Artistic Director Barry Shiffman, a violinist and violist, has enjoyed a rich and varied career as a performer, recording artist, teacher and administrator. In 1989, he co-founded the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ), and during his 17 years with the quartet, he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe and recorded several critically acclaimed discs under an exclusive contract with EMI Classics. In addition to performing and recording, Shiffman is a sought after violin and viola teacher and chamber music coach. As part of his role in the St. Lawrence, Shiffman served as artist-in-residence at Stanford University from 1998 to 2006 and as visiting artist at the University of Toronto from 1995 to 2006. Passionately committed to the composers of our time, he has been involved in the premieres of hundreds of new works, both in the St. Lawrence Quartet and beyond.
At the Banff Centre, he has served as Director of Music Programs, the Artistic Director of the Summer Music Programs and Executive Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition. During his tenure at The Banff Centre, he introduced new programming in classical music performance, composition, popular music and jazz, and oversaw the dramatic growth of The Banff International String Quartet Competition, which he continues to direct. Since 2010, he has been at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, as both Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School and Dean of the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists. A sought after juror, he has served on the jury of the Tchaikovsky and Montreal Violin Competitions, as well as London’s Wigmore Hall, Geneva, Banff, and Lyon String Quartet Competitions. In addition to his work at Banff Centre and The Royal Conservatory, Shiffman has served as Executive Artistic Director of Vancouver’s Music in the Morning Concerts since 2009.
He is the recipient of the Nadia Boulanger Prize for Excellence in the Art of Teaching awarded by the Longy School of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary. Mr. Shiffman’s formal studies were at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, University of Toronto, Utrecht Conservatory, Hartt School of Music, Juilliard School and Yale University.