Timothy Chooi

Violin Juror

Internationally acclaimed violinist Timothy Chooi, (pronounced “Chewy”), continues to mesmerize global audiences with his electrifying performances and profound musical interpretations. Renowned for his passionate renditions and extensive repertoire, Chooi has cultivated a vast following, with millions of viewers captivated by his artistry both on stage and across digital platforms.

Chooi first burst onto the international scene by securing First Prize at the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Hannover, Germany, and later earned Second Prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Competition. His accolades include the highly coveted Yves Paternot Prize from the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. These achievements have led to performances with top-tier orchestras, including the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Belgian National Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Wiener Concert-Verein. His appearances at iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Musikverein Wien, Berlin Philharmonie, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and London’s Royal Albert Hall have garnered him critical acclaim.

The upcoming touring season promises to be a thrilling chapter in Chooi’s career. He is set to collaborate with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring Emmy Award nominee composer Brian Tyler. He will also make his highly anticipated return to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

Chooi’s music is broadcasted globally on prestigious stations, and in 2023, he recorded with Anne-Sophie Mutter and Mutter’s Virtuosi for Deutsche Grammophon. His performance with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was featured on Medici TV, and his work has been aired on NPO Radio Klassiek Amsterdam, WQXR New York, RTBF Belgium, Swiss Public Radio, CBC Radio Canada, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and Danish Public Radio.

Born in Canada, Chooi’s multicultural heritage includes Chinese, Indonesian and Malaysian roots. His journey began at the age of sixteen, with a debut performance with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal) that launched his career on the global stage. Inspired by his older brother, Nikki Chooi, Timothy has since established himself as one of the leading violinists of his generation.

In addition to his performance career, Chooi is deeply committed to the art of teaching. As the Professor of Violin at the University of Ottawa, he is recognized not only for his virtuosic playing but also for his dedication to nurturing the next generation of musicians. Chooi is celebrated for his innovative teaching methods, which combine traditional techniques with contemporary approaches to violin performance. His students have benefited from his unique perspective as an active performer on the world stage, gaining insights into both the technical and artistic aspects of playing. Under his mentorship, many of his students have gone on to win prestigious competitions and secure positions in leading orchestras worldwide. Chooi’s contributions to the academic community have made him a respected figure in the field of music education, where he continues to influence and inspire through masterclasses, workshops, and personalized instruction.

Timothy Chooi performs on a distinguished collection of violins, including the 1741 “Titan” Guarneri del Gesù, on loan from Canimex of Drummondville, Québec since 2023; the 1709 “Engleman” Stradivarius, provided by the Nippon Music Foundation in Japan; and the 1761 Landolfi violin, which is endowed to him as the Professor of Violin at the University of Ottawa.

Joseph Skerik

Viola Juror

Since 2023, violist Joseph Skerik has been a member of the Vega String Quartet, holding a permanently-endowed residency at the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta and serving on faculty at Emory University.

As a member of the Vega Quartet, Joseph has recently made recordings of commissions by Emily Koh and David Gardner for PBS and collaborated with artists such as the Juilliard Quartet, Zuill Bailey, Jon Kimura Parker, Aloysia Friedman, Mark and Maggie O’Connor, David Coucheron, Ettore Causa and Amy-Schwartz Moretti and has appeared at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, The National Gallery in Washington D.C. in venues in Charlotte, Raleigh, San Miguel, Atlanta and at festivals such as the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Series and Sitka Summer Music Festival.

Joseph is also invited as guest violist on series and festivals such as the Highlands-Cashiers Festival, LaJolla Summerfest, Montecito International Music Festival, Tallgrass Chamber Music Festival, Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival, Vivace Foundation International Music Festival and the Lake George Music Festival and has also appeared on numerous tours for the Heifetz Institute, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. His chamber collaborations have included performances with artists such as Ani Kavafian, Ilya Kaler, Edward Aaron, Ransom Wilson, Boris Slutsky, Erin Keefe, Nathan Meltzer, Umi Garrett, Shannon Lee, Margaret Batjer, Leslie Robertson, Colin Carr and Dimitri Berlinsky.

Before his current appointment Joseph attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, Cleveland Institute of Music, Paris Conservatory and the Yale School of Music, studying with Renee Skerik, David Holland, Jeffrey Irvine, Jean Sulem, Marc Desmons and Ettore Cause. His solo and chamber music accolades include the Yale School of Music’s Broadus Erle Prize in Chamber Music, 3rd Prize in the Oskar Nedbal Viola Competition in Prague, 2nd Prize in the American Viola Society Competition in Los Angeles and a National YoungArts Merit Violist award.

Committed to presenting high-quality chamber music performances in his home-region of Northern Michigan, Joseph serves as co-artistic director of Viridian Strings, a chamber music series in Northern Michigan. Currently in its 3rd season of concerts, the series has presented venerable rising chamber musicians to a variety of venues around the Grand Traverse region.

Joseph was also a long-time attendee of the Perlman Music Program and has completed additional studies at the festivals of Aspen, Ravinia, Kronberg Academy (Chamber Music Connects the World,) Schiermonikoog, Four Seasons Chamber Music Workshop, and was also recently invited to the Open Chamber Music series (OCM) in Prussia Cove for performances.

As a teacher, Joseph maintains an undergraduate viola studio at Emory University, where he also coaches chamber music on the college level and at the high-school level through the Vega Youth Chamber Program. He has given masterclasses at Interlochen Arts Academy, the Montecito Festival and Duke University He resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

John‑Henry Crawford

Cello Juror

Born in the small Louisiana city of Shreveport, cellist John-Henry Crawford has been lauded for his “polished charisma” and “singing sound” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and in 2019 was First Prize Winner of the IX International Carlos Prieto Cello Competition and named Young Artist of the Year by the Classical Recording Foundation.

At age 15, Crawford was accepted into the legendary Curtis Institute of Music to study with Peter Wiley and Carter Brey where he served as principal cellist of the Curtis Orchestra. He went on to complete an Artist Diploma at the Manhattan School of Music with Philippe Muller, a Master of Music at The Juilliard School with Joel Krosnick, and pursue further study in Chicago with Hans Jørgen Jensen. He has given concerts in 25 states as well as Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Mexico, the Canary Islands (Spain), and Switzerland at venues such as The International Concert Series of the Louvre in Paris, Volkswagen’s Die Gläsern Manufaktur in Dresden, and the inaugural season of the Tippet Rise Arts Center in Montana. Crawford gave his solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra as First Prize Winner of the orchestra’s Greenfield Competition and has performed Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Memphis Symphony, Dvorak and Gulda Cello Concertos with the Shreveport Symphony, and Haydn’s C Major Cello Concerto with the Highland Park Strings.

While in Chicago, Crawford appeared on WFMT’s Impromptu series and toured extensively with Steinway artist and pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion. He has appeared twice with Christopher O’Riley on National Public Radio’s From the Top. An advocate for the importance of social media, Crawford commands a strong Instagram presence, attracting tens of thousands of viewers to his project #The1000DayJourney, where he films artistic cinematic videos daily from his practice and performances for over 55,000 followers (@cellocrawford) to give a glimpse into the working process of a musician, recently passing the 1000-day mark.

Crawford’s numerous competition prizes also include Grand Prize and First Prize Cellist at the 2015 American String Teachers National Solo Competition, the Lynn Harrell Competition of the Dallas Symphony, the Hudson Valley Competition, and the Kingsville International Competition. He has competed in the Tchaikovsky and Queen Elisabeth competitions and was accepted at the prestigious Verbier Academy in Switzerland for study under the tutelage of Ralph Kirshbaum and Torleif Thedeen.

Crawford has been a fellow at Music from Angel Fire in New Mexico, the National Arts Centre’s Zukerman Young Artist Program in Canada, The Fontainebleau School in France, and the Perlman Chamber Music Program. He was invited to perform at Boston’s French Cultural Museum in a chamber music concert with Boston Symphony concertmaster Malcolm Lowe, Curtis President Roberto Diaz, and members of the Borromeo Quartet, and was the only student performer on a tour series to Costa Rica, Mexico, and Brazil, collaborating with artists Soovin Kim, Roberto Diaz, and Jason Vieaux as part of Curtis on Tour. While a student at Curtis, Crawford’s recital performances were broadcast on WHYY public television in Philadelphia. He was interviewed for the recently released documentary Maestro about conductor Paavo Järvi, and is also interviewed and quoted in Dan Coyle’s The Talent Code by Dan Coyle, a best-selling book about the science and neurology behind skill development.

Crawford is from a musical family and performs on a rare 200-year old European cello smuggled out of Austria by his grandfather, Dr. Robert Popper, who evaded Kristallnacht in 1938. He also performs on a fine French bow by the revolutionary bowmaker Tourte “L’Ainé” from 1790. Before attending Curtis, Crawford studied with concert cellist Andres Diaz of Southern Methodist University. In addition to music, he enjoys reading about astrophysics, running, performing magic tricks, and photography.

Aaron Olguin

Double Bass Juror

Aaron Olguin is an American Double bassist currently working with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra in Hamburg, Germany. During his studies with Jeff Bradetich at the University of North Texas, Aaron won 1st Prize in the double bass senior division of the American String Teacher Association National Solo Competition in 2015. Aaron received second prize at the Sphinx International Concerto Competition twice, and a major grant in 2016 to tour the US and Canada with his former bass quartet, "Bassinova". Aaron was also named first prize in the 2018 Ann and Charles Eisemann International concerto competition. This award granted him his debut appearance with the Richardson symphony performing the Andres Martin Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra.

During the summer of 2017 Aaron received his biggest honors to date as the winner of the prestigious International Society of Bassists Solo Competition competing against the top bass players in the world. This award granted him a recital at the ISB Convention at Indiana University in 2019. Following that, at the Orford Music Academy he was named 3rd place winner among other instrumentalists and won the Orford Music Prize Audience Choice award.

Aaron completed his master’s degree in Double Bass Performance at the University of North Texas College of Music. At the end of his studies, Aaron was appointed Principal bass of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra in Trondheim, Norway and began with the symphony during their 2019 season.