Performer Details
Performer Bio Synopsis
Bishop Carroll High School of the Calgary Catholic School District, Canada’s flagship self-directed learning school, has one of the largest music programs in the province of Alberta, with over 300 students involved in Strings, Bands, Choirs, Jazz Band, and Wind, Brass, Percussion and Vocal Jazz ensembles. The Strings program is comprised of four award-winning ensembles: Ensemble Eruditio, Ensemble Intermezzo, Cantabile Strings and the Virtuosi Strings. Virtuosi String students are enrolled in private lessons, participate in sectionals and large ensemble rehearsals, study with Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra clinicians and Mount Royal University Conservatory faculty, and attend an annual Strings Camp. They are frequent performers throughout the City of Calgary, most recently at the Mayor's Arts Luncheon and the Calgary International Airport, YYC. The Virtuosi Strings consistently attain Superior rankings at the Calgary Performing Arts Festival (CPAF), have performed at the Stars of the Festival concerts, and are multi-year recipients of the CFAC-TV and Jeanette Sharples awards for top-ranking orchestra. Many of the students in the ensemble are also members of the Calgary Youth Orchestra, the Calgary Fiddlers, and/or Mount Royal Conservatory’s Academy for Gifted Youth/Advanced Performance Programs. Individual ensemble members have garnered numerous awards as finalists and winners, including the Rose Bowl (top CPAF performer), the Frank Simpson Concerto competition, the C3 Concerto competition, the Alberta Provincial Music Festival string solo classes, the Klein International String Competition, the Johansen International Competition, the Concertino Praga Competition (Czech Republic), the OSM Manulife Competition (Montreal), the Canadian Music Competition (CMC), and the Canadian National Music Festival (String category and Grand Prize winners.) Each year, Bishop Carroll music students have the opportunity to travel, with recent trips to China, Italy, New York City and Whistler. Graduates of the program have gone on to study music professionally at Berklee, the Barcelona Conservatori Liceu, Bard College, The Glenn Gould School, McGill University, the New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, the San Francisco Conservatory, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Toronto. We are looking forward to our first performance at The Midwest Clinic this December!
Bishop Carroll High School Virtuosi Strings
Conductor's Bio
Canadian music educator Christina Visy is the Director of Strings at Bishop Carroll High School, Canada’s flagship self-directed learning school in Calgary Alberta. Christina began her violin studies in the school system in Northern Ontario, becoming a member of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra at the age of thirteen. She is the recipient of Thunder Bay Foundation, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and American Federation of Musicians’ Congress of Strings scholarships, holds Hon. B. Mus (Violin Performance) and B. Ed (Intermediate-Secondary Music, Computer Science) degrees from Western University and the University of Toronto respectively, and has undertaken postgraduate studies in string pedagogy at Indiana University with Mimi Zweig and Brenda Brenner. Christina’s principal teachers and mentors include Elizabeth Ganiatsos, Igor Markstein, and the late Lorand Fenyves. As concertmaster of the California-based Celebrant Singers, Christina has travelled extensively, performing in over 45 countries throughout Eurasia, the Middle East, and North, Central and South Americas. Memorable concerts include performances for Mother Teresa in Calcutta India, the King of Thailand in Bangkok, the President of Macau, and Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day in Toronto. As a music educator, Christina has taught music from K-12, and held the position of Director of Strings at Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School and Bishop Allen Academy in Toronto Ontario. Upon moving to Calgary, she served on faculty at Rocky Mountain College as Assistant to the Chair of the Arts and Director of Music, where she taught string pedagogy and directed the college orchestra. Christina has a discography of over 20 recordings as a performer and co-producer, having won Canadian Shai and Covenant awards for the album, “A cappella.” In her current position at Bishop Carroll High School, Christina directs four award-winning string orchestras in a program that has experienced phenomenal growth during her seven year tenure. She maintains a private violin and viola teaching studio, actively freelances, and counts travelling, gardening and recorder playing among her hobbies.
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