For its fifth concert of the season, the Selkirk Pro-Musica concert series is proud to present the Crow-Wan Violin Duo. The concertmasters of Canada’s finest symphony orchestras join forces to tell the story of the violin duet from the Baroque to the present day.
Jonathan Crow, a native of Prince George, is in his fifth season as the concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He began his career with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1998 as associate principal second violin, as he was graduating from McGill University. In 2002, Crow won the orchestra’s concertmaster position, becoming the youngest concertmaster of any major North American orchestra.
He has performed around the world as guest concertmaster and as a soloist with virtually every major orchestra inCanada. An avid chamber musician, Crow has performed throughout North America, South America and Europe and is a founding member of the New Orford String Quartet, a new ensemble dedicated to promoting standard and Canadian string quartet repertoire. He is currently associate professor of violin at the University of Toronto and performs on a 1738 Guarneri del Gesù violin.
Hailing from Edmonton, Andrew Wan has been concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra since 2008. He won this post after completing bachelor and master of music degrees at the Juilliard School of Music and, in the same year as his MSO appointment, was the only violinist to be accepted into their artist diploma program.
He has performed as a soloist throughout the world and, in 2014, performed the world premiere of Les mouvements de l’âme by Serge Arcuri, commissioned for him and the MSO. Wan has frequently served as guest concertmaster for several North American orchestras and has appeared as artist and faculty at many prominent music festivals.
His discography includes Grammy and Juno Award-nominated recordings with several orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the New Orford String Quartet, which he co-founded with Crow. He is currently assistant professor of violin at McGill University and performs on a 1744 Michel’Angelo Bergonzi violin.
As one of the stops on their West Kootenay tour, the duo will perform in St. Saviour’s Pro-Cathedral on Sunday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. With this venue providing an intimate experience and incredible acoustics, this will surely be one of the premiere concerts of 2016.