Canada and internationally such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Philharmonia, Auckland Philharmonia, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Santa Barbara Symphony to name a few. He has shared the international stage with artists and conductors such as Pinchas Zukerman, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Yoav Talmi, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Kent Nagano and Benjamin Zander.

Currently enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music, Chooi studies with Ida Kavafian and Pamela Frank and has previously studied with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada

Timothy has an older brother, Nikki Chooi who also is a professional violinist. Both of them are part of the ensemble "The Chooi Brothers" and are constantly on tour.[4]

Awards

Timothy Chooi has received several prestigious awards. In 2010 he was awarded Grand Prize at the OSM Standard Life Competition (one of the youngest in history).[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Timothy Chooi | Orchestre symphonique de Montréal". Osm.ca. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  2. ↑ "Victoria Symphony Canada | Splash Young Soloist". Victoriasymphony.ca. 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  3. ↑ Hunt, Stephen (2015-08-26). "Bella Concert Hall opens its doors". Vancouversun.com. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  4. ↑ "Virtuosi Violins - Jeunesses Musicales du Canada". Jmcanada.ca. 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  5. ↑ "En bref - Un violoniste gagne le concours OSM". Le Devoir. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  6. ↑ "Instrument Bank Grants Rare Violins, Cellos To Young Artists" (PDF). Huffingtonpost.ca. 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  7. ↑ "Vadim Repin International Masterclass Scholarship Competition | American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF)". Afafestival.com. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  8. ↑ "Much to love about competition - Entertainment - NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  9. ↑ "Instrument Bank Grants Rare Violins, Cellos To Young Artists" (PDF). Huffingtonpost.ca. 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2015-09-19.


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