Jonathon CrowBorn in Prince George in 1977, Jonathan Crow began the Suzuki violin method at age six and continued studies at the Prince George Music School. When he was fifteen, Jonathan studied at the Victoria Conservatory of Music with Sydney Humphreys and attended the Banff Centre Master Class Program. He earned his Bachelor of Music in Honours Performance from McGill University, studying with Yehonatan Berick.
Upon graduation from McGill University, Mr. Crow joined the Montreal Symphony at the age of 19 as Associate Principal Second Violin, and won the Associate Concertmaster chair 5 months later. He was appointed Concertmaster in 2002, a position he held until 2006, becoming the youngest Concertmaster to lead a major North American orchestra. Jonathan is currently Head of Strings and Assistant Professor of Violin at McGill University.
In May 1997 Jonathan performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in a special benefit for the Victoria Symphony under the baton of Sir Yehudi Menuhin. Lord Menuhin was so impressed that he invited him to perform again with the Vancouver Symphony in April 1998. Jonathan continues to perform in North America, having been featured as soloist with most major Canadian orchestras including the Montreal, Kingston, London, National Arts Centre, Victoria and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, under the baton of such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Kent Nagano, Mario Bernardi and João Carlos Martins. He is heard frequently on Chaîne Culturelle of Radio-Canada, CBC Radio Two, and National Public Radio, along with Radio France, Radio Allemand, and the RAI in Europe.
An avid chamber musician, Jonathan has performed at chamber music festivals throughout North America, South America and Europe including the Banff, Ravinia, Orford, Domaine Forget, Seattle, Montreal, Ottawa, Incontri in Terra di Sienna, Alpenglow, Festival Vancouver, Pernambuco (Brazil), and Strings in the Mountains festivals and has also performed in concert with musicians from the Guarneri, Emerson, Vermeer and Tokyo Quartets.
As an advocate of contemporary music he has premiered works by Michael Conway Baker, Eldon Rathburn, Barrie Cabena, Ernest MacMillan and Healey Willan, and includes in his repertoire major concertos by such composers as Ligeti, Schnittke, Brian Cherney and Bernstein. Mr. Crow has recorded for CBC, Oxingale, Skylark and Atma labels.
Paul StewartNova Scotia-born Paul Stewart made his orchestral debut in 1981 with the Toronto Symphony, as a last-minute substitute for an indisposed pianist. The Toronto Star critic recognized a major talent and a re-engagement to perform Tchaikovsky's First Concerto was hailed in The Globe and Mail as "brawny and convincing…there was an overriding solidity and power to his playing that made it the most satisfying of the evening." Since then, Paul Stewart has established an enviable career as one of Canada’s most active and sought-after pianists.
He has performed as soloist with the Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver symphonies, the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, I Musici de Montreal, and other symphonies and chamber orchestras in Canada and abroad. In 1996, he made a highly successful recital debut at London’s Wigmore Hall (broadcast by BBC), and at the Moscow Conservatory played Rachmaninoff's Fourth Piano Concerto with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, a performance broadcast by radio throughout Russia and subsequently released on a critically acclaimed CD. In solo recital, Mr Stewart has been heard throughout Canada, the United States (including Lincoln Centre, New York and Kennedy Centre, Washington), Europe and Asia, and he is frequently heard on CBC radio, Radio-Canada, the BBC, RAI and Deutsche Welle.
Chamber music and collaborative performing are important parts of his career, and he has been heard in partnership with such distinguished artists as James Campbell, James Ehnes, Maureen Forrester, Rivka Golani, Ben Heppner, Jessye Norman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gil Shaham, the Leipzig and Moscow String Quartets, and conductors Franz-Paul Decker, Charles Dutoit and Pinchas Zukerman.
His recordings include Benjamin Britten’s Young Apollo for the Chandos label ("…extraordinary brilliance…a performance of dazzle and poetry…" Gramophone), Schubert lieder and transcriptions for CBC Records ("…Paul Stewart charms with the flow and singing tone of his pianism…" Classical Music Magazine), and the aforementioned Rachmaninoff disc on Palexa, which also includes the “Night Wind” Sonata by Nicolai Medtner ("…stunning…uncommon elegance and sympathy, a perfect balance between color and architecture…Stewart sculpts with the sure-footed instincts of a panther on the prowl…" American Record Guide”). For Naxos he is currently recording the complete sonatas of Nicolai Medtner.
Paul Stewart is Associate Professor of Piano at the Université de Montréal.
