Classical Music News

VC Artist Timothy Chooi Loaned 1709 "Engleman" Stradivarius

June 14, 2022

3 MIN READ

According to the Nippon Music Foundation, the violin is named “Engleman” after its previous owner Dr. Ephraim P. Engleman, M. D. (1911-2015) of America, Clinical Professor of Medicine, amateur violinist, and instrument collector.

"The violin had been possessed for nearly 150 years by the Young family. After the death of the last successor U.S. Naval officer Commander Young in World War II, it was kept unused by his parents throughout their lifetime," the website reads.

"The violin was then passed into the hands of W. E. Hill & Sons of England, who then sold it to a French amateur Dr. Pierre Lacombe M. D. in 1951. It then passed via Jacques Français, a dealer of New York to Dr. Engleman in 1986. Nippon Music Foundation acquired this violin from Dr. Engleman in May 1996."

Timothy Chooi will collect the instrument this summer and have it for seven years.

"Very honored to receive the beautiful and mint condition 1709 "Engleman" Stradivarius to play on from the 日本音楽財団 / Nippon Music Foundation in Japan," Chooi said. "So excited to share future concerts on it and also to travel back to Japan a lot–one of my favorite countries to visit. Would love for you ALL to hear it one day!"

The VC Artist recently graduated from The Juilliard School with a Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Prize in addition from the Kronberg Academy under Christian Tetzlaff. He will kick off his summer season with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto.

In addition to Germany, engagements take him to Florida and Massachusetts in the US, Canada, Austria, and Switzerland.

A scholarship holder in the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, Chooi is a founding member of The VISION Collective and the recipient of the 2020 Harold W. McGraw Family Foundation's The Robert Sherman Award for Music Education and Community Outreach.

Finishing his studies with Catherine Cho at Juilliard, his mentors include Ida Kavafian, Pamela Frank, Pinchas Zukerman, Christian Tetzlaff, and Patinka Kopec.

His accolades include major prizes at the Michael Hill and Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competitions and the Astral Artists National Auditions. In 2018, he was awarded 1st prize at the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, in Hannover, Germany. He was also awarded the coveted "Prix Yves Paternot" Prize at the 2018 Verbier Festival, presented to the "most accomplished young musician."

As of July 1, 2021, the Canadian-American violinist joined the violin faculty at the University of Ottawa.