Alexandre Da Costa
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ALEXANDRE DA COSTA was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1979. He showed an uncommon interest for both the violin and piano at a very early age. By the age of nine, he had the astonishing ability to perform his first concerts with stunning virtuosity on both instruments, which brought him recognition as a musical prodigy. His chosen professional career as a violinist began very early and he was soon performing regularly as soloist with orchestra as well as in recital.
At age 18, he obtained a Master’s Degree in violin and a First Prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. Concurrently, he also obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Interpretation from the University of Montreal. From 1998 to 2001, he studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid with his mentor Zakhar Bron, teacher of violinists such as Maxim Vengerov and Vadim Repin. In 2002, he won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award from the Canada Council for the Arts given for an exceptionally gifted Canadian Artist under 30 years old. In 2003, he was awarded the “1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius” from the Canada Council for the Arts - Musical Instrument Bank. In 2010, he received the prestigious Virginia-Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, given by the Government of Canada to the Canadian musician that has distinguished himself in Canada and abroad.
Winner of many national and international first prizes, Alexandre Da Costa has given over a thousand concerts and recitals throughout North America, Mexico, Europe, United Kingdom and Asia. He has performed in major halls such as Vienna’s Musikverein, Berlin’s Philharmonie, New York's Carnegie Hall, Hamburg’s Musikhalle, Madrid’s National Auditorium, Beijing’s Poly Theater, and played with prestigious orchestras such as the London Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Spain’s National TV & Radio Symphony Orchestra.
He has worked with conductors such as Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Leonard Slatkin, Matthias Bamert, Günter Herbig, Pedro Halffter, Adrian Leaper, Lior Shambadal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Carlos Miguel Prieto, to name a few. His live performance broadcasts have aired on BBC, WestDeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Radio-Classical International, Radio-Canada/CBC, American NPR, Radio Nacional de España (RNE), Austria State Radio (ORF), and TV Asahi Japan.
As recording artist, he has 12 CDs for the XXI-21 Records, ATMA and Octave/Universal labels, among them the world premiere recordings of the Violin Concertos by Portuguese composers Luis de Freitas Branco and Armando José Fernandes with the Extremadura Symphony Orchestra under Jesús Amigo, a disc nominated at the JUNO Awards 2006. In 2009, he recorded concertos by Amercian composer Michael Daugherty, with the Montreal Symphony under Pedro Halffter for Warner Classics. He now records for Warner Classics International and JVC/Victor (Japan).
In addition to his concert schedule, Alexandre Da Costa is active as a teacher,and guest professor at various universities and conservatoiries around the world. He was also named Musical Development Director of the Canimex Foundation, an organization gathering an impressive collection of fine instruments for the benefit of talented artists. Alexandre Da Costa now plays the 1727 “Di Barbaro” Stradivarius and a Sartory bow, loaned by Canimex.
www.alexandredacosta.com
