September 3 Virtual Zoom Concert

Duncan McDougall

Duncan McDougall is an 18-year-old violinist from Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada. He was the recipient of the Mary Jean Potter Scholarship to attend The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists, where he studied with Kelly Parkins-Lindstrom and Jonathan Crow. Duncan recently began his undergraduate degree in violin performance with Martin Beaver at the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, California.

As a soloist, Duncan has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Canadian Sinfonietta, the Oakville Chamber Orchestra, the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, and the Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra. He has served as concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Morningside Music Bridge String Orchestra, and the Taylor Academy’s conductorless ensemble, the Academy Chamber Orchestra. In 2019, he had the opportunity to perform a solo recital at the Toronto Summer Music Festival as a part of their Shuffle Hour series.

A frequent award winner, most recently Duncan was chosen by CBC Music as one of Canada’s top 30 classical musicians under the age of 30. Duncan was a Grand Prize winner and the recipient of the Canimex Group Scholarship at the 2019 Canadian Music Competition, and a semifinalist at the 2019 OSM Manulife Competition, where he received the Orford Music Prize. Also in 2019, he was awarded the Geringas Memorial Scholarship and the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra Stingray Music Rising Star Award. In 2017, he was a winner of the TSYO Concerto Competition, performing as a soloist with the TSO.

As a chamber musician, Duncan’s string duo was a first prize winner at the 2019 Canadian Music Competition. He has performed in the 5 At The First Chamber Music Series, and with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. He attended the Szekely-Rolston Young Musician’s Program at the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition, working with former Juilliard String Quartet member Joel Krosnick.

Duncan has attended summer programs such as Morningside Music Bridge, Orford Music, and the Domaine Forget International Music Academy. He has performed in master classes for Miriam Fried, Andres Cardenes, Ilya Kaler, Almita Vamos, Rachel Barton Pine, Ian Swensen, William van der Sloot, Nikki Chooi, and Martin Chalifour, among others. He currently plays on a 2018 Mark Schnurr violin. In his spare time, Duncan enjoys trail running, canoeing, camping, and downhill skiing.

Anthony Choi

Anthony Choi has been studying the cello since he was 4 years old at the Special Music School under the tutelage of Yari Bond. He joined Face the Music, a leading contemporary youth ensemble, where he performed on WQXR, Roulette, and the Lincoln Center Atrium. He was later accepted to Juilliard Pre-College in 2014, where he studied with Clara Kim and became a principal cellist of both the Pre-College Symphony and the Pre-College String Ensemble.

Anthony is a 2018 YoungArts Finalist and a 2019 Presidential Scholar in the arts. He has recorded for Morningside Music Bridge’s CD three times and was a guest on NPR’s From the Top, where he performed with renowned cellist Paul Katz. He has won top prizes at the 2018 Lyra Music Competition, 2017 International Grande Music Competition, the 2016 Rondo Vanguard Young Artist Competition and the 19th YWCA Queens NY Music Competition allowing him to perform in Weill Hall at Carnegie and Merkin Hall.

Anthony is also passionate about bringing classical music to underserved communities. He performs at the Korean Methodist Church and Institute weekly and performed at the Addiction Institute of Mt. Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital every month for patients in rehabilitation. He began attending Harvard University in fall 2019 where he became a board member of the Brattle Street Chamber Players.

He plans to attend the Harvard/NEC dual-degree program in fall 2020 with Laurence Lesser and Yeesun Kim and plans to major in Integrative Biology.