Catherine Manoukian
Encyclopedia
Catherine Manoukian is a Canadian violin
ist.
, Russian
, German
, and Japanese
origins. Her parents are professional violinists and they met at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where her father studied with Carlo Van Neste and her mother studied with Arthur Grumiaux
.
playing Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Since then, she has played with many major North American and international orchestras, like the CBC Radio Orchestra
, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
, the Boston Pops Orchestra
, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra
, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
, the Osaka Century Orchestra, and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra
, and has worked with such conductors as Mario Bernardi
, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
, Keith Lockhart
, Roy Goodman
, Peter Oundjian
, Tomomi Nishimoto
, Seikyo Kim, Eduard Topchjan
, and Jonas Alber
. She has played on the major stages of such cities as New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, Toronto, Paris, Tokyo, and Osaka, and has appeared as a chamber musician at the Aspen, Caramoor, and Newport International Festivals.
She has often played novel and unusual repertoire, and recorded a CD of transcriptions for violin of Chopin’s music as a teenager. Many of the transcriptions, among them the Cello Sonata, were commissioned by her.
in New York as well as with her parents in Toronto. She also received independent lessons in core musical subjects like harmony and chamber music. This gave her the time to also pursue a non-musical education. She has an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto
(with high distinction) and has done graduate-level work in philosophy (focusing on areas like epistemology and the philosophy of mind). She is now on sabbatical from the PhD programme in philosophy at the University of Toronto
.
Manoukian attributes her interest in philosophy to a desire since childhood to understand what musicians do, from a wider perspective than just playing allows. This has recently grown into a project to apply her philosophical thinking to theories about teaching and developing professional artists. She credits Dorothy DeLay
for instilling this interest in her.
violin. She uses bow by Eugene Sartory
c.1910.
. They live in Sweden and Germany.
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist.
Background and Early Life
Catherine Manoukian was born in Toronto, Canada. She is from an ethnically diverse background, consisting of ArmenianArmenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
, Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
, German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, and Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
origins. Her parents are professional violinists and they met at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where her father studied with Carlo Van Neste and her mother studied with Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux was a Belgian violinist who was also proficient in piano.-Youth:Grumiaux was born in Villers-Perwin, Belgium to a working-class family, and it was his grandfather who urged him to begin music studies at the age of only 4...
.
Career
Catherine Manoukian’s professional career started when she won grand prize at the Canadian Music Competition at the age of twelve. The same year, she made her orchestral debut with the Vancouver Symphony OrchestraVancouver Symphony Orchestra
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra performing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over 240,000 people attend its live performances each year. It was founded in 1930 and plays in 12 venues. Its home is the Orpheum theatre. With an annual operating budget of $9.5 million, it is the...
playing Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Since then, she has played with many major North American and international orchestras, like the CBC Radio Orchestra
CBC Radio Orchestra
The CBC Radio Orchestra was a Canadian orchestra based in Vancouver, British Columbia that was operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Until the early 1980s CBC had a number of orchestras located in Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax but due to federal government budget cuts they...
, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra, based in Calgary, Alberta. The orchestra gives the majority of its performances in the Jack Singer Concert Hall of the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts...
, the Boston Pops Orchestra
Boston Pops Orchestra
The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in playing light classical and popular music....
, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra
Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra
The Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra is a Turkish symphony orchestra based in Istanbul.Founded in 1945 as the Istanbul Municipality City Orchestra, its first principal conductor was Cemal Reşit Rey. In 1972 it became the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra...
, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
The claims to be the oldest classical orchestra in Japan, having been founded in Nagoya in 1911. It moved to Tokyo in 1938 and has some 166 members as of 2005....
, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
The , or TSO, was established in 1946 as the Toho Symphony Orchestra . It assumed its present name in 1951.Based in Kawasaki, the TSO performs in numerous concert halls and serves as the pit ensemble for some productions at New National Theatre, Tokyo, the city's leading opera house...
, the Osaka Century Orchestra, and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra
The Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra is the national orchestra of Armenia. It was founded in 1925 as a symphony orchestra of the Yerevan State Conservatory. Now it performs in Khachaturian Hall, Yerevan....
, and has worked with such conductors as Mario Bernardi
Mario Bernardi
Mario Bernardi, is a Canadian conductor and pianist. He has conducted 75 different operas and over 450 other works with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.-Early years:...
, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Jukka-Pekka Saraste is a Finnish conductor and violinist.Saraste was trained as a violinist. He later studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy with Jorma Panula, in the same class as Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vänskä...
, Keith Lockhart
Keith Lockhart
For the baseball player, see Keith Lockhart Keith Lockhart , to Newton Frederick and Marilyn Jean Woodyard Lockhart, is an American orchestral conductor....
, Roy Goodman
Roy Goodman
Roy Goodman is a conductor and violinist, specialising in the performance and direction of early music...
, Peter Oundjian
Peter Oundjian
Peter Oundjian is a violinist and conductor, the youngest of five children from an Armenian father and English mother. He also claims Scottish ancestry through his maternal grandfather, a Sanderson, and the MacDonell of Glengarry clan.Oundjian was educated in England, where he began studying the...
, Tomomi Nishimoto
Tomomi Nishimoto
-Biography:Tomomi Nishimoto was born in Osaka, Japan on April 4, 1970. Her experience learning to play the piano from her mother at the age of three as well as her mother's musical influence are what fueled her interest to become a conductor in the future...
, Seikyo Kim, Eduard Topchjan
Eduard Topchjan
Eduard Topchjan is the principal conductor and artistic director of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra.Topchjan studied violin at the Yerevan Komitas Conservatory and went on to study conducting with Armenian conductor Ohan Durian followed by consultations from Sir George Solti, Claudio Abbado and...
, and Jonas Alber
Jonas Alber
Jonas Alber is a Berlin-based German conductor.-Education and early career:Alber studied violin and conducting in Freiburg and qualified as a conductor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna. He was awarded a scholarship by the Herbert von Karajan Foundation in 1995...
. She has played on the major stages of such cities as New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, Toronto, Paris, Tokyo, and Osaka, and has appeared as a chamber musician at the Aspen, Caramoor, and Newport International Festivals.
She has often played novel and unusual repertoire, and recorded a CD of transcriptions for violin of Chopin’s music as a teenager. Many of the transcriptions, among them the Cello Sonata, were commissioned by her.
Education
Manoukian’s education history is unusual for a musician. She did not go to a music school and trained privately as a violinist with Dorothy DeLayDorothy DeLay
Dorothy DeLay was an American violin instructor, primarily at the Juilliard School.She was born in Medicine Lodge, Kansas.-Career and education:...
in New York as well as with her parents in Toronto. She also received independent lessons in core musical subjects like harmony and chamber music. This gave her the time to also pursue a non-musical education. She has an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
(with high distinction) and has done graduate-level work in philosophy (focusing on areas like epistemology and the philosophy of mind). She is now on sabbatical from the PhD programme in philosophy at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
.
Manoukian attributes her interest in philosophy to a desire since childhood to understand what musicians do, from a wider perspective than just playing allows. This has recently grown into a project to apply her philosophical thinking to theories about teaching and developing professional artists. She credits Dorothy DeLay
Dorothy DeLay
Dorothy DeLay was an American violin instructor, primarily at the Juilliard School.She was born in Medicine Lodge, Kansas.-Career and education:...
for instilling this interest in her.
Instrument
Manoukian plays on an ex-Ysaÿe 1861 Jean Baptiste VuillaumeJean Baptiste Vuillaume
Jean Baptiste Vuillaume was an illustrious French violin maker. He made over 3,000 instruments and was also a fine businessman and an inventor.-Early life:...
violin. She uses bow by Eugene Sartory
Eugene Sartory
Eugene Nicolas Sartory was an influential French archetier/ bow maker from Mirecourt, France.Normally spelled Eugène Sartory.After having first apprenticed with his father, he went on to work in Paris for Charles Peccatte and Joseph Alfred Lamy before setting up on his own shop in 1893.He...
c.1910.
Personal life
Manoukian is married to conductor Stefan SolyomStefan Solyom
Stefan Solyom is a Swedish conductor and composer. He is the nephew of the pianist János Solyom.Solyom studied horn and conducting at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm and the Sibelius Academy. His conducting teachers included Jorma Panula and Leif Segerstam...
. They live in Sweden and Germany.
Discography
- Elegies and Rhapsodies (1998)
- Catherine Manoukian, violin
- Akira Eguchi, piano
- Chopin on Violin (1999)
- Catherine Manoukian, violin
- Akira Eguchi, piano
- Lyricism (2002)
- Catherine Manoukian, violin
- Satoshi Sando, piano
- Catherine Manoukian, Violin (2006) (Shostakovich A minor and Khatchaturian Violin Concertos)
- Catherine Manoukian, violin
- Armenian Philharmonic OrchestraArmenian Philharmonic OrchestraThe Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra is the national orchestra of Armenia. It was founded in 1925 as a symphony orchestra of the Yerevan State Conservatory. Now it performs in Khachaturian Hall, Yerevan....
, orchestra - Eduard TopchjanEduard TopchjanEduard Topchjan is the principal conductor and artistic director of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra.Topchjan studied violin at the Yerevan Komitas Conservatory and went on to study conducting with Armenian conductor Ohan Durian followed by consultations from Sir George Solti, Claudio Abbado and...
, conductor
External links
- Record Company: Marquis Classics
- Record Company: Victor Entertainment
- Management Company: Vantage Artists Management Inc.
- Women of Music (YouTube part 1, part 2)