Sharon Wei
Guest Artist - Viola
Canadian violist Sharon Wei is a dynamic and multi-faceted musician, establishing herself as one of the most respected violists on the scene today.
Bio
Canadian violist Sharon Wei is a dynamic and multi-faceted musician, establishing herself as one of the most respected violists on the scene today. She has performed recital tours under the auspices of Debut Atlantic and Prairie Debut. She has appeared as concerto soloist with orchestras such as Symphony of the Redwoods, Kingston Symphony, Sinfonia Toronto, Orchestra of Southern Utah, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra. She has been guest principal violist of the Cincinnati Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, and Ensemble Matheus in Paris and was a guest violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2021 Grammy recording of Ives Symphonies.
As a chamber musician, she regularly takes part in festivals such as Verbier, Marlboro, Prussia Cove, Banff, Seattle, and Ravinia. Sharon has performed with musicians including James Ehnes, Lynn Harrell, Gary Hoffman, Claude Frank, Joseph Silverstein, Joel Quarrington, Jonathan Crow, James Campbell and the Amernet, New Orford, and St. Lawrence String Quartets. Sharon co-founded Ensemble Made in Canada in 2006. They have released 3 critically acclaimed CDs and their recent Mosaïque Project toured to every province and territory in Canada in both traditional venues and eclectic ones such as the seabed of Hopewell Rocks at low tide. Their Mosaïque CD won a 2021 JUNO award. This season Sharon will perform on a Musicians from Marlboro National Tour with concerts at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society among others.
Sharon was on faculty at Yale and Stanford University and is currently Associate Professor of viola at Western University. She has given masterclasses at the American Viola Society Festival, Beijing Conservatory, and universities across Canada. In summers she is a regular faculty violist at Curtis Summerfest, Tuckamore Festival, Orford Academy, and at the Scotia Festival of Music. At Western, Sharon has created a course for performance majors in which students learn off-stage initiatives such as networking, grant writing, website design, and managing finances. Sharon won the viola prize at Yale University and has been the recipient of grants through the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, FACTOR, and Western University.