Violist Sharon Wei was a National Scholar and a Canadian Merit Scholar at the University of Western Ontario. She completed her studies at the Curtis Institute and Yale University, graduating with the Viola Prize. Her teachers have included Lorand Fenyves, Jesse Levine, Karen Tuttle and Roberto Diaz. Sharon has won prizes at the London Music Competition, Washington International Competition, career grants from the Canada Council and a CBC Rising Star award. Canada's oldest women's magazine, Chatelaine Magazine, included her on the 2008 list of "80 women to watch". She has appeared as soloist with orchestras and in recital throughout North America. The past season included appearances with the Stratford Civic Orchestra, New Haven and Kitchener-Waterloo chamber orchestras, Orchestra of Southern Utah and the New Music Ensemble at UT Austin. Earlier highlights include the International Viola Congress and Ravinia, Norfolk, Verbier, and Musique de Chambre en Normandie festivals. Next season Sharon will appear on a Debut Atlantic Recital tour of the Maritime provinces. As chamber musician, she has performed, among others, with James Levine, Lynn Harrell, Joseph Silverstein, Gary Hoffman, Claude Frank, Peter Frank, the St. Lawrence String Quartet and Alianza Quartet. She is a founding member of the award-winning Made in Canada ensemble. She has taught at Yale University, given master classes throughout Canada, and now teaches at Stanford University. Sharon is principal of the Verbier Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland and San Francisco Chamber orchestra and has been guest principal of the Canadian Opera Company. Sharon plays a viola kindly on loan from the Banff Centre.