Canadian violinist Katie Stillman began her studies in London, Ontario, before joining the Young Artists’ Performance Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where she studied with Martin Beaver and Annalee Patipatanakoon.

 

When still only fifteen years of age, Katie toured Mexico giving recitals in Mexico City, San Miguel, Cuernavaca and Monterrey. In 1998, aged sixteen, Katie won the prestigious Grand Prize at the Canadian Music Competitions in Montreal. Already establishing herself as a highly successful soloist with regular appearances both in Canada and the UK, Katie subsequently won Radio Canada’s Young Artists Performance Prize for the broadcast of her Toronto recital.

 

Following the award of a four-year International Undergraduate Scholarship from the Associated Boards in 1999, Katie came to England to study at the Royal Northern College of Music with Wen Zhou Li. Whilst on a joint course with the RNCM Katie also received her B(mus) from the University of Manchester with First Class Honours. Awarded the John Manduell Prize for outstanding achievement by the RNCM in 2003, Katie went on to gain her Masters degree with distinction from the RNCM in 2004 and was awarded her Postgraduate Diploma with distinction the following year.

 

During her time at the Royal Northern College of Music Katie won numerous other prizes, including the Granada Prize for the Performance of Messian’s “quartet for the end of time”, an English Speaking Union Scholarship to attend the Aspen Summer Music Festival to study with Sylvia Rosenberg and, in 2004, an Allcard Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. She has participated in masterclasses by Maxim Vengerov, Jamie Laredo, Anthony Marwood, Aaron Rosand and Ernst Kovacic. Katie’s her most recent studies were with Yair Kless at the University for Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria, as a Wingate Scholar. Katie has won Myra Hess and Music Education Awards from the MBF as well as scholarships from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Craxton Memorial Trust.

 

In the spring of 2005, Katie Stillman was chosen for the Tillett Trust’s Young Artists’ Platform leading to a series of concerts with duo partner Simon Lane which included recitals at Fairfield Hall, St. George’s Bristol and their debut appearance at the Wigmore Hall. Katie and Simon later returned to the Wigmore Hall, having received the Maisie Lewis Award from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, and in 2007 made their debuts in the Manchester Mid-Day Series at Bridgewater Hall and in the Purcell Room as part of the Park Lane Group “Young Artists” New Year Series. In 2008-2009 the duo was selected by Making Music as recommended artists for the Concert Promoters Network Brochure, made a further return to the Wigmore Hall and gave a series of recitals around the UK which included performances at St. John’s Smith Square, St. James’s Piccadilly and St. George’s Bristol. Since then, the duo has continued to build their following with a series of recitals around England and Scotland which have been very widely praised. Katie’s prior solo engagements also include a concerto performance with the London Mozart Players.

 

Katie was a prize-winner at the 2006 CMC International Stepping Stones Competition, and was delighted to receive the Royal Overseas League’s Edith Phipps Memorial Prize in 2007.

 

An avid chamber musician, Katie is a founding member of the Barbirolli Quartet which was recently selected by the European Concert Halls Organisation as the UK Concert Halls’ nominated ‘Rising Stars’, leading to a tour of Europe’s leading concert halls in thirteen cities. Other highlights include concerts at the Verbier, Aldeburgh and Aix-en-Provence festivals, Mananan International Festival, the Lincolnshire International Chamber Music Festival, Septembre Musical Montreux Festival and Kings Place, London, for the London Chamber Music Society.  The Barbirolli Quartet’s first CD on the Nimbus label was released in January and includes quartets by Bliss, Britten, Delius and Purcell.