Classical Category
Canadian pianist Alex Soloway is a student of Dr. Ilya Poletaev at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in Montreal. Alex is the winner of the 2016-17 McGill Classical Concerto Competition, as well as the 2014 winner of the McGill Chamber Music Competition as a member of the Aeolus Trio. Alex has performed in Canada, Europe, and the United States, including concerts at the Canadian Opera Company’s Four Seasons Centre in Toronto, the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York. In 2015, Alex was a national finalist in the Canadian Music Competition. Alex will be performing as a soloist with the McGill Symphony Orchestra in January of 2017.
Piano, Harp and Guitar Category
Harpist Antoine Malette-Chénier, a Doctor of Musical Arts student of Jennifer Swartz, has won the McGill Concerto Competition (piano, harp and guitar category). In the final round, which took place in February 2017 , Antoine gave a stunning performance of Canadian Composer R. Murray Schafer's Concerto for Harp and Orchestra.
Strings Category
The winner of the 2016-17 McGill String Concerto Competition is Amy Hillis, a D.Mus. candidate in violin performance from the studio of Prof. Axel Strauss. Originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, Amy Hillis's studies are funded by a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) and a Doctoral Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Amy is also the recipient of a Professional Musician (Individual) grant from the Canada Council for the Arts as well as the prestigious Sylva Gelber Foundation Music Award which is given to Canadian musicians of outstanding ability and career potential. Amy performs on the 1820 Joannes Franciscus Pressenda, on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.
