Career  I've been a professional freelance violinist and teacher in Canada for over 40 years! I began violin lessons in the 60s in Edmonton (Canada) with Yoko Oike Wong. I loved having a violin in my hands and the adventures it took me on, so I pursued studies at the University of Toronto (with David Zafer), and Université de Montréal (with Vladimir Landsman.) Professionally I worked freelance with many groups over the years, notably l'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, l’Orchestre Baroque de Montréal, Montreal Chamber Orchestra, and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. 

The extraordinary variety of musical genres and performing situations I worked in over the years allowed me to learn and grow as an artist far beyond my initial training as a symphony musician. I had the opportunity to play with and learn from many of the finest musicians in the world. It has been an amazing experience.  My teenage dream was to become a violinist in my local orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony. But life is full of surprises. As it turned out, although I did play thousands of symphony concerts over the years, I also played backups for rock bands & jazz singers, Viennese folk music in Vienna, Handel opera arias in Istanbul, baroque oratorios and masses with early music performance groups, film scores, pop albums, radio jingles, operas, solo shows for tourists on a cruise ship, background music for state dinners in Ottawa, romantic and custom arrangements for a multitude of weddings, and, of course, nearly every piece in the symphonic repertoire, much of it many times over. 

Teaching  I have been teaching all these years as well as playing, of course! Being a performer who had to play well on demand in the recording studio and onstage changed my perspective on teaching over the years. Developing artistry shouldn't be saved only for those students who have mastered advanced technical skills. It's something we can learn and incorporate into our playing from the earliest days with a violin in our hands. Playing musically can be part of the "how" of violin, not a sugar topping sprinkled on later. Figuring out how to effectively teach musicality with this mindset has changed the way I teach violin to students of all levels and ages. If you started violin because you wanted to feel music flow through you but it isn't happening, I hope you will contact me and we can work together to consolidate or rebuild your skills so they become a conduit for your musicality and eventual artistry.

Composition In recent years I have been stepping back from playing professionally, and turning to composition and music production. I still have a few untapped dreams lurking in my soul, and creating music is the biggest of them. I had written a lot of arrangements out of necessity for engagements in the past, but writing pieces for violin students was the first composition project I worked on. These pieces have been very useful for my students, and the complete book of duos for violin is available for purchase and download on this website. Look for links on the Home page. Following this first step into composing I have worked on a number of other composition projects, some of which may show up on this website in time.

Film Soundtrack  Lastly, this year I made a bit of a career pivot by writing and producing an original soundtrack for a short film created in Edmonton. As someone who has always played an acoustic instrument and written music with a pencil and manuscript paper, it was a deep dive into using a digital audio workstation, which is a rather complex piece of software. It was a steep learning curve, but I was able to get my tracks recorded and mixed and am looking forward to sharing it with everyone. At this time of writing, the film has not yet been released. Once it is, I will add links.. Look for this on the Home page. If you've made it this far reading, thank you! Feel free to contact me about teaching and composition projects., or anything else.