Timothy Chooi

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Timothy Chooi
Timothy Chooi New Zealand.jpg
Timothy Chooi in the streets of Auckland, New Zealand
Born (1993-12-17) December 17, 1993 (age 27)
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Citizenship
  • American
  • Canadian
OccupationViolinist
Years active2010–present
Known for
RelativesNikki Chooi (brother)
Websitewww.timothychooi.com

Timothy Chooi (born December 17, 1993) is a Canadian-American violinist and professor. 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, Michael Hill International Violin Competition and the Grand Prize at the 2010 Montreal ManuLife Competition.[1]

Early Life and Education[]

Chooi was born on December 17, 1993 in Victoria, British Columbia to a Chinese-Indonesian mother and a Chinese-Malaysian father. As a young child, his father worked in Florida[2] and shortly, 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, who is a professional violinist and he 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 degree from the Juilliard School, studying with Catherine Cho. He has previously studied privately with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec.

Career[]

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, [6]

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

Chooi rose to international attention when he won the first prize of the 2018 International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hannover, 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 . He was the first American and Canadian to ever 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]

Over the years, Chooi has performed around the globe with 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 Anne-Sophie Mutter, Pinchas Zukerman, Stéphane Denève, Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Yoav Talmi, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Kent Nagano, and Benjamin Zander.

Currently, he is an Artist Diploma fellow at the Juilliard School studying with Catherine Cho, and is a Professional Studies candidate 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[]

Timothy Chooi is currently using the 1717 Windsor-Weinstein Stradivarius which has been on loan to him from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank since 2015.[16] Since 2021, Chooi is the recipient of a rare violin from the Nippon Music Foundation in Japan.[17]

Personal life[]

Chooi resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is a dual Canadian[18] and American[19] citizen.

Awards[]

In 2010, Chooi was awarded the Grand Prize at the OSM Standard Life Competition (one of the youngest recipients in history).[20]

  • 2010 Grand Prize Winner of the Montreal ManuLife Competition, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • 2012 Winner of the Canada Council for the Arts Music Instrument Bank, Toronto, Ontario, Canada[21]
  • 2013 Recipient of the Vadim Repin Scholarship Award[22]
  • 2014 Laureate of the 2014 International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition
  • 2015 Bronze Medal at the 2015 Michael Hill International Violin Competition[23]
  • 2015 Winner of the Canada Council for the Arts Music Instrument Bank[21]
  • 2017 Milka Violin Award from the Curtis Institute of Music[24]
  • 2018 First Prize Winner of the Schadt Violin Competition[25]
  • 2018 Winner of the Canada Council for the Arts Music Instrument Bank
  • 2018 Recipient of the "Prix Yves Paternot" from the Verbier Festival in Switzerland[7]
  • 2018 First Prize Winner of the International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition[26]
  • 2019 Second Prize Winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition
  • 2021 Recipient of the Nippon Music Foundation Rare Instrument Loan[27]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Timothy Chooi | Orchestre symphonique de Montréal". Osm.ca. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  2. ^ McFarlane, Matthew. "Chooi Boys Documentary". CBC.ca.
  3. ^ "PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  4. ^ "Virtuosi Violins - Jeunesses Musicales du Canada". Jmcanada.ca. 2014-08-26. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  5. ^ "Victoria Symphony Canada | Splash Young Soloist". Victoriasymphony.ca. 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  6. ^ "OSM / Timothy Chooi: the miracle". La Presse. La Presse. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Devlin, Mike. "Victoria violinist wins $75,000 music prize". Times Colonist. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  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 2021-08-26.
  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. The Violin Channel. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  12. ^ "Visiting Artists: Timothy Chooi". cso.org. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  13. ^ Robb, Peter. "NACO: Timothy Chooi's passion for Tchaikovsky concerto started at age 17 – ARTSFILE". Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  14. ^ "Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto". Toronto Symphony Orchestra. 2021-05-28. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
  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 (Mar 14, 2019). "Watch Timothy Chooi play Paganini's Caprice No. 24 on his $5.5 million Strad". cbc.ca. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  17. ^ "Results of the 26th Instrument Loan Committee Meeting". Nippon Music Foundation. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
  18. ^ Robb, Peter. "NACO: Timothy Chooi's passion for Tchaikovsky concerto started at age 17 – ARTSFILE". Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  19. ^ Channel, The Violin (2021-05-10). "VC ARTIST | Timothy Chooi — Hannover & Queen Elisabeth Comp Top Prizes". The World's Leading Classical Music News Source. Est 2009. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  20. ^ "En bref - Un violoniste gagne le concours OSM". Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b "Instrument Bank Grants Rare Violins, Cellos To Young Artists". CBC.ca. CBC News. 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  22. ^ "Vadim Repin International Masterclass Scholarship Competition | American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF)". Afafestival.com. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  23. ^ William Dart (2015-06-15). "Much to love about competition". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  24. ^ "VC Young Artist Timothy Chooi Awarded 1st Prize at Hannover's Joseph Joachim Competition". 2018-10-26. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  25. ^ "VC Young Artist Timothy Chooi Awarded 1st Prize at American Schadt String Competition". 2018-03-06. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  26. ^ "Timothy Chooi". Musical Instrument Bank. 2018. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  27. ^ "Results of the 26th Instrument Loan Committee Meeting | loan | News | Nippon Music Foundation". 日本音楽財団 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-08-26.

External links[]

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