Victoria’s Nikki Chooi will play a $5-million violin for the Jubilee Tribute Concert at Alix Goolden Hall on Saturday.
The 1700 Stradivari violin, nicknamed the Taft, is on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Chooi will perform Eugene Ysaye’s Sonata No. 2 in A Minor (dedicated to Jacques Thibaud). He’ll also play Three Preludes by George Gershwin and Manuel de Falla’s Suite Populaire Espagnole, both accompanied by pianist Robert Holliston.
Chooi was a first-prize winner of the 2013 Michael Hill International Violin Competition.
He was also a winner of the 2013 Astral Artists’ Auditions and Laureate of the 2012 Queen Elizabeth Violin Competition.
The Jubilee Tribute Concert, which begins at 7:30 p.m., includes soprano Sarah Vardy (accompanied by Holliston) singing Puccini and Verdi, and pianist Miranda Wong performing Bach and Ravel.
Tickets are $35. They can be purchased at the door, online at vcm.bc.ca or by phoning 250-386-5311. All proceeds go to the Victoria Conservatory of Music.
— Times Colonist