OUR MUSICIANS
XIAOHAN GUO, Concertmaster ~ Born in Shenyang, China, Xiaohan Guo began her violin studies at the age of six, winning many awards in numerous youth competitions. Continuing her musical education, she enrolled at the Shenyang Conservatory at the age of 13. In 1998, she pursued her Bachelor’s Degree, majoring in violin, at the Shanghai Conservatory subsequently receiving first prize in the 2001 Mozart Violin Concerto Competition, whereby receiving an invitationto perform the Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 with the Shanghai Youth Symphony Orchestra. Upon graduation she joined the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, having the honor of performing with outstanding musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Seiji Ozawa and Mstislav Rostropovich. She has been a student of Mrs. Eleonora Turovsky at University of Montreal since her arrival in Canada in 2004, completing her Master’s Degree and is now undertaking her Doctorate program. During her studies she was a winner of several bursaries. Xiaohan has given many solo and chamber music recitals at Chapel de Bon-Pasteur and University of Montreal, as well as being a guest soloist with I Musici de Montreal Chamber Orchestra with Waxman ’s Carmen Fantasy.
MARCUS SCHOLTES, Associate Concertmaster ~ Canadian violinist Marcus Willem Scholtes has a Doctor of Music degree in Violin Performance from Indiana University where he studied with renowned pedagogue Mimi Zweig. He holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an Honours Bachelor of Music degree from McGill University, Montreal. Dr. Scholtes currently teaches at the Wilfrid Laurier University String Academy and has also been professor of String Pedagogy. He has performed internationally at music festivals in Canada, the USA, and Europe and has attended the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Suffolk, England. He has toured with the Aldeburgh World Orchestra in 2012, in Germany and Holland before playing at the BBC Proms as part of the 2012 London Olympiad. He has participated in the Aldeburgh String Residency Programme in 2010 and 2012, and was again invited to join the Residency as part of the Britten Centenary concerts in 2013.
EMILY HAU, Principal Second Violinist ~ A vibrant young violinist, Emily Hau is currently Principal Second of Sinfonia Toronto. Emily is a graduate of University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, where she received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, following studies with the late Fredell Lack, and the late Emanuel Borok. An avid orchestral and chamber musician, Emily spent several summers abroad at Banff, Borciani, Britten-Pears, Schlern, Texas and Pacific Music Festivals. Emily’s musical experiences over the years have allowed her to develop a unique and varied musical profile. Highlights from her active freelancing schedule include assistant concertmaster of the Bolshoi Ballet Tour, lead roles in the OLG Courage and Kia EV6 commercials, touring South America and China, session work for the award-winning video game “Cuphead”, doubling up on both violin and viola at the 2022 Juno Awards, and playing the Toronto broadway run of "Hadestown". Emily’s love for diverse projects takes her from Yamaha and D’Addario Artist Dévah Quartet to supporting artists like Barbara Streisand, Diana Krall, Josh Groban, Kanye West, Michael Bublé and Rod Stewart.
DAPHNE BOURBONNAIS, Violinist ~ Born in Rimouski, Québec, Daphné completed her master’s degree at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, where she also obtained a Chamber Music Diploma. Daphné has played with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Orchestre de la Francophonie and l'Orchestre Symphonique de l’Estuaire. She has toured across Canada, Spain and South Korea. A new music enthusiast, Daphné loves to work with contemporary composers. She enjoys exploring different facets of the impact that music can have on everyone.
SARAH BOYER, Violinist ~ Sarah Boyer was born in Toronto and began her musical studies at the Royal Conservatory and summer schools such as Domain Forget, Quebec; Courntney B.C.; Interlochen, Michigan; and the Quartet Program, Pennsylvania via numerous scholarships. Her teachers included Jacques Israelievitch, Camilla Wicks, Charles Castleman and Oleg Krysa. She graduated from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester N.Y., attended the fall and winter residency program at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and the European Mozart Academy in Krakow, Poland. Her solo and chamber music career has included performances in Europe under Luciano Beriot, concerts at the Incontri di Canna music festival in Italy where she was featured in a documentary which is being shown all over North America on the Bravo Channel. As a freelance musician she has worked in most of the cities in upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Toronto. Sarah Boyer also has been very active as a teacher where she taught at Mercyhurst College in Erie PA, and was the director of the String program at the Conservatory Young Artist Program in the D'Angelo School of Music.
EIKO HOSAKA, Violinist ~ Born in Japan, Eiko Hosaka began playing the violin at the age of 3. She received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the Tokyo College of Music. She was awarded fellowships to attend the Mozarteum International Summer Academy and scholarships for the Symphony Academy of the Pacific and the Asian Youth Orchestra, and was selected to participate in master classes conducted by the concertmasters of world-renowned orchestras, including Rainer Kuchl (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra), Roland Daugareil (Orchestre de Paris), Liviu Prunaru (Royal Concertgebouw).
Eiko was a member of the Hong Kong Sinfonietta for over a decade, performing with the ensemble in major concert halls around the world including Carnegie Hall, La Maison Symphonique (Montreal), Taipei National Concert Hall (Taiwan) and Takemitsu Memorial Hall (Japan), among others. She has also taken part in many recording projects.
JOYCE LEE, Violinist ~ Joyce Lee was a fellow and co-concertmaster in TŌN (The Orchestra Now) in New York until moving to Toronto. She has served as concertmaster for various orchestras in the past, including the Chung Chi Orchestra of CUHK, the Pro Arte Orchestra of Hong Kong and the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of Hong Kong. She also performed internationally at the Pacific Music Festival and in the Asian Youth Orchestra. Joyce earned an M.M. in Violin Performance at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she received a B.A. in Music from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and then an FTCL post-graduate certificate from Trinity College London. In 2014, Joyce earned the Western Instrument Scholarship First Prize in the 7th Hong Kong Students Open Music Competition. She also won the Golden Prize in the violin open class in the Hong Kong Bauhinia Cup String Competition. In the same year, she was awarded the Dr. T. H. Yip Memorial Scholarship of the E & R Foundation. In addition to violin, Joyce studied orchestral conducting with Choi Ho Man. She conducted the CUHK Student Orchestra as well as the APSKT Alumni Symphony Orchestra in 2015. Outside her musical career, Joyce enjoys cooking, making desserts, and watching Korean television dramas.
ALEX TOSKOV, Violinist ~ Violinist Alex Toskov has performed as soloist with the Serbian Radio Symphony, served as concertmaster of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra in 2006 and of the Deutsch-Skandinavische Jugend Philharmonie in 2009. Originally from Serbia, in Canada Mr. Toskov won the Glenn Gould School's 2011 Chamber Music Competition.
ANTHONY RAPOPORT, Principal Violist ~ Anthony Rapoport is principal violist of Sinfonia Toronto and a founding member of the Windermere String Quartet and the Aradia Ensemble, with whom he has recorded over a dozen internationally released CDs. On tour as soloist with Aradia, he was acclaimed as “a splendid violist” by the New Zealand Herald. Anthony received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School in New York.
JACOB CLEWELLE, Violist ~ American violist Jacob Clewell stands in the vanguard of musicians of his generation. Gold Medalist of the 2017 Vancouver International Music Competition, standout moments from recent activities include solo and chamber performances at the Scotia Festival, Green Lake Chamber Music Festival, Le Domaine Forget, Lake District Summer Music, Northern Lights Festival of Mexico, and Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, France. Jacob has appeared alongside members of the Escher, Emerson, Endellion, Cypress, and Penderecki quartets, Gryphon Trio, Berlin Philharmonic, Seattle and Toronto symphonies, and with pianists Pedja Muzijevic and Andrew Armstrong. He has appeared as a guest artist with numerous orchestras and chamber series, toured in the US and Canada, and performed in Toronto’s Koerner Hall and Weill Recital Hall in New York.
LAURENCE SCHAUFELE, Violist ~ Violist Laurence Schaufele is no stranger to Sinfonia Toronto audiences, as he has already appeared with the orchestra as a substitute and extra musician in a number of different programs. As well, he participated in the orchestra's South American tour in April 2019. Laurence holds an Artist's Diploma from the Glenn Gould School. His principal teachers were Steven Dann, Nick Pulos and Michael van der Sloot. He has toured in Denmark with the Afiara Collective and was the featured soloist in Alexina Louie’s Viola Concerto with The Glenn Gould School New Music Ensemble.
ANDRAS WEBER, Principal Cellist ~ András Weber received his musical training in Budapest, Hungary. His mentor, Janos Starker, has been a major influence in his work. He has been principal cellist withorchestras in Hungary, Mexico City and Canada, and has given concerts in North America, Europe and Korea. He was the winner of DEBUT in Montreal where The Gazette called him a "generously gifted" musician who plays with a "nicely coloured and singing tone."
Mr. Weber has recorded in Hungary and Canada and plans to release three CD's: solo cello pieces, music for cello and organ with his wife Ran Kim and works for harp and cello with the acclaimed Mexican harpist Mercedes Gómez.
Mr. Weber is the founding director of the Toronto series 'Music Alive!' and teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Music. He is the founding member of Toronto Piano Trio and was member of the famed Arthur LeBlanc quartet. He has played concertos with many orchestras around the world.
SARAH STEEVES, Cellist ~ Sarah Steeves is a graduate of McGill University with a Master of Music in Performance where she studied with Brian Manker. She previously completed her Bachelor of Music with Honours in Performance at the University of Toronto. As a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player, Sarah has performed at the Aldeburgh, Banff, Domaine Forget, Orford, Toronto Bach, Toronto Summer Music, and Windy Mountain Music Festivals. She has performed with the Disney’s Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, Mississauga Symphony,National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Orchestra London, Sudbury Symphony, and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. Keenly interested in contemporary music, Sarah has performed at McGill University’s MusiMars and the University of Toronto’s New Music Festivals. She has premiered new works by many young Canadian composers, including a commission of Kevin Lau’s Starsail in March 2008. Since beginning cello lessons with Tom Mirhady of Calgary Philharmonic at the age of three, Sarah has worked with many great musicians including Rivka Golani, Lawrence Lesser, Edgar Meyer, Aldo Parisot, and Janos Starker as well as the Leipzig and St. Lawrence String Quartets. As a registered Suzuki teacher, Sarah has maintained studios at the Wychwood Music School and the McGill Conservatory. As an avid chamber musician she currently is a cellist with the Ton Beau String Quartet.
JESSE DIETSCHI, Principal Bass ~ Toronto bassist Jesse Dietschi is a versatile musician and composer equally experienced in jazz, classical, and popular music. He holds graduate degrees in Jazz Performance (U of Toronto), Orchestral Performance (Glenn Gould School, RCM), and Composition (Brandon U). He has performed, toured, and recorded with rock groups, orchestras, and jazz ensembles across North America, including the Canadian Opera Company, Esprit Orchestra, Soundstreams, Niagara Symphony, The Headstones, Tunnel Six, the Nick Maclean Quartet, the Luminato Festival, and numerous other orchestras, jazz, and rock/folk/RnB artists. Jesse has been a featured soloist with orchestras in both Ontario and the US, and was named the Principal Bassist of Sinfonia Toronto in 2019.
Sinfonia Toronto respectfully acknowledges that we work in the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat and Haudenosaunee peoples
