Award winning violinist and violist, Samuel Choi pursues a multifaceted music career as a teacher, orchestral and chamber musician, soloist, conductor and arts administrator. Choi holds a Master of Music Degree from the Colburn Conservatory of Music, Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of Music and Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Toronto. Choi is currently the Artistic Director of the OYMI Music Festival and the Music Director of the OYMCO. In 2022, Choi was appointed Principal Viola of the Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra under Marco Parisotto.
As a soloist, Choi has performed with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra, PRISMA Festival Orchestra, Chinese Arts Society of Toronto Orchestra, Colburn Baroque Ensemble and other orchestras. Choi is scheduled to give 3 performances of the Bartok Viola Concerto with Germany’s Pommersfelden Collegium Musicum Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, Choi was the concertmaster of the Collegium Musicum Chamber Orchestra in Germany where the orchestra’s performance was recorded by the Bayerischer Rundfunk Nürnberg (Bavarian Radio Station, Nuremberg). Choi was the Grand Prize Winner of the Guelph Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Runner Up of the PRISMA Festival Orchestra Concerto Competition, 1st Prize Winner of the Glenn Gould School Chamber Music Competition, 1st Prize Winner of the Felix Galimir Chamber Music Award Competition. He has also won numerous prestigious scholarship awards in different continents across the world.
As an orchestral and chamber musician, Choi has worked and performed with world renowned conductors and artists such as Gustavo Dudamel, Esa Pekka Salonen, Lang Lang, Sir Andrew Davis, Stephane Deneve, Peter Oundjian, Gabor Tackacs Nagy, Leon Fleischer, James Ehnes, Jan Vogler, Andras Keller, Rachel Barton Pine and many others. As a conductor, Choi is a Co-Founder and Music Director of the Outstanding Young Musicians Chamber Orchestra. He has been training youth string players since 2019 when the orchestra was founded. In 2023, Choi toured Malaysia with the orchestra and conducted a joint performance of the Selangor Philharmonic Orchestra and the Outstanding Young Musicians Chamber Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur. He was awarded International Excellence in Conducting by the Malaysia International Cultural and Arts United Association.
A passionate believer in music education and outreach, Choi was a chamber music coach of the Senior Division of the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Choi’s current and former violin and chamber music students have been accepted into McGill University Schulic School of Music, University of Toronto Faculty of Music, University of British Columbia School of Music and have won 1st Prizes in OMFA Provincial Finals, GOCAA International Competition, Toronto Kiwanis Festival, North York Festival and OYMI Music Festival and Unionville Music Competition. An active adjudicator and juror, Choi has served as an adjudicator for OMFA Provincial Finals, Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival and OYMI Music Festival.