Jonathan Crow

Jonathan Crow

Jonathan (Douglas) Crow. Violinist, teacher, b Prince George, BC, 19 Oct 1977; B MUS Hons Performance (McGill) 1998. Jonathan Crow began violin with the Suzuki method at age six and continued his studies at the Prince George Music School. In 1992, he entered the Victoria Conservatory of Music studying with Sydney Humphreys, and attended master classes at the Banff Centre for the Arts. He later studied with Yehonatan Berick at McGill University and won the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) competition in 1996.

After graduating in 1998, he joined the OSM initially as associate principal second violin, then as associate concertmaster (1999-2002), and he was co-concertmaster (2002-2006), during a period of transition in the orchestra. Crow has been a guest concertmaster with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (NACO), the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Europe), and the Pernambuco Festival Orchestra in Brazil. He has appeared as soloist with many Canadian orchestras, including the NACO and symphonies in Montreal, Kitchener, London, Victoria, and Vancouver with such conductors as Mario Bernardi, Kent Nagano, and Charles Dutoit. Of note was his performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in May 1997, under Sir Yehudi Menuhin.

Crow is equally at home as a chamber musician, and has performed in festivals such as Banff, Ravinia (Chicago) where he won the Doris Schine Maxwell Scholarship in 1996 and 1997, Orford, Domaine Forget, Seattle, Montreal, Ottawa, Incontri in Terra di Siena (Italy), Alpenglow (Colorado), and Festival Vancouver. In 2004, he played in the Triskelion String Trio with violist David Harding and cellist Bryan Epperson. In 2005, Crow joined the faculty of McGill's Schulich School of Music, and he has performed frequently in a string trio with fellow faculty members Douglas McNabney and Matt Haimovitz. In July 2009, Crow was a founding member of the New Orford String Quartet with Andrew Wan, Eric Nowlin and Brian Manker.

Crow is an advocate of contemporary music, and has premiered works by Michael Conway Baker, Eldon Rathburn, Barrie Cabena, and Rodney Sharman (Violin Concerto, commissioned by the Victoria Symphony 2011). Crow's repertoire includes concertos by Ligeti, Schnittke, and Brian Cherney.

Beginning in 2000, he has given master classes and private instruction at music programmes, among them the Scotia Festival of Music, Orford Arts Centre, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Conservatoire de Musique de Saguenay, and the Royal College (Calgary).

Jonathan Crow was appointed Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, beginning in 2011-2012, the orchestra's 90th season.

Discography

Brahms Trio in E-flat for Piano, Violin & Viola; Skylark SKY0701

Works for Solo Violin - Bartok, Bach and Prokofiev; XXI-21 XXICD 2 1668

Trios for Violin, Horn & Piano; XXI-21 XXICD 2 1699

Mozart the Mason; Oxingale (2006)

Eldon Rathburn Works: String Quartet (Chamber Players of Canada); ATMA ACD 22371 (2006)

Elgar/Strauss/Ravel Sonatas; ATMA ACD 22534 (2008)

Serge Arcuri - Migrations; ATMA ACD 22625 (2011)