“Laura Elise Schwendinger’s “Song for Andrew” (2008) pays tribute to her teacher Andrew Imbrie, who died in 2007, by wrapping a theme from his “Pilgrimage” (1983) in her own harmonization and gradually taking it into her own rhythmic and harmonic world. The piece is darkly attractive, artful and moving, and the ensemble, a piano quartet, played with the warmth and soulfulness it demanded.”
Acclaimed for her “technical flair and gleaming tone” (The Berkshire Eagle) and for “possessing a big sound and a warm tone” (TwinCities.com), violinist Alicia Choi is a captivating performer with a passion for presenting fresh and intriguing programs
Her current season includes concerts at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur, Festival de Lanaudière, Salle Bourgie Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal, as well as concerts across Québec in Marcel-Proust - la musique retrouvée, a new production by Agence Station Bleue. Past performances include appearances as Guest Concertmaster of the Kingston Symphony, concerts in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Faculty Recitals, and New Brunswick Summer Music Festival. Her solos with orchestra include performances with Atlantic Music Festival, Berkshire Symphony, and Queens Symphony Orchestras under conductors Ronald Feldman, Constantine Kitsopoulos, and Julian Kuerti.
Alicia has previously served as an Artistic Director and Faculty of the inaugural Harlaxton Chamber Music Festival in Grantham England, as well as performing and teaching faculty at the University of Florida ChamberFest, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chamber Music Workshop, and Camp Musical Père Lindsay in Saint-Côme, Québec.
For four years, Alicia was an Artist-in-Residence Faculty of the University of Evansville, Associate Concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, and a member of the Larchmere String Quartet. As a member of the LSQ, Alicia has toured and taught in various North American cities and institutions; performed at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy; won the Evansville Mayor’s Arts Ensemble Award; and released the first commercial recording of the Stephan Krehl Clarinet Quintet and String Quartet on the Naxos label.
A graduate of Williams College and The Juilliard School, Alicia holds a Doctor of Music in violin performance from McGill University Schulich School of Music, where she won the 2020-2021 International Grant Doctoral Category in Performance and the 2020 and 2021 Innovative Learning and Teaching in Music Graduate Awards.
Currently serving as the Artistic Director of Benicia Chamber Players, a chamber music series based in the East Bay San Francisco area, she has been an Instructor of Chamber Music at McGill since 2017.
“True enough, Korngold, best known for his film scores, based his concerto on themes from four of those movies, and as Choi seized your attention with her technical flair and gleaming tone, you could almost forget the Hollywood imagery screening before your eyes.”