Kerry DuWors
Canadian Violinist
Biography
Violinist Kerry DuWors has earned accolades for her “poise and maturity” and “spellbinding expression” (Winnipeg Free Press). Currently Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Brandon University, Ms. DuWors maintains a demanding concert career as soloist and chamber musician, and is currently first violinist of the Toronto-based Rocca String Quartet. She began music studies in Saskatoon, SK; continued at the University of Victoria (B. Mus.) with Ann Elliott-Goldschmid of the Lafayette String Quartet; and the University of Toronto (M. Mus.) as a student of Lorand Fenyves. At the University of Toronto, she was the recipient of many coveted awards and scholarships including the Eaton Graduate Scholarship, the Yo-Yo Ma Fellowship for Strings, a Canada Council Career Development Grant for Emerging Professional Classical Musicians, and the Felix Galimir Award for Chamber Music Excellence.
Winner of the 26th Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, Ms. DuWors made a début Canada-wide recital tour with pianist Lydia Wong in 2003. Hailed as a “dynamic performer”, she has recently collaborated with James Ehnes, Angela Cheng, Denise Djokic, Susan Hoeppner, Martin Fröst, Yehonatan Berick, Jonathon Crow, Marc-André Hamelin, Andrew Dawes, Paul Marleyn, and Scott St. John. She has studied and performed with Laurence Lesser, Bernadene Blaha, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gary Kulesha, Jeanne Lamon of Tafelmusik, Maestro Raffi Armenian, Charles Castleman, Pamela Frank, Erika Raum, Moshe Hammer, Denes Zsigmondy, Gwen Thompson, Paul Katz, Sheila Shinkewski, and members of Duo Concertante (Timothy Steeves & Nancy Dahn), the Penderecki Quartet, the Ying Quartet, Gryphon Trio, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Tokai Quartet, and the Lafayette String Quartet.
Recent performances at the Aeolian Concert Series (London, ON), the Northern Lights Music Festival (Mexico), Brandon University's Pro Series, Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, Agassiz Chamber Music Festival, Vancouver Recital Society Summer Combustion, Maureen Forrester Young Canadian Artist Series (Stratford Summer Music Festival), Gustin House Concert Series, CBC’s Galleria, Music Around Us and In Performance broadcasts, chamber music and solo performances with James Ehnes, the world première of David R. Scott’s Concerto for Violin and Cello, Groundswell Concerts; and triple quartet collaborations with the Penderecki and Lafayette Quartets at the Perimeter Institute (Waterloo) and SoundAxis Festival (Toronto).
From 2003-2006, Ms. DuWors played on the 1902 Enrico Rocca violin on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts and an anonymous donor. A winner in the most recent 2006 Canada Council for the Arts Instrument Bank Competition, Ms. DuWors currently plays on the 1747 Palmason Januarius Gagliano violin. Many thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts for their on-going support and generosity.
