Jonathan Crow

Born in Prince George, British Columbia, Jonathan Crow began the Suzuki violin method at age six and continued his studies at the Prince George Music School. At the age of fifteen, Jonathan studied at the Victoria Conservatory of Music with Sydney Humphreys and attended the Banff Centre Master Class Program. He earned his Bachelor of Music in Honours Performance from McGill University, studying with Yehonatan Berick. 

Upon graduation from McGill University at the age of 19, Mr. Crow joined the Montreal Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Second Violin, and won the Associate Concertmaster chair 5 months later. He was appointed Concertmaster in 2002, a position he held until 2006, becoming the youngest Concertmaster to lead a major North American orchestra. Jonathan continues to perform as guest concertmaster with orchestras around the world, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Filarmonia de Lanaudiere and the Pernambuco Festival Orchestra (Brazil).

In May 1997 Jonathan performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in a special benefit for the Victoria Symphony under the baton of Sir Yehudi Menuhin. Lord Menuhin was so impressed that he invited him to perform again with the Vancouver Symphony in April 1998. Jonathan continues to perform in North America, having been featured as soloist with most major Canadian orchestras including the Montreal, Kingston, London, National Arts Centre, Victoria and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, under the baton of such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Kent Nagano, Mario Bernardi and João Carlos Martins. He is heard frequently on Chaîne Culturelle of Radio-Canada, CBC Radio Two, and National Public Radio, along with Radio France, Deutshe Welle, Hessischer Rundfunk and the RAI in Europe. 

An avid chamber musician, Jonathan has performed at chamber music festivals throughout North America, South America and Europe including the Banff, Ravinia, Orford, Domaine Forget, Seattle, Montreal, Ottawa, Incontri in Terra di Sienna, Alpenglow, Festival Vancouver, Pernambuco (Brazil), and Strings in the Mountains festivals and has also performed in concert with musicians from the Guarneri, Emerson, Vermeer and Tokyo Quartets. As an advocate of contemporary music he has premiered works by Michael Conway Baker, Eldon Rathburn, Barrie Cabena, Luna Pearl Woolf, Ana Sokolovic, Marjan Mozetich, Christos Hatzis, Ernest MacMillan and Healey Willan, and includes in his repertoire major concerti by such composers as Ligeti, Schnittke, Brian Cherney and Bernstein. Mr. Crow has recorded for CBC, Oxingale, Skylark, XXI-21 and ATMA labels.

Jonathan is currently Assistant Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University where he has been teaching since 2005. Current and former students of Mr. Crow have received prizes at competitions across North America, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, Shean Competition, CBC Radio's NEXT competition, Eckhardt-Grammatte Competition, Canadian Music Competition, and Stulberg International String Competition, and work regularly with orchestras such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Verbier Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Kammerphilharmonie and Vienna Symphony Orchestra.