Here’s my Longer Story…

I grew up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with no musical background in our family.  My sister heard a violin at school one day, came home and wanted to play.  I was brought along to the lessons and suddenly I was playing the violin!  I honestly do not remember much about my starting years except for the ‘rocket ships,’ playing on my back, and dressing up in costumes for Halloween.  I had wonderful teachers who harmonized a culture of fun, silliness and creativity alongside dedicated focus and work – tools I still engage each time I play today.  

In Calgary there were few string programs in the public school and most string education was done through private teaching, the Suzuki Schools, and the Royal Conservatory system.  When I was six, I auditioned for the Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary and was accepted into the studio of Joan Barrett.  Joan’s studio was filled with violinists of all ages that I looked up to throughout my growing years – they fed me inspiration with their humor, vulnerability, fun, hard work, perseverance and yes...silliness.  There was a freedom to ask anything, to dream big, think OUTSIDE the box, and support for each of us to engage who we were and what we wanted to say – how to use our voice.  At the same time, Ms. Barrett’s work was rooted deeply in her own mentors methods – the freedom and creativity of Josef Gingold, the fundamentals of Ivan Galamian, and the mindsets, exercises, and fundamentals of Paul Roland.  Lifelong friends and colleagues are still a close part of my family from these years together.

 During this time I also entered numerous competitions – both in the classical world and in the fiddling world. I had great success in the fiddling contests and, although I was working hard on all of my classical training, was always coming in second or lower in my classical festivals.  I had Ms. Barrett through it all training my mindset, my focus, and the balance of where and how I could improve in both.  My success in the fiddling world continued and was lucky enough to enter the Shelburne Old Time Fiddler’s Contest, the National Fiddling Competition in Canada.  

Over my years in contest fiddling, I had observed that while the Championship Category was the ‘golden fiddle,’ the Novelty category was of equal fame and financial reward.  The novelty category is for the most talented and entertaining fiddler to get the audience engaged and excited.  While I excelled at contest fiddling, I also became known as the guy from Calgary who fiddled with coat hangers and plungers while doing somersaults and standing on his head – and these skills awarded me top prize in the 1989 Canadian National Championship Novelty class.  I was more surprised than anyone else, and at the same time it was an act that I had honed through focus, intention, practice, discipline, and yes...having fun.  

I began a Master’s Degree in Bloomington, Indiana working with Miriam Fried and coachings with Menahem Pressler and Atar Arad as well as sitting concertmaster under Kurt Masur and Joe Silverstein. During my second year, I joined the Borromeo Quartet during and spent the next six years traveling the globe performing Beethoven, Bartok, Brahms and other quartet cycles while performing over 100 concerts per year, meeting sumo champions, presidents, and incredible audience members who remain close friends and supporters.  I taught full time at New England Conservatory and enjoyed teaching seminars on all of the core repertoire alongside phenomenal colleagues – Paul Katz, Miriam Fried, Donald Weilerstein, Kim Kashkashian. It was a gift to work with students who now occupy positions in all of the world’s leading orchestra’s (New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Concertgebouw), chamber ensembles, (Kuss, Ariel, Parker and Jupiter Quartets)  and others who hold both teaching positions at Universities and curate private studios around the world.