SEASON 13

Violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon grew up in Calgary where she began her violin studies at the age of three. Her fascinating last name is of Thai origin. Her teachers have included Dr. Lise Elson (Mount Royal College), Aaron Rosand (The Curtis Institute) Franco Gulli and Miriam Fried (Indiana University). Annalee is a laureate of Belgium’s Queen Elizabeth International Violin Competition and is one of Canada’s most respected violinists.

A co-founder of the Gryphon Trio, Annalee serves as Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Toronto. Annalee performs on a 1907 Carlo Oddone violin.

Canadian violinist Aaron Schwebel has performed throughout the world in various musical roles. Based in his native Toronto, Aaron currently holds the positions of Concertmaster with the National Ballet of Canada and Associate Concertmaster with the Canadian Opera Company. As a guest concertmaster, Aaron has performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Les Violons Du Roy, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Aaron also directs Echo Chamber, a performance series he founded in 2018 that merges chamber music and contemporary dance.

Aaron has performed as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Lanaudiere, Esprit Orchestra, Scarborough Philharmonic, Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet of Canada, Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, and the Kindred Spirits Orchestra. An active chamber music performer, he is a founding member of the Rosebud String Quartet and the LARK Ensemble, and appears regularly at summer chamber music festivals around Canada, including Toronto Summer Music, Ottawa Chamberfest, Music by the Sea in Bamfield, BC, Stratford Summer Music Festival, and the Rosebud Chamber Music Festival. Aaron has been on faculty at the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Toronto Summer Music, Interprovincial Music Camp, and Festival Del Lago in Ajijic, Mexico, and has led masterclasses at the University of Toronto, Glenn Gould School Taylor Academy, Mount Allison University, and MacEwan University. 

Aaron did his studies at McGill University and Indiana University with teachers Jonathan Crow, Yaela Hertz, Mauricio Fuks, and Andre Roy. As a student, Aaron was a member of the Roddick String Quartet, representing Canada at the 2009 London International String Quartet Competition, and the Kuttner Quartet at Indiana University. Upon graduation from McGill, Aaron was awarded the Schulich School of Music’s Golden Violin Award. 

Praised for her “simply unbeatable beauty of tone” (Berliner Zeitung), Min-Jeong Koh maintains a busy schedule as concert violinist, violist, and educator. As first violinist of the Cecilia String Quartet, Ms. Koh won First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, 2nd Prize at the Osaka International Music Competition, and the Prix de la Sacem at the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition. Their latest recording was chosen as Gramophone Magazine’s “Editor’s Choice”, “Top 10 Mendelssohn Recordings” and was nominated for a JUNO Award for Best Classical Album. With the ensemble, Ms. Koh has performed across Europe, Asia, and North America at such celebrated stages as London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, Beethoven-haus, Prague’s Rudolfinum, Library of Congress, La Jolla Music Society, Stanford Live, among others. Ms. Koh’s performances and recordings can be heard on BBC Radio 3, Bayerischer Rundfunk, DeutschlandRadio, New York City’s WQXR, Public Radio International throughout the United States, and the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

A passionate educator, she is on faculty at The Glenn Gould School and The Taylor Academy at The Royal Conservatory of Music where she also co-directs the RCM Violin Symposium. Previously, she has served as Associate Professor of Violin at University of Oklahoma, Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, along with teaching posts at McGill University, San Diego State University, and Wilfrid Laurier University. A sought-after teacher, she has been invited as faculty to the Indiana University Summer String Academy, The Banff Centre, MISQA, Chamber Music at Port Milford, Innsbrook Institute, Madeline Island Chamber Music, and Austin Chamber Music Center.

In addition, she is passionate about the ways music can bind communities. Among her projects, she is co-founder of Xenia Concerts, a series dedicated to presenting concerts designed specifically for children on the autism spectrum, and has co-curated concerts for Hanvoice, a series of performances to benefit North Korean refugees. She also performed at the San Francisco Women’s Jail, California School for the Blind, Monarch School for Homeless Youths, and Reflections Community School for at-risk youth, among many others. She is currently a member of the Houston-based ROCO, an innovative music ensemble that connects communities across multi-generations and breaks down barriers to make music accessible to all.

Min-Jeong Koh studied with Hyung-Sun Paik and Paul Kantor before joining The Taylor Academy (formerly the Young Artists Performance Academy) to study with Mayumi Seiler. She received her Bachelor of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Toronto under the guidance of Scott St. John, Lorand Fenyves, and Erika Raum, Lucy Chapman at New England Conservatory, pedagogy with Mimi Zweig, and with Donald Weilerstein, which were made possible by the Canada Council for the Arts. Her chamber music mentors include André Roy and members of the Brentano, Schoenberg, St. Lawrence, and Ying Quartets.

Canadian violist Sharon Wei is a dynamic and multifaceted artist, recognized for her excellence as a performer, educator, and dedicated contributor to Canada’s musical landscape. She has appeared as soloist with orchestras including Symphony of the Redwoods, Kingston Symphony, Sinfonia Toronto, Thunder Bay Symphony, and London Symphonia, where she premiered Richard Mascall’s Ziigwan concerto with Indigenous Elder John Rice and conductor Tania Miller. This season, she premieres a new viola concerto by Canadian composer Saman Shahi with the Obiora Ensemble in Montreal.

Sharon is the violist of the acclaimed New Orford String Quartet, comprising principal players from the Toronto and Montreal Symphonies. The quartet is deeply committed to highlighting Canadian compositions through frequent commissions and performances of works by Ian Cusson, Ana Sokolović, Dinuk Wijeratne, Dean Burry, Samy Moussa, Marjan Mozetich, and Kelly-Marie Murphy. Their extensive touring across Canada includes performances from Yukon to PEI, along with residencies at Mount Royal University, Western University, the Isabel Bader Centre, and Toronto Summer Music.

As a co-founder of Ensemble Made in Canada, Sharon has played a pivotal role in cultivating a distinctively Canadian voice in chamber music. The ensemble’s Mosaïque Project—winner of the 2021 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year—brought together 14 Canadian composers and toured every province and territory. The project featured performances in venues ranging from major concert halls to natural landmarks like the seabed of the Hopewell Rocks, engaging audiences through interactive performances and original artwork submissions.

Over the past three years, violist Sharon Wei has led a unique interdisciplinary collaboration between Western University’s Don Wright Faculty of Music and the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP), merging music, science, and climate awareness. As part of Western’s Kaleidoscope of Creativity initiative, she curated a 2024 musical gallery that transformed campus spaces into immersive environments. Graduate student composers created original works based on NTP data, performed by faculty and guest artists, culminating in a panel discussion with scientists and musicians. The project uses music to interpret tornado data and environmental disruption, offering audiences both awareness and emotional resonance in response to Canada’s evolving climate landscape.

In 2025, the initiative expanded with a performance at the Ivey Business School, where the New Orford String Quartet premiered three new string quartets by Canadian composers Carmen Braden, Vincent Ho, and Cecilia Livingston. These works were later toured across Canada and the United States, broadening the project’s reach and impact.

The collaboration continues to evolve with a new viola concerto to be premiered this season, and a lecture-recital planned for the 50th International Viola Congress in Paris in 2026.

Sharon’s leadership in this project highlights how music can bridge disciplines, translating scientific research into meaningful artistic experiences that educate, inspire, and advocate for change.

Internationally, Sharon has performed at festivals including Verbier, Marlboro, Ravinia, Banff, Prussia Cove, and Giverny, and toured with Musicians from Marlboro to Carnegie Hall and other major venues. She has collaborated with artists such as James Ehnes, Marion Newman, Claude Frank, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. She is principal violist of the Verbier Chamber Orchestra and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on their Grammy-winning recording of Ives symphonies.

As a passionate educator, Sharon is Associate Professor of Viola and was Acting Assistant Dean of Research at Western University. She previously taught at Yale and Stanford and has given masterclasses across Canada, the U.S., and China. At Western, she developed a pioneering course on entrepreneurial and career-building skills for musicians.

Her artistry and leadership have been recognized with Western University’s 2022 Faculty Scholar Award, the viola prize from Yale University, and numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and FACTOR. She has recorded for Centrediscs, CBC, Onyx Classics, and Warner Classics, and is frequently heard on CBC Radio and Air Canada’s Enroute Entertainment.

Praised for his “lovely lyricism” by The Calgary Herald, and hailed for his "intelligent and  diverse treatment of vibrato... tailored to the individual personality of any given theme or  moment" by Chicago Classical Review, Hezekiah Leung has been featured as a performer  throughout North America and Europe, both as a soloist and as the founding violist of the  Rolston String Quartet, winner of the First Prize at the 12th Banff International String Quartet  Competition. 

After completing his violin studies at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Stephen  Shipps, Leung pursued an artist diploma in viola with Stephen Dann and Barry Shiffman. He  received top prizes in the Glenn Gould Chamber Music Competition and the 74th Orchestre  Symphonique de Montréal Standard Life Competition. Leung holds a Master’s degree from Rice  University, an Artist Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and was part of the  Fellowship Quartet in Residence at the Yale School of Music with the Rolston String Quartet.  

Leung has shared the concert stage with renowned artists such as Tabea Zimmermann, Leif Ove  Andsnes, Gilbert Kalish, Jon Kimura Parker, Miguel da Silva, James Dunham, Paul Neubauer,  Yura Lee, Donald Palma, Joel Quarrington, Andrés Díaz, Gary Hoffman, Sheku Kanneh-Mason,  Cho-Liang Lin, Tara Helen O’Connor, David Shifrin, Sharon Kam, and James Campbell.  

As a founding member of the Rolston String Quartet, he was also awarded Grand Prize at the  31st Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions. The  quartet has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues, including  Carnegie Hall, the Louvre, the Kennedy Center, Koerner Hall, and Wigmore Hall. Their debut  album Souvenirs, an all-Tchaikovsky release in 2020, was named Recording of the Year by BBC  Music Magazine.  

Leung served as the violist of the Dover Quartet during the 2022–2023 season and has held  faculty positions at both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Bienen School of Music at  Northwestern University. He is currently a member of the viola faculty at the University of  Toronto and a Chamber Music Coach at the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy of the Royal  Conservatory of Music. Following his recent appointment, Leung will join the viola section of  the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2025/26.