Jacob Clewell  Viola & Violin

American violist/violinist Jacob Clewell fuses his affinity for string playing with both classical and non-classical interests, leading to an eclectic career touching far corners of musical activity.

 

He has performed alongside members of the Emerson, Escher, and Penderecki quartets, Manhattan Chamber Players, the Seattle and Toronto symphonies and Berlin Philharmonic, and with pianists Andrew Armstrong and Pedja Muzijevic. He has also appeared with Elton John tribute band Elton Rohn, Icelandic "cosmic rock" band Sigur Rós, and performed original concert etudes transcribed from music by Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson.

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His activities reflect most facets of performance, with recent engagements alongside the Gryphon Trio and Latin jazz legend Jovino Santos Neto, as a member of the Untitled Ensemble, as guest principal violist for the Kingston Symphony, and as concerto soloist with orchestras in the United States and Canada. He has appeared in the Music Niagara Festival, Halifax's Scotia Festival, Green Lake Festival of Music in Wisconsin, and the Festival de Febrero in Ajijic, Mexico. Jacob is currently a member of the Juno-winning chamber orchestra Sinfonia Toronto, and occasionally appears in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

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As one half of The Ezra Duo, (with pianist Sasha Bult-Ito) he has toured in the US and Canada, performed in Carnegie Hall and Koerner Hall, and appeared as a special guest at a G7 Summit event. In addition to live concerts, the duo hosts Ezra Electrified!, an online recital series on Twitch.tv that pushes the boundaries of classical programming. Ezra is ensemble-in-residence at the Emerald Coast Chamber Music Festival in Florida, where Jacob and Sasha are co-Artistic Directors and Artist Faculty at the annual Chamber Music Institute for advanced conservatory students.

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Jacob holds degrees from the Cornish College of the Arts, Stony Brook University, and The Glenn Gould School, where his mentors included Mara Gearman, Nicholas Cords, Lawrence Dutton, Steven Dann, and the Emerson String Quartet. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Toronto on a full fellowship under Annalee Patipatanakoon and Masumi Per Rostad, where he was a teaching assistant in violin, viola, and chamber music. Jacob has undertaken additional summer study in Europe with Roger Chase, Yuko Inoue, and Nobuko Imai, appearing in performances at the Lake District Summer Music festival in England and Festival Pablo Casals Prades in France.

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He credits Itzhak Perlman, Boris Kroyt, Martha Argerich, Satoru Iwata, Hiyao Miyazaki, Ella Fitzgerald, My Chemical Romance, LiSA, and Sub-Radio as his greatest artistic inspirations. Away from musical activities, he can usually be found brewing specialty coffee, playing video and tabletop games, entertaining #AkalitheCat, and is probably wearing colorful shoes. Jacob primarily performs on a c. 1680 Amati viola, and 1912 Daniel Tomashev violin.

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