American violinist/violist Jacob Clewell stands in the vanguard of musicians of his generation. Gold Medalist of the 2017 Vancouver International Music Competition, he leads a multifaceted career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber player, and educator.
Standout moments from recent performance activities include solo and chamber performances at the Scotia Festival, Green Lake Chamber Music Festival, Le Domaine Forget, Lake District Summer Music, Northern Lights Festival de Febrero in Ajijic, Mexico, and Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, France. Jacob has appeared alongside members of the Escher, Emerson, Endellion, Cypress, and Penderecki quartets, Gryphon Trio, Berlin Philharmonic, Seattle and Toronto Symphonies, and with pianists Pedja Muzijevic and Andrew Armstrong. Alongside his duo partner, pianist Sasha Bult-Ito (The Ezra Duo), he has appeared as a guest artist with numerous orchestras and chamber series, toured in the US and Canada, and performed in Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Weill Recital Hall in New York, and as a guest at a G7 Summit event held at the Royal Ontario Museum.
As an outspoken advocate for outreach in classical music, Jacob has presented outreach events everywhere from schools and retirement communities to a federal prison. He is the outreach coordinator for the Scarborough Philharmonic and Emerald Coast Chamber Music Festival, and has led performances and educational events at Toronto’s Baycrest Hospital, the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, and Toronto Public Library.
Jacob holds degrees from the Cornish College of the Arts, Stony Brook University, and The Glenn Gould School, and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Toronto, where he was a teaching assistant in violin, viola, and chamber music. He is Co-Artistic Director and Artist-Faculty of Viola at the annual Emerald Coast Chamber Music Festival in Florida, and directs the Mosbacher Salon Collective in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is currently a violist with the JUNO-winning chamber orchestra Sinfonia Toronto, and serves as principal second violin with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, where he is also a member of the NextGen Performance Program.
Special Thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for support of a two year Outreach program, funded through the Resilient Communities Program
