Andrew Wan
Violin
concertmaster, Montreal Symphony
Andrew Wan is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster. In August 2008, he was named concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO), making him one of the youngest leaders of a major symphony. His relationship with the orchestra began with performances of Elgar's Violin Concerto, which were hailed as one of the top two musical moments of 2007 by La Presse.
As soloist, he has appeared in the United States, China, New Zealand, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland and Canada under conductors such as Jean-Claude Casadesus, Maxim Vengerov, Peter Oundjian, Jacques Lacombe, Vasily Petrenko, James DePreist, Marc Piollet and Michael Stern. In May of 2012, he closed the MSO's inaugural season in the Maison Symphonique with Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto, conducted by music director Kent Nagano, and, on their tour of South America in April 2013, he performed as soloist and concertmaster in Ravel's Tzigane and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Last season marked the world premiere of a work commissioned for him and the MSO — Les mouvements de l'âme, by Serge Arcuri, and in November 2014 he recorded all three violin concerti of Saint-Saëns with the MSO and Nagano for a fall 2015 release on the Analekta label.
Wan has concertized extensively throughout the world, appearing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall and Salle Gaveau with artists such as the Juilliard Quartet, the Sejong Soloists, Vadim Repin, Emanuel Ax, Gil Shaham, Marc-André Hamelin, Menaham Pressler and Cho-Liang Lin. He frequently serves as guest concertmaster for several North American orchestras and has appeared as artist and faculty at the St. Prex, Seattle, Edinburgh, Olympic, Agassiz, La Jolla, Morningside Music Bridge, Aspen and Orford Music Festivals. Discography includes Grammy and Juno award-nominated releases on the Onyx, Bridge and Naxos labels with James Ehnes and the Seattle Chamber Music Society, the Metropolis Ensemble and the Opus-award winning New Orford Quartet.
Wan received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Masao Kawasaki and Ron Copes. In 2008, he was the only violinist to be accepted into the prestigious Artist Diploma Program at Juilliard. He is currently on violin faculty at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, as well as the Orford Music Festival.
The Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award, Canada Council, Anne Burrows Foundation, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Winspear Fund have generously supported Wan.
Andrew Wan performs on a 1744 Michel'Angelo Bergonzi violin, and gratefully acknowledges its loan from the David Sela Collection.