Timothy Chooi

Timothy Chooi (born December 17, 1993) is an American-Canadian violinist. He is the Second Prize Winner of the 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium and the First Prize Winner of the 2018 International Joseph Joachim Violin Competition in Hannover, Germany. He also won top prizes at the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition, Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand as well as the Grand Prize Award of the 2010 Montreal Standard Life Competition.[1]

Timothy Chooi
Timothy Chooi in the streets of Auckland, New Zealand
Background information
Born (1993-12-17) December 17, 1993
GenresClassical
Occupation(s)Violinist
Instruments1717 "Windsor" Stradivarius Violin
Associated actsThe Chooi Brothers
Websitewww.timothychooi.com

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, Alberta, Canada. Chooi commuted by airplane once every two weeks to Calgary in order to attend his highschool in Victoria, British Columbia.[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 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 around the world such as NDR Radiophilharmonie, Brussels Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Santa Barbara Symphony and Sichuan Symphony Orchestrato name a few. He has shared the international stage with artists and conductors such as Pinchas Zukerman, Stéphane Denève Lang Lang, Yuja Wang, Yoav Talmi, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Kent Nagano and Benjamin Zander.

He received his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School studying with Catherine Cho Curtis Institute of Music under the tutelage of Ida Kavafian and Pamela Frank and has previously studied with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada. Currently he studies with Catherine Cho and Christian Tetzlaff. He lives in New York City, United States

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]

  • 2010 Grand Prize Winner of the Montreal Standard Life Competition, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  • 2012 Winner of the Canada Council for the Arts Music Instrument Bank, Toronto, Ontario, Canada[6]
  • 2013 Recipient of the Vadim Repin Scholarship Award, New York City, USA[7]
  • 2014 Laureate of the 2014 International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition
  • 2015 Bronze Medal at the 2015 Michael Hill International Violin Competition, New Zealand[8]
  • 2015 Winner of the Canada Council for the Arts Music Instrument Bank, Toronto, Ontario, Canada[6]
  • 2017 Milka Violin Award from the Curtis Institute of Music
  • 2018 First Prize Winner of the Schadt Violin Competition, Allentown, USA[9]
  • 2018 Winner of the Canada Council for the Arts Music Instrument Bank, Toronto, Ontario, Canada[10]
  • 2018 First Prize Winner of the Joseph Joachim Violin Competition of Hannover, Germany[11]
  • 2019 Second Prize Winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, Brussels, Belgium

See also

References
  1. "Timothy Chooi | Orchestre symphonique de Montréal". Osm.ca. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  2. "Victoria Symphony Canada | Splash Young Soloist". Victoriasymphony.ca. 2015-08-02. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  3. Hunt, Stephen (2015-08-26). "Bella Concert Hall opens its doors". Vancouversun.com. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  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. "En bref - Un violoniste gagne le concours OSM". Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  6. "Instrument Bank Grants Rare Violins, Cellos To Young Artists". CBC.ca. CBC News. 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  7. "Vadim Repin International Masterclass Scholarship Competition | American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF)". Afafestival.com. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  8. William Dart (2015-06-15). "Much to love about competition". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  9. "VC Young Artist Timothy Chooi Awarded 1st Prize at American Schadt String Competition". 2018-03-06. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  10. "Timothy Chooi". Musical Instrument Bank. 2018. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  11. "VC Young Artist Timothy Chooi Awarded 1st Prize at Hannover's Joseph Joachim Competition". 2018-10-26. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
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