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Timothy Chooi

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Timothy Chooi
Timothy Chooi with the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra in Chengdu, China
Born (1994-12-17) 17 December 1994 (age 30)
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
NationalityAmerican, Canadian
OccupationViolinist
Years active2010–present
Known for
RelativesNikki Chooi (brother)
Websitewww.timothychooi.com

Timothy Chooi is a Canadian violinist and University of Ottawa professor of Chinese-Indonesian ethnic background. He won the First Prize at the 2018 International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition and Second Prize at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition. He has also won prizes at the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition, the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, and the Grand Prize at the 2010 Montreal ManuLife Competition.[1]

Early life and education

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Chooi was born in Victoria, British Columbia, to an Indonesian mother and a Malaysian father, both of Chinese ethnic background. As a young child, his father worked in Florida[2] and Chooi moved and immigrated to the United States of America with his family. Chooi went on to complete high school in Pennsylvania and graduated with top honors in 2011.[3] Chooi has one older brother, Nikki Chooi, a professional violinist who previously served as the concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.[4]

He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music studying with Ida Kavafian and Pamela Frank. Chooi went on to receive his Master of Music and Artist Diploma degree from the Juilliard School, studying with Catherine Cho and also his Professional Studies Diploma studying with Christian Tetzlaff at the Kronberg Academy in Germany. He has previously studied privately with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec.

Career

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Chooi 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, he was invited to perform with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra at the celebration concert "Splash" for an audience of over 50,000 people.[5]

In 2010, he was accepted to the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he studied with Ida Kavafian. A few months after enrolling, he was awarded the Grand Prize award at the 2010 Montreal ManuLife 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 Gingras.[6]

In 2018, Chooi was the first violinist and the first Canadian and American to win the Prix Yves-Paternot from the Verbier Festival bringing him a cash prize of 25,000 Swiss Francs[7] with numerous concert appearances across Europe including a concert at the Verbier Festival.[8]

Chooi rose to international attention when he won the first prize of the 2018 International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hanover, Germany,[9] bringing him a cash prize of €50,000, numerous concert engagements, a recording, and a three-year loan of the "1765" Guadagnini violin from the Fritz Behrens Foundation. He was the first Canadian to win the top prize. Shortly after, he won the Second Prize at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium and was immediately launched on a concert tour, performing with the Brussels Philharmonic under Stéphane Denève, and recitals across South Korea and Belgium.[10][11] His most recent artistic collaboration was a tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Mutter Virtuosi where they performed across Europe's greatest concert halls such as the Musikverein Vienna, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Berlin Philharmonie and many more.

Over the years, Chooi has performed around the globe with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Brussels Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra,[12] National Arts Centre Orchestra,[13] Toronto Symphony Orchestra,[14] Auckland Philharmonia, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Santa Barbara Symphony and Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has shared the international stage with artists and conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Kent Nagano, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Pinchas Zukerman, Stéphane Denève, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Yoav Talmi, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Benjamin Zander.

He completed an Artist Diploma at the Juilliard School studying with Catherine Cho, and a Professional Studies diploma at the Kronberg Academy with Christian Tetzlaff.

In 2021, at the age of 27, Chooi was made the Professor of Violin at University of Ottawa (Canada), one of the youngest professors in the institution's history.[15]

Instruments

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Timothy Chooi has a collection of three rare violins that he performs on, including the 1741 “Titan” Guarneri del Gesù violin, on loan from Canimex of Drummondville, Québec since 2023; [16] the 1709 “Engleman” Stradivarius, on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation in Japan; [17] and the 1761 Landolfi violin, which is endowed to him as the Professor of Violin at the University of Ottawa.

Awards

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In 2010, Chooi was awarded the Grand Prize at the OSM Standard Life Competition (one of the youngest recipients in history).[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Timothy Chooi | Orchestre symphonique de Montréal". Osm.ca. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  2. ^ McFarlane, Matthew. "Chooi Boys Documentary". CBC.ca.
  3. ^ "Right notes". 23 November 2010. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2023 – via PressReader.
  4. ^ "Virtuosi Violins - Jeunesses Musicales du Canada". Jmcanada.ca. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  5. ^ "Victoria Symphony Canada | Splash Young Soloist". Victoriasymphony.ca. 2 August 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  6. ^ Gingras, Claude (24 November 2010). "OSM / Timothy Chooi: the miracle". La Presse. La Presse. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
  7. ^ a b Devlin, Mike (6 November 2018). "Victoria violinist wins $75,000 music prize". Times Colonist. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Timothy Chooi awarded Verbier Festival Academy's highest honour". theStrad. Newsquest Specialist Media Limited. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  9. ^ "Timothy Chooi of Canada Wins 2018 Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover". Violinist.com. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Timothy Chooi wins 2018 Joseph Joachim Violin Competition". theStrad. Newsquest Specialist Media Limited. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Hannover & Queen Elisabeth Comp Top Prizes". The Violin Channel. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  12. ^ "Visiting Artists: Timothy Chooi". cso.org. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  13. ^ Robb, Peter. "NACO: Timothy Chooi's passion for Tchaikovsky concerto started at age 17 – ARTSFILE". Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  14. ^ "Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto". Toronto Symphony Orchestra. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  15. ^ "VC Artist Timothy Chooi Joins Musique University of Ottawa Faculty (June 9, 2021)". The Violin Channel. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  16. ^ Rowat, Robert (14 March 2019). "Watch Timothy Chooi play Paganini's Caprice No. 24 on his $5.5 million Strad". cbc.ca. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  17. ^ "Results of the 26th Instrument Loan Committee Meeting". Nippon Music Foundation. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  18. ^ "En bref - Un violoniste gagne le concours OSM". Le Devoir (in French). 23 November 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  19. ^ a b "Instrument Bank Grants Rare Violins, Cellos To Young Artists". CBC.ca. CBC News. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  20. ^ "Vadim Repin International Masterclass Scholarship Competition | American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF)". Afafestival.com. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  21. ^ William Dart (15 June 2015). "Much to love about competition". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  22. ^ "VC Young Artist Timothy Chooi Awarded 1st Prize at Hannover's Joseph Joachim Competition". 26 October 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  23. ^ "VC Young Artist Timothy Chooi Awarded 1st Prize at American Schadt String Competition". 6 March 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  24. ^ "Timothy Chooi". Musical Instrument Bank. 2018. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  25. ^ "Timothy Chooi". Concours Reine Elisabeth. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  26. ^ "Results of the 26th Instrument Loan Committee Meeting | loan | News | Nippon Music Foundation". 日本音楽財団 (in Japanese). Retrieved 26 August 2021.
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