OUR MUSICIANS

XIAOHAN GUO, Concertmaster ~ Born in Shenyang, China, our concertmaster Xiaohan Guo began her violin studies at the age of six, winning awards in numerous youth competitions. Continuing her musical education, she enrolled at the Shenyang Conservatory at the age of 13. After further studies at the Shanghai Conservatory, after graduating she joined the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, performing with outstanding musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Seiji Ozawa and Mstislav Rostropovich. In Canada she studied with Eleonora Turovsky at the Université de Montréal and completed her Master’s Degree. Xiaohan has given many solo and chamber music recitals at Chapel de Bon-Pasteur and Université de Montréal, and has been a soloist with I Musici de Montreal and Sinfonia Toronto.    

MARCUS SCHOLTES, Associate Concertmaster ~ Canadian violinist Marcus Willem Scholtes has a Doctorate of Music in Violin Performance from Indiana University, a Masters of Music from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and an Honours Bachelor of Music from McGill University. Dr. Scholtes has performed internationally at music festivals in Canada, the USA, and Europe and has attended the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in England. He 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 is currently Associate Concertmaster of Sinfonia Toronto.

JOYCE LEE, Principal Second 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 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 at the Pacific Music Festival and in the Asian Youth Orchestra. 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.Joyce earned an M.M. in Violin Performance at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. In addition to violin, Joyce studied orchestral conducting with Choi Ho Man. 

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 is Concertmaster of 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. 

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 CLEWELL, 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.

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 with orchestras in Hungary, Mexico City and Canda. 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 colored and singing tone.”

He has performed in master classes with Siegfried Palm, William Pleeth, and Joel Smirnoff. At the Canadian Festival in Budapest, Andras performed in the world premiere of John Oliver’s Cello Concerto. He has played with the Toronto Piano Trio, the National Chamber Orchestra (principal), the Estonian Chamber Orchestra, the Arthur LeBlanc quartet, Orchestre des jeunes du Québec and Orchesta Mexicana de la Juventud.

Mr. Weber is the founding artistic director of the Toronto series ‘Music Alive!’ and teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Music. 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, 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 ~ Called a “virtuoso” by DownBeat Magazine and an “eloquent musical contrabassist” by The WholeNote, Swiss-Canadian upright and electric bassist, composer, and bandleader Jesse Dietschi is equally fluent in the jazz, classical, and funk/RnB idioms. He performs frequently with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company, Mirvish Productions, and as a freelance jazz musician across Canada. He is the Principal Bassist of Sinfonia Toronto and leader of the modern jazz group the Jesse Dietschi Trio. With multiple performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, he is an international touring artist with jazz ensembles, RnB bands, and orchestras alike. His music can be heard regularly on the CBC, Toronto’s JazzFM, and stations across North America.

Dietschi has performed and toured across North America, Europe, and the Middle East, being featured on renowned stages including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Centre’s Rose Theatre, Chicago’s Symphony Centre, Toronto’s Massey and Roy Thompson Halls, and Southam Hall in Ottawa's National Arts Centre. He has recorded with artists across many styles, from the Toronto Symphony to Luminato to The Headstones, and released Gradient, his debut album as a leader, to great critical acclaim in 2023. He has performed and toured with such Canadian jazz figures as Rich Underhill, Daniel Barnes, Brownman, Andrew Downing, Jeremy Ledbetter, Alexander Brown, and New York saxophonist Russ Nolan, to name a few. As an orchestral performer, he has appeared in concert with artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, Andrea Bocelli, James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Yuja Wang, and Marc-André Hamelin, among others.

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