Amy Hillis has "a rich, warm sound and has mastered the violin with such ease, that it is impossible to ignore her passion in performance" (Ludwig Van Montréal). She challenges artistic norms to build community relationships inside and outside the concert hall. As a soloist, Amy has commissioned and premiered new Canadian works by Matt Brubeck, Fjóla Evans, Gabriel Dufour-Laperrière, Laurence Jobidon, Vincent Ho, Andrew Staniland, Jocelyn Morlock, Nicole Lizée, Carmen Braden, Randolph Peters and Jordan Pal. She is winner of the Pan-Canadian Recital Tour, the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, the Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank competition, the McGill Concerto Competition, an artistic residency at La Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, and the Sylva Gelber Foundation Music Award. text goes here

Noa Sarid is an Israeli violinist and chamber musician. She is the first violinist and founding member of the Dior Quartet, winner of the 2023 Concert Artist Guild Elmaleh Competition, silver prize winner of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition (2021) and bronze medalist of the 46th Fischoff National Chamber Competition (2019). Coached by the Pacifica Quartet, the Dior Quartet also studied with members of the Alban Berg, St. Lawrence, Danish, Artemis, Ébène, and Belcea Quartets. She is a 2023 Rebanks Fellow at the Royal Conservatory of Music. As a soloist, Noa toured in Israel and Europe with The Symphonette Ra’anana and The Thelma Yellin Symphony Orchestras. As a chamber musician, Noa is a Naxos Records artist (2020) and a four-time winner of the Jerusalem Academy of Music Chamber Competition (2015-2018). Noa is committed to advocating social justice through music. She took part in the Musethica International Chamber Music Festival in 2017, performing in hospitals, shelters for survivors of domestic violence, prisons, and schools for children with special needs. As part of her military service, Noa toured Israel with the Israel Defense Forces String Quartet, delivering lecture-recitals in army bases. Noa holds a master’s degree in Violin Performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and a bachelor’s degree from The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. Noa’s violin mentors include Simin Ganatra, Roi Shiloah, and Nava Milo. With the Dior Quartet, Noa joined The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory in Toronto as the new String Quartet-in-residence for the 2021-2022 academic year. Noa teaches violin at the Lane School of Music, and passionately mentors violin students at the Oscar Peterson Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto.ext goes here

Elizabeth Loewen Andrews is a core member of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. She leads a dual life in performance, playing both modern violin and Baroque violin. Although formally trained in modern performance, Elizabeth was able to delve into the world of period performance while she was completing her Masters degree at the University of Toronto. When not performing in Hamilton, she can often be found joining the members of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra on their stage, or performing contemporary music with Esprit Orchestra. If you had to ask Elizabeth about her favourite part in performing music as a career, she would probably say everything. Elizabeth loves to share a wide range of music with audiences, and she tends to throw herself wholeheartedly into all of it! She also feels strongly that it is a privilege as a musician to be able to affect people at a deep emotional, and even spiritual, level when she performs. Elizabeth aims to bring this same energy and inspiration to her teaching studio, so her students can experience the transformative power of music.  When Elizabeth is not rehearsing and performing, she can usually be found in her home in West Scarborough. There, she teaches violin sometimes, chases after her kids a lot, sometimes does some yoga, sneaks in some gardening and almost always finds time to do some cross stitch or embroidery for relaxation at the end of the day.ption text goes here

Sienna (MinKyong) Cho, a Korean-Canadian violinist, has served as Assistant Concertmaster of the Kingston Symphony since 2023. Known for her lyrical interpretations and technical finesse, Sienna is a recent graduate of McGill University, where she earned both a Bachelor of Music and Graduate Diploma under Andrew Wan and Jinjoo Cho. She completed her Master of Music on full scholarship at Rice University with Cho-Liang Lin, further refining her artistry. In 2019, Sienna received the Salsinger Tani Gold Medal and was a prize winner of the Peter Mendell Award Competition. She has appeared at prestigious international festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Kneisel Hall, Colorado College Music, and Toronto Summer Music, performing on world-renowned stages. As an active orchestral player, Sienna regularly performs with prominent Canadian ensembles, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. She performs on a 2014 Mira Gruszow & Gideon Baumblatt violin, a masterful copy of the 1744 Michel' Angelo Bergonzi, generously loaned by Andrew Wan. In addition to her performance work, Sienna is committed to community engagement and education. She participates in outreach initiatives, introducing young audiences to classical music through interactive workshops, fostering a passion for the arts in future generations.cription

Recipient of the 2015 Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant, TSO violinist Christina (Jung Yun) Choi gave her first concerto performance in 2006 with the Queensland Symphony.Since then, she has performed around the world in venues such as Bridgewater Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and Carnegie Hall. Born in South Korea, Choi began playing the violin at the age of 5. Two years later, while visiting relatives in Australia, she met her future long-term teacher, Emin Tagiev. That moment became a turning point in her life, and after receiving a full music scholarship to attend boarding school in Australia, she went on to complete her studies at the Glenn Gould School, the Colburn School, and the New World Symphony.Choi’s primary teachers include Emin Tagiev, Atis Bankas, David Zafer, Mayumi Seiler, Paul Kantor, Barry Shiffman, and Martin Beaver. Outside of music, Choi likes to travel, hike, and search for good food and coffee.

Praised for his “beauty of tone and elegance of style” (Herald-Tribune), Toronto based violinist Patrick Goodwin enjoys a varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral violinist and teacher. As former concertmaster of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Patrick has performed in many of the world’s great halls including the David Geffen Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Wales Millennium Centre and the Dubai Opera House. He has served as leader and orchestral soloist for multiple productions in collaboration with Cape Town Opera, Cape Town City Ballet and for the touring St. Petersburg Ballet’s production of Swan Lake. Patrick has appeared as a guest leader with various South African orchestras and chamber ensembles and has recorded for national radio, television and on numerous commercial recordings. In 2017 he represented South Africa performing with the New York Philharmonic Global Orchestra Project at the Lincoln Centre under conductor Alan Gilbert. Since relocating to Canada in 2018, Patrick has performed in various chamber music ensembles in and around Toronto and is a substitute violinist with the Orchestra of the National Ballet of Canada, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Concert Orchestra and joins Sinfonia Toronto for their 2019-2020 season. Patrick has featured regularly as a soloist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, University of Cape Town Symphony Orchestra and in recital throughout South Africa. An experienced and sought-after chamber musician, he was a founding member of the Bacharova Quartet and leader of the Juliet String Quartet with whom he championed many new works alongside established repertoire. He was awarded first prize in the ATKV Ensemble Competition (2009) and has been faculty member at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (2012, 2013)Patrick studied in Cape Town and Chicago where his principal teachers were Farida Bacharova and Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in violin performance and was a member of the South African National Youth Orchestra as well as a frequent participant in the Britten-Pears Orchestra courses in Aldeburgh, UK. From 2011 to 2018 Patrick was adjunct lecturer in violin at the South African College of Music, University of Cape Town. 

Sheila Jaffé was born into a family of musicians and was fascinated by classical music from a young age. Born in Montreal and raised in South Florida, she returned to her native Quebec at the age of thirteen to live and study with her second cousin Catherine Dallaire, concertmaster of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and professor of violin at the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec. After completing high school as part of the arts intensive program at l'École Secondaire Pierre-Laporte in Montreal, Sheila completed her Bachelor's degree in violin performance at the Université de Montréal. Over the course of her years in Montreal, it became clear that chamber music and orchestral playing were at the core of her musical passions. She co-founded the Alaya String Quartet, performed in numerous chamber music concerts in the city, and kept herself impossibly busy with every kind of ensemble she could put together. In the summers, she participated in orchestral, chamber music and masterclass festivals such as Schleswig-Holstein Orchester, Domaine Forget, International Musicians Seminar and Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, Orford Arts Centre, Aurora Music in Sweden, and several others. Sheila continued her studies in Berlin, Germany with a Master's program at the Hanns Eisler Hochschüle für Musik, during which she also was accepted into the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Akademie for a one-year position. During this time she also co-founded the Alondra String Quartet, who were invited to the International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove as well as the Toronto Summer Music festival. The members of this quartet are now in leading orchestras around the world. In 2013, at the Rosebud Chamber Music Festival in Alberta, Canada, she co-founded the Rosebud String Quartet (RSQ), with whom she currently performs regularly. Sheila is also the violinist and violist of the Array Ensemble, specializing in new music. In 2015, Sheila joined the Canadian Opera Company as a violist while continuing to nurture her love of chamber music on the violin with her string quartet as well as other chamber ensembles and various solo performances. She has also recently been appointed as principal viola of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra. Her first album, featuring works by Franck, Elgar and Britten in collaboration with Welsh pianist Huw Watkins, is due to come out in 2022. Sheila Jaffé plays on a Francesco Gobetti (1710-15) violin and Raymond Schryer (2001) viola on generous loan from Canimex.

Violinist Csaba Koczo is currently Assistant Principal Second Violin of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, and holds a position with the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra. Mr. Koczó also enjoys a prolific career as a chamber musician and soloist both in Canada and abroad.  As a founding member of the Banff Competition prizewinning and Dora award nominated Tokai String Quartet, Mr. Koczó has toured across Canada and the US and some of his performances have been broadcast on the CBC and the Hungarian National Radio. He has performed at Ottawa Chamberfest, and the Toronto Summer Music Festival where he has worked with Ian Swensen and the Leipzig String Quartet.  Mr. Koczó has taught at the Universities of Stanford, Toronto, Kingston, Halifax and Acadia in Wolfville NS, and spent many summers as a faculty member of Music at Port Milford in Picton, ON. He also often appears on the Chatter Chamber Music series in New Mexico and plays with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He is a member of the TakeFive Ensemble, and was one of the founding members of the Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra.  Mr. Koczo has shared the stage with such illustrious musicians as Mayumi Seiler, Steven Isserlis, Scott St.John, Douglas McNabney, Yehonatan Berick and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. As a soloist, he has been featured with the Sandor Frigyes Chamber Orchestra and has also had the opportunity to perform the Beethoven Violin concerto and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.Born in Hungary, Mr. Koczó began his studies in Yugoslavia and then continued in Hungary at the Richter Conservatory in Gyor and the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest. After attaining his bachelor’s degree with distinction from the College of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, he continued his studies in Toronto with Lorand Fenyves and Erika Raum at the Glenn Gould School and the University of Toronto, where he was the recipient of the H. Carter scholarship.

Hee-Soo Yoon began the violin at the age of 3. Today, she continues to share her passion through concerts, teaching, and community engagement.Hee-Soo has an interest in many forms of music. She spends most of her time playing classical music as that is her specialty, but some of her favourite musical memories include working with traditional Korean dancers, playing in the pit for musicals, and touring with Iranian singer Homayoun Shajarian. She is also passionate about performing contemporary classical music and has worked with many living composers including Sofia Gubaidulina, Julian Anderson, and Andy Akiho. In August 2021, she performed in the world premiere of Roger Tapping’s composition Reverberations for string quartet at Yellow Barn in Putney, Vermont.One of Hee-Soo’s most memorable experiences as an orchestral musician include the partnership between The Juilliard School and the Royal Academy of Music in London in the summer of 2018 which was led by Sir Edward Gardiner at the baton and soloist James Ehnes, where they performed at the Aldeburgh Festival and at the BBC Proms.An alum of the New England Conservatory, Juilliard, and the Glenn Gould School, she currently lives in Toronto. Her current partner in crime is a 2014 Douglas Cox copy of the “ex-Huberman” Stradivarius.