David Colwell

Since his solo debut with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 1995 at the age of 14, violinist David Colwell has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, Canada, and the United States, and has been recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 

As a winner of a Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship in both 1998 and 1999, David was afforded the opportunity to study at the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria with Igor Oistrakh, Michael Frischenschlager, Jean-Jacques Kantorow and Igor Ozim. In the summers of 2004 and 2005, he studied and performed at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. In June of 2005, David made his formal Ravinia Festival debut at the Martin Theater with a performance of Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor. As a member of the Mondrian Piano Quartet, David participated in the Banff Centre's Chamber Music Residency in the summer of 2007. Other recent memorable performances have included chamber music collaborations with Edgar Meyer, Timothy Eddy, Paul Katz, Barry Shiffman, Henk Guittart, and Ralf Gothóni. 

A native of Alberta, Canada, David received his first violin lessons from Dr. Elfreda Gleam and William van der Sloot. After further studies with Ranald Shean and Edmond Agopian, he began his undergraduate education in 1997 at the University of Alberta where he studied with Dr. Martin Riseley. In September of 2001, he entered the studio of Peter Oundjian and Ani Kavafian at Yale University School of Music and was awarded the Master of Music and Master of Musical Arts degrees in 2003 and 2005 respectively.  In 2009, he was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale.  David is grateful to the Winspear Fund for its generous support of his studies from 2001-2005. 

In 2006 David joined the performance faculty at the University of Virginia where he serves as concertmaster of the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra and first violinist of the Rivanna String Quartet. In addition, he maintains a full studio of violin students and coaches undergraduate chamber ensembles.