Violinist Nikki Chooi has been named concertmaster of the Metropolitan Orchestra in New York. The announcement was made July 7 via press release.
27-year-old Chooi, a native of Victoria, B.C., will serve a one-year term beginning in August and continuing through the end of the company’s 2016-17 season. Chooi joins the current concertmaster, David Chan, who will continue in his position. Chooi was selected through a series of auditions.
This announcement comes just a month after the Metropolitan Opera named another Canadian, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as its new music director.
Chooi won first prize at the 2013 Michael Hill International Violin Competition and has appeared as a soloist in Canada with the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg. He has also performed with the Auckland Philharmonia, Malaysian Philharmonic, St. Petersburg State Symphony, National Orchestra of Belgium, and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie. This past season, he has been performing with the cross-genre string ensemble Time For Three.
The Metropolitan Opera's 2016-17 season opens Sept. 21 with a new staging of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.
Watch Chooi's first prize-winning performance of Sibelius's Violin Concerto at the 2013 Michael Hill International Violin Competition:
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