Gabrielle Després, Violin

Canadian-born violinist Gabrielle Després is the winner of numerous competitions, most recently first prize in the 2020 Irving M. Klein International String Competition. This year, she also competed as a semi-finalist in the Stulberg International String Competition and was on CBC’s annual list of 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30.

From a young age, Ms. Després has competed nationally, winning top prizes in the Canadian Music Competition in both violin and piano. In 2016, she was featured on Radio-Canada’s nationwide television show, Virtuose, placing second out of 24 young Canadian artists. In 2017, she was a top prizewinner in the national Shean Strings Competition, and in 2018, she was invited to perform as a soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton. Ms. Després was also the sole recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Scholarship for Performing Arts in 2018.

Ms. Després began violin studies at the age of three, and studied with James Keene for nine years. She was a student of Robert Uchida from 2016 to 2018 and began the Bachelor of Music program at The Juilliard School in September of 2018, where she currently studies with Masao Kawasaki and Joseph Lin. Ms. Després’ summer studies have included the Orford Summer Music Academy, the Morningside Music Bridge program, and the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival. Last summer, she was awarded the New Horizons Fellowship which is a full-tuition scholarship to study at the Aspen Music Festival.

Ms. Després gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Anne Burrows Music Foundation, and the Edmonton Community Foundation in supporting her education.