Adrian Anantawan

Adrian Anantawan is a Canadian violinist. Anantawan, who began studying violin at age nine, has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and at the White House. He is an alumnus of the Etobicoke School of the Arts in Canada, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Yale University and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Growing up in the neighbourhood of Clarkson, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, he attended St. Christopher's Elementary School, and is a member of the St. Christopher's Church Parish. He is currently a member of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and is the Chair of Music at Milton Academy and artistic director of Shelter Music Boston.

Biography Anantawan was born in Canada to a Thai father and a Hongkonger mother. Anantawan grew up in Toronto and began his violin training, at the age of nine, in Mississauga with violinist Peggy Hills, and later under violist Mark Childs in Toronto.

In 1999 and 2000, Anantawan earned positions with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, becoming one of its youngest members both years.

Throughout his musical career, Anantawan has won many music awards and has received numerous recognitions. He has been profiled by CBC, CTV, YTV, CityTV, TVO, and many major newspapers and magazines. In 2001, Anantawan received the Mississauga Arts Council Emerging Music Talent award and the YTV (Canada) Young Achiever award. In 2002, he received the Starling Award for promising young soloist from the Meadowmount School of Music, founded by Ivan Galamian. In the same year, he won the International Rosemary Kennedy Award and debuted at the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C. In 2005, he received the CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award.

In 2006, after enjoying a full merit scholarship, Anantawan graduated from the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. While there, he studied under Ida Kavafian and Yumi Ninomiya Scott. In the summers of 2004, 2005 and 2006, he was awarded scholarships to the National Arts Center Young Artist Program and studied with Pinchas Zukerman., where he now serves as an instructor in its pre-college division. Summer of 2006 and January 2007 also saw Anantawan with a full scholarship at the Perlman School of Music under Itzhak Perlman.

Anantawan has been performing regularly since 2001. He soloed with orchestras throughout Canada and the US. He represented the Canada Cultural Showcase at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece and at the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Games in 2010. In November 2005, he debuted with the Toronto Symphony under the direction of Peter Oundjian. Anantawan was inducted into Terry Fox Hall of Fame in 2008, Toronto.

Disability activism Anantawan was born without a right hand. He is an active member and spokesperson for the CHAMP (Child Amputee) Program of The War Amps He recently completed a project involving the use of adaptive musical instruments in classical performance, culminating in the world-premiere of the Virtual Music Instrument with the Montreal Chamber Orchestra.

Inducted into Terry Fox Hall of Fame, Toronto, 2008 White House appearance in the presence of the First Lady to help launch the Global Cultural Initiative, sponsored by VSA arts, 2006 Juno Nominee for Best Children Album "A Butterfly in Time", 2006 National broadcast of TSO debut concert by CBC, January 1, 2006 National broadcast of Glenn Gould Studio recital, Music around Us by CBC, 2006 Nominee for Terry Fox Hall of Fame, 2005 Galaxie Rising Star Award, CBC, 2005 Starling Award for Most Promising Young Soloist, 2005 Awarded the use of a 1698 Amati violin, 2004 – present Gold, and Grand Awards, International Mercury Film Festival, 2003 (profile) Gold, and Gold Special Jury's Awards, Worldfest, Houston, 2003 (profile) VSA arts Rosemary Kennedy International Young Soloist Award, 2002 Kids Hall of Fame Inductee, N.Y., 2001 Young Achiever Award YTV (YAPS to the Max), 2001 Mississauga Art Council Emerging Music Award, 2001 Member of NYO of Canada, placed second in the nationwide audition, 2000 One of the youngest violinists accepted by the NYO of Canada, 1999

Media coverage

Has been profiled by newspapers such as Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, National, the Sun, Mississauga News, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, South Mississippi News, New Hampshire, etc., 1999 – present His profiles on television include: Profile, Fairchild Television, Dec 2006 One on One with Paula Todd, TVO, Jan/2006 W5, Help & Hope CTV, March/2005 PBA profile for the War Amps, all channels, 2002 – present "Gift" Supper Gala, National News, CTV, CBC, City TV, Global, 2004 "The Daily Planet" Discovery Channel, 2004 Idea City 02, City TV, June/2002 Moving On, CBC, 2001 YAPS to the Max, YTV, 2000 Special documentary entitled 'The Story Behind The Notes', premiered on The Documentary Channel, June 30/2008