Summer String Academy - Professors

Powerful and finely nuanced interpretations, sumptuous sonorities, and a compelling stage presence are just a few of the hallmarks of internationally acclaimed violinist Timothy Chooi. A popular soloist and recitalist, he is sought after as much for his passionate performances as for his wide-ranging repertoire. Recent honors include Second Prize, Belgium’s world-renowned 2019 Queen Elisabeth Competition, First Prize, the 2018 Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Germany, and the First Prize, the 2018 Schadt Violin Competition in the USA, In 2018 Chooi also won the ‘Prix Yves Paternot’ of Switzerland's Verbier Festival, a prize which recognizes the most promising and accomplished musician of the annual Academy for young professional musicians, earning Chooi his future debut as a solo artist in the 2022 Verbier Festival.

Future engagements include returns to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with Peter Oundjian, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, and the Belgian National Orchestra, as well as his debuts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra and Mikhail Pletnev, DSO Berlin, Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Saarländisches Staatsorchester, and the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming recitals see Chooi performing in cities worldwide, including a European tour with Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Praised for his passionate and poetic performances, acclaimed violinist Nikki Chooi has established himself as an artist of rare versatility. Described as “expressive, enchanting, and transcendent,” he has been featured at many international festivals with performances at the Marlboro Festival, Ravinia Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, Vancouver Recital Series, Moritzburg Festival, Kammermusik Utrecht, Dresden Music Festival, Olympus Festival in Russia, Musica Viva in Australia, Chamber Music New Zealand, and Fundación Beethoven in Chile.

Nikki has received critical acclaim in recent engagements at the Harris Theatre in Chicago, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Carnegie Hall and Kauffman Center in New York, Koerner Hall in Toronto, Place des Arts in Montreal, as well as appearing as soloist with orchestras across Canada and internationally with the St. Petersburg State Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Wallonie, National Orchestra of Belgium, Auckland Philharmonia, Malaysian Philharmonic, and Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Kelly Parkins-Lindstrom is an accomplished violinist who actively pursues her passion for stringed instruments as a teacher and adjudicator exploring the link between pedagogy and performance.

As a violin and chamber teacher, she has supported students who have been recipients of the highest marks awarded at the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals, the Canadian Music Competition - Stepping Stone and Rising Star Award and the prestigious Gold Medal Awards from The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM), in addition to having performed with numerous orchestras including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and National Arts Orchestra of Canada. Her students have studied and performed internationally for masterclass clinicians, including Martin Beaver, Nikki Chooi, James Ehnes, Miriam Fried, Augustin Hadelich, Brian Lewis, Rachel Barton Pine, Kurt Sassmannshaus, William van der Sloot and Mimi Zweig.

Canadian violinist Emily Westell has established herself as a versatile musician. Since her debut as soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic at age 15, she has performed as soloist and conductor with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, and has played concerti with the National Arts Centre, Tanglewood, Banff Festival, and University of Calgary Orchestras. A winner of the 2012 Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank Competition (loan of the 1717 Windsor-Weinstein Stradivari), she was awarded the 2013 “Astral Artist Prize” from Canada’s National Arts Centre. Westell has performed chamber music and solo recitals in Paris (Cité de la Musique), New York (Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall), Boston (Jordan Hall), and the Netherlands (International Holland Music Sessions). Her concerts have been broadcast on CBC and Radio-Canada.

Westell has performed at the festivals of Prussia Cove, Norfolk, Spoleto USA, Orford, Meadowmount, and Lanaudiere. An advocate for new music, Westell has performed with the Harvard Group for New Music, Columbia Composers, Boston’s Callithumpian Consort, and on the Land’s End Chamber Ensemble CD, Rollin’ Down #1, winner of the Western Canada Music Award for “Outstanding Classical Album.” She is a former instructor of violin and chamber music at McGill University.

Westell completed post-doctoral Professional Studies with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec in the Manhattan School of Music’s prestigious Zukerman Performance Program on a President’s Award. Her previous teachers include Edmond Agopian, Miriam Fried, and Jonathan Crow. Westell holds a Doctor of Music degree from McGill University (where she was a SSHRC Doctoral Fellow), a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory and the Fine Arts gold medal from the University of Calgary, for the top graduate. Westell currently resides in Ottawa, where she is a member of the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Michael van der Sloot's first twelve years of study on the violin and then on the viola were with his brother William at the Medicine Hat College. He then completed his Bachelor and Masters of Music degrees on the viola at the University of British Columbia studying with Gerald Stanick. Other instructors include internationally renowned musicians such as Martha Katz, Karen Tuttle, Bernard Zaslav, Andrew Dawes and Donald McInnes Michael van der Sloot has had success at various solo and chamber competitions and toured throughout Western Canada as a soloist and chamber musician.

In addition, van der Sloot was awarded the Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship for study in Austria, where he pursued doctoral studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Thomas Riebl. Michael van der Sloot played in various orchestras across Western Canada. While in Europe, he continued to perform with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists throughout Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France including a performance at the Theatre Rue Champs Elysee in Paris and the Musikverein in Vienna.

Cellist Paul Marleyn tours regularly in North America, Europe and Asia. As a frequent participant in summer festivals including the Prussia Cove, Busan, Festival of the Sound, Domaine Forget, Casalmaggiore, Leicester and Ottawa international festivals, he collaborates with artists such as Boris Berman, Miriam Fried, James Somerville, Paul Neubauer, Marc-André Hamelin, Steven Dann, Joshua Bell, and with members of the Tokyo, Vermeer, New Zealand, St. Lawrence and Hagen quartets.

He has appeared as soloist with the London Philharmonia, Belgrade Philharmonic, European Chamber, Winnipeg Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony and Manitoba Chamber orchestras. The Artistic Director of Winnipeg’s Agassiz Chamber Music Festival since 2000, and the International Cello Festival of Canada since 2011, Paul was the cellist in Trio Hochelaga from 2006-2012. He has made several compact disc recordings on the United Records, CALA, ATMA, Signum Classics, CBC and RCA Victor labels.

From 1993-7, Paul was principal cellist of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and has served at professor of cello at the University of Manitoba, and more recently at the University of Ottawa, where he now mentors an award-winning studio of young cellists.

Peter Rapson obtained his Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Toronto and continued his studies at the Julliard School with the renowned cello pedagogue, Harvey Shapiro. During his years of study he received extensive coaching with members of the Orford, Hungarian and Juilliard String Quartets. In addition, he has worked with such notable artists as Lorand Fenyves, Bernard Greenhouse, Jaime Laredo, Ronald Leonard, Felix Galimir, Julius Baker and Greta Kraus. He has been the recipient of scholarships from the Canada Council, the Banff Centre for the Arts and the University of Toronto.

Mr. Rapson has extensive orchestral and chamber music experience. He has been a member of the Edmonton Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra and Toronto Symphony. During his tenure with NACO (1984-1990) he was also principal cellist of Ottawa's Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded with such artists as Catherine Robbin, Louis Quilico, Robert Aitken and Anton Kuerti.

Chamber music has always been a large part of Mr. Rapson's professional life and he has performed in numerous chamber music series including the McGill (Toronto), DuMaurier Evening Overtures (TSO), Music for a Sunday Afternoon (NACO), National Gallery (Ottawa) and Festival of the Sound (Parry Sound, ON). He has also performed with acclaimed chamber group, Quartetto Gelato.

In addition to his performance schedule Mr. Rapson enjoys teaching privately as well as coaching aspiring young cellists in both orchestral and chamber music settings. He has also been an adjudicator for both the Canadian Music Competition (CMC) and Kiwanis Music Festival.

Frédéric Lacroix has performed in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist. As such, he has performed with many important musicians, including Branford Marsalis, Johannes Moser, Kathleen Battle, Alexander Rudin and some of Canada’s most noted musicians. He has made regular radio appearances on the Canadian CBC and SRC or the American NPR. Following the University of Ottawa’s purchase of a fortepiano in 1997, Frédéric has devoted part of his time to the study and performance of music on period keyboard instruments, for which he was recognized as the Westfield Center Performing Scholar for the 2008-09 and has presented numerous concerts (solo, chamber music, with orchestra) in Canada and the United States as harpsichordist and fortepianist. Recently, he curated, as fortepianist (and composer), the late night concerts of the National Arts Center Focus Beethoven Festival. Although Frédéric performs most frequently in chamber music settings, he performs regularly as soloist, with orchestra or in recital.

Canadian pianist Carson Becke has performed worldwide. He holds a doctorate in musicology from the University of Oxford, and is the director of Pontiac Enchanté, a concert series in Quebec. His recordings can be heard on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube. He forms one half of Duo Octavian, a two-piano ensemble that he co-founded with fellow pianist Suren Barry in 2016. Duo Octavian seeks to expand the two-piano repertoire with their own arrangements of various works and with arrangements/commissions by other performers/composers.  Carson is committed to raising awareness about climate change and other environmental challenges through music.  He is enacting those ideas through his directorship of the Pontiac Enchanté concert series: environmental sustainability is one of the cornerstones of its mission. Carson lived in the United Kingdom for fifteen years: first in London, and then in Oxford.  In 2019 he moved home to Ottawa, Canada, where he currently lives with his partner Madeline, and their dog Jerry.