hezekiah leung, VIOLA
Praised for his “lovely lyricism” by The Calgary Herald, and hailed for his "intelligent and diverse treatment of vibrato... tailored to the individual personality of any given theme or moment" by Chicago Classical Review, Hezekiah Leung has been featured as a performer throughout North America and Europe, both as a soloist and as the founding violist of the Rolston String Quartet, winner of the First Prize at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition.
After completing his violin studies at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Stephen Shipps, Leung pursued an artist diploma in viola with Stephen Dann and Barry Shiffman. He received top prizes in the Glenn Gould Chamber Music Competition and the 74th Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Standard Life Competition. Leung holds a Master’s degree from Rice University, an Artist Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and was part of the Fellowship Quartet in Residence at the Yale School of Music with the Rolston String Quartet.
Leung has shared the concert stage with renowned artists such as Tabea Zimmermann, Leif Ove Andsnes, Gilbert Kalish, Jon Kimura Parker, Miguel da Silva, James Dunham, Paul Neubauer, Yura Lee, Donald Palma, Joel Quarrington, Andrés Díaz, Gary Hoffman, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Cho-Liang Lin, Tara Helen O’Connor, David Shifrin, Sharon Kam, and James Campbell.
As a founding member of the Rolston String Quartet, he was also awarded Grand Prize at the 31st Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition and the Astral Artists National Auditions. The quartet has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, the Louvre, the Kennedy Center, Koerner Hall, and Wigmore Hall. Committed to teaching, the quartet has served as faculty at the Yale School of Music, the University of Toronto, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival, among others. Their debut album Souvenirs, an all-Tchaikovsky release in 2020, was named Recording of the Year by BBC Music Magazine. Leung joined the Dover Quartet as their violist for the 2022-2023 season and has served on the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Northwestern Bienen School of Music. He is currently on the viola faculty at the University of Toronto and serves as a Chamber Music Coach at the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music.