Frédéric Pouliot, violin
Where are you from, or where do you call home?
Québec, QC!
What is an essential part of making music for you?
First and foremost, I believe an essential part of making music is to get other people emotionally invested while listening, and therefore building a connection between the audience and the musician. I also think music should always be regarded as a source of celebration! From a very young age, music as always occupied an important place in my life, and it has been a safe haven where I can express myself in the most natural way possible.
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What’s something someone might be surprised to find on your playlist?
I don’t think there is anything someone would find surprising on my playlist considering the fact it is mostly classical music, except for some Celine Dion and Ella Fitzgerald!
How does music connect you to the community?
I try to give an opportunity to people around me to listen and enjoy music playing more. When I was younger, I was sometimes playing in elderly homes where people often can’t attend musical events as much as others. One of my objectives in the near future would be to participate in more of those types of musical gatherings
What would being named the winner of the Golden Violin Award enable you to do?
Of course, it would be a great honor to be named the winner of the Golden Violin Award, but I think it would mainly be the realization of many years of hard work, but most importantly of support from my family, friends and teachers who have been amazingly helpful in my artistic development. I also think winning the award would allow myself to broaden connections throughout the artistic community around me.
If you could meet any of the composers on your program, who would it be? What would you want to know?
I would gladly invite Mozart to one of my dinner parties for sure! I’ve always been interested to know who he really was, and what was going through his mind while composing those masterpieces!
What’s next for you?
I don’t have any specific plans for the future, but I could say that I am looking forward to attending music festivals next summer! Discovering new places with different musical communities has definitely helped me develop myself as a more open-minded artist, and I believe those festivals and opportunities have been a big part of my musical and personal evolution.
Kiarra Saito-Beckman, violin
Where are you from, or where do you call home?
I grew up in the small city of Bend, Oregon but now consider my home to be Cleveland, Ohio.
What is an essential part of making music for you?
I believe it’s important to be not too serious about playing, and to have ceaseless curiosity.
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What’s something someone might be surprised to find on your playlist?
Radiohead or Taylor Swift.
How does music connect you to the community?
Sharing music through my instrument is an incredibly personal experience, considering it is a non-verbal art form. Context plays a key role in shaping the performance, so performance is often a conversation between the performer and audience members.
What would being named the winner of the Golden Violin Award enable you to do?
Being the winner of the Golden Violin Award would enable me be a bolder musician, through travel. I have a deep desire to travel the world and experience music abroad, and the funds from the award would assist greatly in paying for tuition and application costs towards international festivals and competitions.
If you could meet any of the composers on your program, who would it be? What would you want to know?
Definitely Prokofiev. I would ask if I could listen to him practice.
What’s next for you?
No future plans for now, I’m a bit of a last-minute planner!
Zoey Dabin Yang, violin
Where are you from, or where do you call home?
I was born in Seoul, South Korea but moved to Canada in 2016, so I call Toronto home now!
What is an essential part of making music for you?
Creating stories every time after reading new repertoire. It is easier for me to phrase the music and it enhances my musicality.
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What’s something someone might be surprised to find on your playlist?
I listen to movie soundtracks more than the recordings of the repertoires that I learn.
How does music connect you to the community?
I like communicating through music by playing in ensembles with people. Music allows me to connect with people in much deeper expression.
What would being named the winner of the Golden Violin Award enable you to do?
Being named the winner of the Golden Violin Award will open up the next chapter of my music life. I believe that music is the only thing I could do, and am willing to do in this life, it would be a great honour to be named as the winner of this award.
If you could meet any of the composers on your program, who would it be? What would you want to know?
Definitely Ernest Chausson. I would like to play the Poème in front of him and get his personal insight on the work.
What’s next for you?
The next step for me is to really get connected with the composers of the works, and understand the true sound and style they created. Also learning how to project more variety of the sounds.
