NOC Concertmaster wins Toronto Star's 2020 Reader's Choice Award
Collin Whitehouse
With great pride and pleasure, the Northumberland Orchestra and Choir announce the honour conferred upon Concertmaster Tak Kwan – the Toronto Star's 2020 Reader's Choice Award as Best Music Instructor.
The news came to the renowned local ensemble through an e-mail from the honouree, who called the award a beautiful reminder to keep the focus on the next generation – who are the future.
The e-mail closed with his dedicating the award to his late father, whom he lost in March.
“Without him, I would not be writing this e-mail,” he declared.
Tak's father was a violin maker in Hong Kong, and Tak began playing the instrument at the age of seven.
In 1988, he received a scholarship from the Hong Kong Bank to attend Wells Cathedral School in England, where he represented the school as a violinist and got the opportunity to work intensively with guest musicians from West Germany (where he was later invited to give a violin recital).
Scholarship offers came in from Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music, where he would study from 1989 to 1995. In 2011, he was invited to attend the Starling-Delay Symposium at the famed Juilliard School of Music.
Tak spent 2002 to 2010 touring the United States and France as a soloist and chamber musician. Highlights from those years include solo performances to crowed of more than 15,000 in Toronto and Tampa, Florida, as well as a 2010 invitation to perform for the Queen of England at Queen's Park in Toronto.
He has also accepted invitations to adjudicate at music festivals across Ontario, where his thoughtful insight and understanding of violin playing in performance has encouraged and helped countless young musicians.
Tak is the current Concertmaster of Northumberland Orchestra and Choir, following a string of appointments for outstanding ensembles.
He was Concertmaster for the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 2016, and his musicianship led to a promotion as Conductor at Toronto's Yip's Chamber Orchestra since 2013. Under his leadership, this orchestra has won numerous first places at Kiwanis Music Festivals, as well as the Golden Mile Award in 2016 and a first-place finish at provincial finals.
Tak was appointed as Conductor of GYMC Orchestras in Guelph from 2017 to 2019, during which time the orchestras won provincial finals for two consecutive years. He also facilitated a collaboration of these orchestras with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra for the first time.
His vision and leadership has expanded and strengthened the musical community wherever he serves.
In the words of the biography printed on all NOC concert programs, “technically superb but delivered with a depth of emotion.”
"The NOC is fortunate to have Tak as our concertmaster,” Music Director John Kraus stated.
“The role of concertmaster is to lead the ensemble, and he does so with skill, artistry and his charming persona.
“Tak's musicianship is evident every time he sits down with the orchestra or stands in front of the ensemble as a featured soloist. As leader, his example helps all of our musicians come together in a unified performance."