Strathmore musician awarded high honour

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

At 24 years old, Timothy Steeves’ biggest accomplishment wasn’t a solo debut with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, his performance at Carnegie Hall in New York, his numerous competition wins, and it wasn’t even last year’s involvement in the world-premier recording of Darius Milhaud’s L’Orestie d’Eschyle, which received a Grammy nomination for best opera recording.
A couple weeks ago, Steeves boarded the plane in Toronto to fly back to Houston, Texas where the dexterous musician is currently a doctoral student at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in his second year. Accompanying him on the flight was the rare and famed 1871 Vuillaume Violin that was awarded to the young musician for the next three years by the Canada Council at the 2015 Instrument Competition on Sept. 25 – a prized possession valued at $260,000.
“Being a winner of the Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank Competition has been a dream of mine for several years, because it’s an incredible opportunity for young musicians,” Steeves said. “I’ve been playing it exclusively the last week and a half. Compared to my instrument it’s much more projecting, it’s a more vibrant ringing instrument, it has a wider pallet of sound, and what I’m able to do with it is much bigger than the instrument I currently own.”
Just like his sister and two brothers, who are also musically gifted, the Strathmore-raised Steeves began playing the violin at the Kodaly music classes at Mount Royal University Conservatory at the young age of three. However, his passion for music wasn’t limited to the violin. Throughout his years, Steeves sang in children’s choirs, played the clarinet in school bands, performed in orchestras, studied theory in piano and violin, composed, and received a Performance Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto for piano.
“His love of and understanding of music went well beyond his years, and his love of music is profound,” said Carolyn Steeves, Timothy’s mother.
“He has an amazing musical talent but more than that he works very hard at his craft. We were thrilled when Timothy made the final of the Canada Council Music Instrument Bank Competition, ecstatic when he made the Top 16, and over the moon that he has earned the privilege of playing the 1871 Vuillaume Violin.”
Steeves father, Bruce, who echoed the comments, knows his son is determined to achieve a challenging task in becoming a professional musician. And Steeves is well on his way. Not even a quarter-of-a-century old, he has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, at the Salzburger Festspiele, and the Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC. Despite his involvement in the Schleswig-Holstein, Banff and Aspen Festival Orchestras, he is also a founding member of the music ensemble Latitude 49 based in Chicago. Steeves was also the co-concertmaster of the National Repertory Orchestra for two complete seasons.
While he usually plays a modern French Canadian violin, a week of intense competition placed him among 21 other outstanding cellists and violinists that each took home an exceptional instrument from the Canada Council’s collection valued at $41 million.
“To be among the selected was an incredible honour for me,” Steeves said. “I feel much more liberated playing this instrument. It’s been a bit of a learning curve because there are certain things that it demands from the player, in how it’s approached and how it’s treated.”
The instrument in his possession, which he says is unparalleled to the instruments he’s played in the past, is a copy of the 1716 Antonio Stradivari, known as the Messiah Stradivari, which is currently locked in a museum in London, England. The Jean Baptiste Vuillaume violin is in near mint condition, is known as one of the best luthiers of its era, and was recently rescued from a destructive house fire in 2001, before it was acquired by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Steeves will have the violin on loan until 2018.