Biography
Grand Prize winner of the 2006 Canadian Music Competition, Marianne Di Tomaso has distinguished herself at a national and international level. In 2009, she received the second prize, as well as the Special Award for Best Performance of a Compulsory Work at the Concertino Praga Competition in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2010, she won the second prize, and Award for Best Performance of a Canadian Work at the OSM Standard Life Competition. In 2011 and 2013, she was awarded the first prize in chamber music categories at both the Festival de musique classique Pierre-De Saurel, and the Canadian Music Competition. Ms. Di Tomaso was the 2014 recipient of the Peter Mendell Award, a scholarship granted to the best candidate among full-time string students enrolled in a classical music program at one of Québec’s universities or conservatories. In July 2018, she participated in the Virtuoso e Belcanto violin competition in Lucca, Italy, where she was awarded the first prize.
Ms. Di Tomaso has been a guest soloist with several orchestras, including the Laval Symphony Orchestra, I Musici de Montréal, l’Ensemble Amati, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Classical Spree Orchestra under the direction of such distinguished conductors as Jean-François Rivest, James Darling, Yuli Turovsky, Alain Trudel, Jan Kučera, and Dina Gilbert. Ms. Di Tomaso currently holds positions in the Montreal Classical Orchestra, the Quebec Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Montreal Bach Festival Orchestra. She also plays with Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà, and has been invited to perform with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, I Musici de Montréal, and the Orchestre Métropolitain.
Ms. Di Tomaso began taking violin lessons at the McGill Conservatory with Lucine Balikian. She holds a Diploma in Specialized Studies, as well as an Artist Diploma from the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal where she studied with Johanne Arel, and received mentorship from renowned pedagogue Raymond Dessaints. In 2015, she was accepted as a graduate student at the Yale School of Music under the guidance of Ani Kavafian where she received a Master of Music, and a Master of Musical Arts. In 2020, Ms. Di Tomaso received a Graduate Diploma in Performance from the Schulich School of Music of McGill University where she studied with Andrew Wan.
Ms. Di Tomaso plays on a Nicolas Lupot violin, Orléans, ca. 1788, and a Georges-Frédéric Schwartz bow, ca.1835-40 marked “STRASBOURG” courtesy of Canimex Inc, Drummondville (Quebec).