Valkyrie String Quartet
Sylvia Chow, violin; Alison Zdunich, violin; Leanne Maitland, viola & Amy Nicholson, cello
Sunday, January 31, 2027 - 3:00 pm
St. Albert United Church
Sylvia Chow, winner of the Hong Kong Music festival in 1990 and the Vancouver Kay Meek Competition in 2000, has participated in the 2003 Sarasate international violin competition in Spain. She has performed in Hong Kong, China, Australia, USA, Canada, Spain and Italy. She was also featured on the Hong Kong music television program. She performed as a soloist with the Hong Kong Shatin Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Hong Kong Chamber orchestra.
She started to study violin at the age of five with her grandfather, Mr. En-Ching Chow. In 1995, she went to the Central Music Conservatory to study with Prof. Yao-ji Lin and she got into the Idyllwild Arts Academy with full scholarship in 1997 and studied with Prof. Alice Schoenfeld from University of Southern California. In 2006, Sylvia had finished her Bachelor of music Degree and Artist Diploma in Vancouver Academy of Music with Prof. Taras Gabora.
Sylvia Chow was the assistant concertmaster of Vancouver Island Symphony from 2005 to 2008 and member of Hong Kong Sinfonietta from 2008 to 2014. She is currently a member of Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Red Deer symphony and Valkyrie String Quartet. She also freelances with Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, trying new restaurants and spending time with her husband and their little boy.
Irish-born violinist Alison Zdunich received her Bachelor and Masters degrees, as well as her Performer Diploma, from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she studied with Mauricio Fuks and Kevork Mardirossian. There, she also studied violin pedagogy with the renowned Mimi Zweig. In recent years she has developed a passion for early music after attending the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute.
Alison has played with numerous orchestras throughout North America including the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas in the United States, and the Edmonton and Regina Symphony Orchestras in Canada. She is currently a member of the Red Deer Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton, the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, and the Grammy Award winning Rosa Barocca.
Alison has been broadcast on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, and on CBC Radio. She has performed on stage with Diana Krall, Rod Stewart, and The Eagles.
Besides “classical” violin playing, Alison is an adept Irish fiddler, and was a frequent guest violinist with the Tulsa Rock Quartet. She especially loves playing chamber music, and was the second violinist of the Cameron Quartet in Tulsa, OK before relocating to Edmonton, where she is now a violinist with the Valkyrie String Quartet.
Originally from Edmonton, violist Leanne Maitland is an active chamber musician, orchestral player, soloist, teacher, and adjudicator in the Edmonton area. She is a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton, Valkyrie String Quartet, Obsessions Octet, and performs regularly with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. Leanne has also had the pleasure of performing locally with Early Music Alberta, New Music Edmonton, Alberta Baroque Ensemble, and other ensembles.
Previously, Leanne has played with the National Academy Orchestra, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, at the Banff Centre, Domaine Forget Chamber Music program, and the Montreal International String Quartet Academy.
She studied at the University of Alberta (Dr. Aaron Au), Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (Prof. George Taylor), and Schulich School of Music, McGill University (André Roy).
Leanne enjoys teaching students of all ages privately at her home studio in west Edmonton. Leanne is also an active runner, foodie, and loves going on river valley adventures with her husband and two young daughters.
Amy Nicholson is a Canadian cellist and core member of the Valkyrie Quartet, her primary ensemble, with whom she has performed in Candlelight Concerts presented by Fever for the past five years. She also performs regularly with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
Amy earned her undergraduate degree from the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media in Germany, where she toured extensively, and later completed her Master of Music at the University of Alberta as teaching assistant to Tanya Prochazka.
Her awards include the Jacques Bombardier SSHRC Scholarship, the Harriet Winspear Snowball Award, the Canadian Federation of University Women Award, and a University of Alberta Doctoral Recruitment Award. She has also performed at the Algonquin Summer Music Festival in Ontario and previously served as a sessional instructor at several Edmonton institutions.
Amy performs on a 1972 Colin Irving cello, generously on loan from the Prochazka Estate.
