Barry Shiffman
Canadian violinist and violist Barry Shiffman has a rich and varied career as a performer, recording artist, teacher, and creator of special projects. Shiffman made his debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15. As a soloist he has appeared with orchestras and in recital throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. Recent appearances include his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall, a concert tour of Northern California as soloist with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and a Canadian tour as guest violist with the Gryphon Trio. In 1989, he co-founded the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ). During his 17 years with the quartet he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe, and recorded several critically acclaimed discs under an exclusive contract with EMI Classics. The SLSQ won the 1992 Banff International String Quartet Competition and were participants in many of the programs at The Banff Centre.
In addition to performing and recording, Shiffman is a sought-after violin and viola teacher and chamber music coach. As part of his role in the St. Lawrence, Shiffman served as artist-in-residence at Stanford University from 1998 to 2006 and as visiting artist at the University of Toronto from 1995 to 2006. Passionately committed to the composers of our time, he has been involved in the premieres of hundreds of new works, both in the St. Lawrence Quartet and beyond. From 2006-2010, he served as Director of Music Programs at The Banff Centre. Shiffman is currently the Artistic Director of the Centre’s Summer Music Programs and executive director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In addition to his work at The Banff Centre, Shiffman serves as the executive artistic director of one of the country’s most important classical music presenting organizations, Vancouver’s Music in the Morning. Since the fall of 2010, he has been Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, and directs the RCM’s Young Artists Performance Program. A sought after juror, he was Chair of the Montreal Symphony Young Artists Competition and will travel to Russia this summer to serve on the jury of the Tchaikovsky Violin Competition.
