Biography (English)
Canadian cellist Fiona Robson (born 1997) finished her Master’s degree in cello performance at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris in June 2022, studying in the class of Marc Coppey and Pauline Bartissol. She completed a Bachelor of Music performance with a minor in music theory at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in 2019, with Matt Haimovitz. A native of London, Ontario, Fiona studied with Julia MacGregor for ten years, and fell in love with chamber music at a young age thanks to Forest City School for Talent Education.
Particularly enamoured with string quartet playing, Fiona founded the Quatuor Magenta in Paris in 2021. The quartet quickly earned its place on top stages across Europe, as finalists at the International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna (2023) and participants in the Geneva International Music Competition (2023). The Quatuor Magenta studies with the Quatuor Ébène at their quartet academy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, with the Quatuor Modigliani in the new Élite program at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and with Rainer Schmidt of the Hagen Quartett at the Basel University of Music.
In 2021, Fiona formed Duo Névé with pianist Elsa Bonnet, and they were soon invited to the prestigious Concours International de Musique de Chambre de Lyon (2022). Back in North America, Fiona regularly performs recitals and outreach projects with her duo partner pianist Raymond Truong, and has collaborated with Jonathan Crow, Scott St John, Sharon Wei, John Novacek, Barry Shiffman, and Uri Caine, among others. As a member of Matt Haimovitz’s Grammy-nominated cello ensemble Uccello, Fiona performed on tour in Toronto, Montreal, New York City and Berlin, including a collaboration with author Cornelia Funke. Fiona was a founding member of the Lafontaine String Quartet in 2018, with whom she won the 2018 McGill University chamber music competition and was semi-finalist of the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Excited by the exploration of contemporary music, in 2023 Fiona commissioned a new piece from Canadian composer Chris Goddard, written for her to be performed on both continents with Raymond Truong, and Elsa Bonnet, respectively. The result, Murch Studies, is an evocative four-movement suite inspired by the work of Chris’s great uncle, Canadian painter Walter Tandy Murch, and was premiered with Raymond Truong in Toronto in March 2024. This performance was part of a five-stop recital tour that was generously sponsored by the Canadian Council for the Arts, and you can read more about the program of art-inspired repertoire, Sound and Colour: Pictures at a 21st Century Exhibition, here. In 2018 Fiona commissioned an original piano reduction for Philip Glass’ Cello Concerto No. 1, arranged by Henri Colombat and authorized by Dunvegan Publishing Inc, which she performed for Philip Glass at Scotia Festival of Music.
As a soloist, Fiona has performed concerti by Haydn, Lalo, Tchaikovsky, and Gulda with various orchestras in London, ON. She was a finalist in the 2018 McGill Classical Concerto Competition, the 2017 Orchestra Toronto Concerto Competition and won second place at the 2015 Canadian Music Competition Nationals in Vancouver.
Committed to music outreach and teaching, Fiona was on staff at the National Music Camp of Canada for four years and has performed and organized workshops at schools in Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and remote communities in the Northwest Territories.
Fiona plays a cello made in 2020 by German luthier Ragnar Hayn.
Photo © Annelene Schulze.
Biographie
(Français)
Fiona Robson, violoncelliste canadienne, est diplômée du CNSM de Paris, où elle obtient son Master en 2022 dans la classe de Marc Coppey et Pauline Bartissol. Elle a étudié avec Matt Haimovitz à l’Université McGill à Montréal et elle a joué avec Haimovitz en tant que membre de son ensemble de violoncelles Uccello à Montréal, Toronto, New York et Berlin. Elle a participé à plusieurs festivals en Europe et en Amérique du Nord, notamment le Festival International de Piano de la Roque d’Anthéron, le Festival de la Chaise Dieu, Musique à Flaine, Creative Dialogue France, MISQA et Toronto Summer Music Festival, lui permettant d’étudier avec Emmanuelle Bertrand, Gary Hoffman, Anssi Karttunen et Peter Bruns, entre outres, et de jouer pour le compositeur américain Philip Glass un nouvel arrangement de son Concerto No. 1 pour violoncelle, en 2018.
Passionnée de musique de chambre, elle a étudié avec des membres des quatuors Ébène, Alban Berg, Artemis, Van Kuijk et Ysaÿe. Depuis janvier 2021, Fiona est la violoncelliste du Quatuor Magenta, un jeune quatuor à cordes basé à Paris, avec qui elle était finaliste du Concours de Musique de Chambre Joseph Haydn à Vienne et février 2023. En 2018, elle a gagné le concours de musique de chambre de McGill en tant que membre du quatuor à cordes Lafontaine, et elle était demi-finaliste du Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition en 2019. En tant que membre du Duo Névé, avec Elsa Bonnet, pianiste, elle participait au Concours International de Musique de Chambre de Lyon en avril 2022.
Fiona contribue activement au rayonnement de la musique dans sa communauté - elle a joué à plusieurs reprises dans des écoles en Ontario, au Québec et en Nouvelle Écosse, ainsi qu’aux Pays-Bas et dans des petits villages isolés au nord du Canada.
Fiona joue un violoncelle du luthier allemand Ragnar Hayn, fait en 2020.