Jacob Clewell
Flaunting a "tone that is just...delicious" (W.C. Nyaho, Nyaho/Garcia duo), violist JACOB CLEWELL "plays like a poet - full of nuance and deep expression" (David Jaeger, Order of Canada). Gold Medalist of the Vancouver International Music Competition and 2026 Emerging Artist of the American Viola Society, he has appeared as soloist and recitalist in New York's Carnegie Hall, Toronto's Koerner Hall, Chicago's Symphony Center, the Festival Pablo Casals Prades in France, Northern Lights Music Festival in Mexico, Lake District Summer Music in England, and performed with Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós at Roy Thompson Hall.
"[He] has a brilliant technique and plays with a great sense of stylistic purity, a wonderfully expressive tone and beautiful phrasing. He is a fine musician."
Nurhan Arman, Juno-winning Music Director, Sinfonia Toronto
A chamber musician at heart, he has performed alongside members of the Escher, Emerson, Endellion, and Penderecki string quartets, the Gryphon Trio, Manhattan Chamber Players, and pianists Pedja Muzijevic and Andrew Armstrong. He has also shared the stage with Latin Jazz legend Jovino Santos Neto, premiered original concert etudes based on music by Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson, and served as principal violist for the world premiere of Austin Wintory's Traveler symphony, drawn from Wintory's Grammy-nominated score to the video game Journey. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras across the United States and Canada, among them the Juno-winning Sinfonia Toronto under conductor Nurhan Arman, in concertos ranging from Telemann with fully improvised cadenzas to his own transcription of Elgar's beloved Cello Concerto.
Jacob's doctoral research as the Yo-Yo Ma Fellow at the University of Toronto confirmed the identity of the largely-forgotten 19th-century French violist Casimir Ney, and offered a technical and stylistic analysis of Ney's 24 Preludes pour l'Alto, making the case for their value as a guide to virtuosic Bel Canto viola playing. His passion for string education has led to masterclasses for the University of Iowa, University of Tulsa, Canada International Arts and Music Society, Albuquerque and Colorado Springs youth symphony programs, and many other organizations. Jacob performs on a c.1580 Brother Amati viola and 1945 Émile-Auguste Ouchard bow.