Elizabeth Skinner
Intrigued by the violin, Elizabeth Skinner began studying at the age of 9 in her hometown of Victoria, Canada. Since then she has gone on to be recognized as an engaging and diverse performer winning solo and chamber awards in Canada and the United States. As a leader she has enjoyed the role of concertmaster with the McDuffie Center String Ensemble, the McGill Symphony Orchestra, and the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble. She has had the privilege of working with conductors Ward Stare, Robert Spano, Eric Jacobson, Janos Sandor, Matthias Pintscher, Pablo Heras-Casado and Alexis Hauser, as well as performing with musicians such as Amy Schwartz Moretti, David Halen, Robert McDuffie, Axel Strauss, Eric Nowlin, Marc Coppey, Kurt Muroki, Huw Watkins, Pedja Muzijevic and the members of the Zebra Trio. As an active performer and chamber musician, Elizabeth has performed at music academies and festivals in Canada, the United States, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. In May 2013 she graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor degree in violin performance from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Georgia, USA. She recently completed her Masters degree in violin performance at McGill Universitys Schulich School of Music and is continuing her studies there as she pursues her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree under the instruction of Axel Strauss. In the summer of 2015 she was the winner of the Canadian Music Competition 19-30 years strings category as well as Jeunesses Musicales du Canadas Peter Mendell Award.