BOREALIS STRING QUARTET

" . . .energy, insight and warmth . . . "
--Toronto Star

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Patricia Shih, violin
Yuel Yawney, violin
Nikita Pogrebnoy, viola
Shih-Lin Chen, cello

The Borealis String Quartet has created a sensation across Canada with its dynamic performances, passionate style, and refined musical interpretations.  Featured frequently on CBC Radio, the Borealis String Quartet has performed to critical acclaim and sold-out concert halls in every province.  In Ottawa, its National Arts Centre debt was broadcast by CBC’s “In Performance,” and its Montreal debut was a Gazette Critics’ Choice event.  The Quartet attracted further national attention as a finalist in the CBC “Great Canadian Music Dream” Competition, which was televised nationally.

Formed at the University of British Columbia in the fall of 2000, the Borealis String Quartet established a stellar reputation so quickly that its debut concert, at the Chan Centre in Vancouver, was attended by more than a thousand people. Building quickly on that initial success, in 2003-2004 the Borealis played more than 70 concerts, traveling coast to coast on an extensive national tour generously supported by the Canada Council.  Highlights included performances of the Schubert Quintet with Sadao Harada, founding cellist of the Tokyo String Quartet, and the Mendelssohn Octet with the St. Lawrence String Quartet.  The Borealis made its New York City debut for Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music in 2003. In 2004-2005, the Quartet returned to New York to perform for Schneider Concerts, traveled to London for its British debut, and made its first appearance for Music Toronto.

Already a favorite at Canadian festivals, the Quartet’s summer venues have included the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival, the Festival of the Sound in Ontario, the Indian River Festival on Prince Edward Island, and the Baies des Chaleurs Festival in New Brunswick.  In 2005, the Borealis made its first U.S. festival appearance at the Mendocino Music Festival in California.  The 2006-2007 season will be the Quartet’s first season of nationwide touring in the U.S., including performances on such acclaimed series as those of Duke University, the Tuscon Friends of Music, and the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C. 

As the first ensemble selected for The University of British Columbia’s string quartet training program, the Borealis was mentored by Andrew Dawes, former first violinist of the Tokyo and Orford Quartets.  In the summer of 2003, the Borealis was invited by the Emerson String Quartet to participate in the inaugural season of its Chamber Music Workshop at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. The Borealis String Quartet is currently Quartet-in-Residence at the University of British Columbia, where its members give master classes and teach chamber music in the School of Music.

9/06

Individual Biographies

PATRICIA SHIH, violin, has toured North America, Mexico, Europe and Asia in recital and has appeared as soloist with major symphony orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic, the Halle Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony. A student of the legendary Josef Gingold, Ms. Shih received the Special Prize at the International Wieniawski Competition at the age of 15, and in the same year she made a widely heralded Carnegie Hall debut. Since then, she has won other prestigious awards, including the International Kreisler Competition in Vienna, the Sommerakademie Mozarteum Prize in Salzburg, and the 1993 Sylva Gelber Foundation Award for Canada’s most outstanding musician under the age of 30.

YUEL YAWNEY, violin, has performed extensively in Canada, the United Sates and the Czech Republic, where he completed his advanced training at the Prague Academy with Joseph Suk. He also studied at the Harid Conservatory in Florida and at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Texas. Frequently appearing as soloist and chamber musician, he has been heard at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Summer Festival, Domaine Forget and the Scotia Festival.

NIKITA POGREBNOY, viola, served as soloist and principal viola of the Mozarteum Chamber Orchestra in his home city of St. Petersburg, Russia. He has also appeared as a member of the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra and the Mariinsky Theatre Opera and Ballet orchestra. More recently, he has served as soloist and principal viola of the Longy Chamber Orchestra in Boston. In 1995, Mr. Pogrebnoy won the Valentino Bucchi International Competition for Viola in Rome. He graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and prior to moving to Canada, he toured extensively with various ensembles in Russia, Spain, and Central America.

SHI-LIN CHEN, cello, a native of Taiwan, is the recipient of a number of awards and the winner of both the concerto and chamber music competitions at the GuanDu Music Festival. Taiwan’s National Council for Cultural Affairs selected Shih-Lin for its National Chamber Music Seed project in 2001. In addition, he has performed in Taiwan’s National Performance Hall and toured extensively throughout his home country. His principal teachers have included Henry Lin, Yu-Jen Hsu, Sergei Mnojine at the National Taipei University of the Arts and Paul Katz at the New England Conservatory of Music. Shih-Lin has received coaching from Victor Spiller, Walter Nothas, Nathaniel Rosen, Yo-Yo Ma, Klara Belkin, Donald Weilerstein and Vivian Hornic Weilerstein.

February 2005