Nancy Dahn
Violinist Nancy Dahn enjoys an international career as half of the acclaimed Duo Concertante with her husband, pianist Timothy Steeves. She has appeared in hundreds of recitals in Canada, the United States and abroad at such venues as Wigmore Hall (London), Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall (New York), Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Dame Myra Hess series (Chicago), Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing), and the LACMA (Los Angeles). She regularly performs and teaches at summer festivals such as the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Indian River Festival, Domaine Forget, Cactus Pear Music Festival, Music Niagara, Colours of Music Festival, Festival of the Sound, and the Tuckamore Festival, where she serves as co-artistic director.
Her eleven acclaimed Duo Concertante recordings include Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano, and the J.S. Bach Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard, which received rave reviews from the international press. Of their frequently broadcast Beethoven recording, Musical Toronto’s John Terauds says, “these beautiful interpretations are so good right down to the tiniest of details that they deserve to be called a reference in the contemporary performance of these 10 great pieces.” Their recording of Murray Schafer’s Duo for Violin and Piano, which he composed for Nancy and Tim, won the 2011 Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year. For the last three years in a row Duo Concertante have won the ECMA for Classical Recording of the Year (Bach, Incarnation, Perfect Light). In May 2020, the Duo released their Schubert recording of the complete violin and piano works.
Critics have described their playing as “grace and fire… fury and repose… a triumphant mass of non-stop energy” (WholeNote), “Splendid… a miracle of knowledge and poetry” (Gramophone),”spectacular” (American Record Guide) and have praised their “artistry, poetry, and impeccable technique” (La Scena Musicale). Of their recent Germany tour the Rheinische Post wrote: “Duo Concertante impresses with their technical brilliance, but their musicality is even more special.”
Nancy and Tim’s passion and commitment to contemporary music has acted as the catalyst for many new Canadian works. With the Duo, she has commissioned a total of sixty-five new works and original arrangements for violin and piano from many of Canada’s leading composers, such as Murray Schafer, Vincent Ho, Kati Agócs, Clifford Crawley, Kelly-Marie Murphy, Omar Daniel, Andrew MacDonald, Brian Current, Linda Bouchard, and Jean Lesage. Their CDs Wild Honey and Wild Bird consist entirely of commissioned Canadian works and their recent album Incarnation, with works by Chan Ka Nin, Denis Gougeon, Alice Ho, Jocelyn Morlock and Andrew Staniland, was picked by CBC as one of the top ten classical recordings of 2017.
As a soloist, Nancy Dahn has performed concertos by Beethoven, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bach, Mozart, Saint-Saens, Vivaldi, Piazzolla, Part, Lou Harrison, and Andrew MacDonald with orchestras in Canada and the United States. The Halifax Chronicle Herald praised her “powerful musical instincts and flawless technique” in her recent performance of the Bruch Concerto. She has also enjoys collaborating in chamber music with artists such as James Campbell, Evelyn Hart, Suzie LeBlanc, Atar Arad, and the Shanghai, Afiara and Cecelia String Quartets.
An inspiring and dedicated teacher, Nancy has given hundreds of workshops and master classes across Canada and in the U.S., Germany, and China including at the Glenn Gould Professional School, University of Toronto, Western University, Wilfred Laurier University, University of Victoria, Ithaca College, Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, UBC, University of Victoria, and Mount Royal College. Her students have been accepted for graduate studies at schools such as the Juilliard School, Rice University, the New England Conservatory, the Royal Academy of Music, McGill University, the Guildhall School, McGill University, the Peabody Conservatory, and the Glenn Gould Professional School. Many hold positions in orchestras across Canada including the Vancouver Symphony, the Canadian Opera Company, and the Winnipeg Symphony.
Nancy received her training at the New England Conservatory of Music with Masuko Ushioda, the Juilliard School with Glenn Dicterow, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received a doctorate in violin performance with Donald Weilerstein. She is also deeply indebted to her many inspirational chamber music mentors including Louis Krasner, Eugene Lehner, Joel Krosnick, Leon Fleisher, Bob McDonald, Felix Galimir, Leonard Shure, Laurence Lesser, Patricia Zander, and David Breitman.
In 2016 Nancy was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and awarded a University Research Professorship by Memorial University.
Timothy Steeves
Canadian pianist Timothy Steeves is widely known as one half of Duo Concertante, with his wife, violinist Nancy Dahn. Known for the passion, subtlety, and brilliance of their performances, Duo Concertante have worked together since 1997, developing the exceptionally unified voice that has repeatedly impressed audiences worldwide. Critics have described their playing as “grace and fire… fury and repose… a triumphant mass of non-stop energy” (WholeNote), “Splendid… a miracle of knowledge and poetry” (Gramophone),”spectacular” (American Record Guide) and have praised their “artistry, poetry, and impeccable technique” (La Scena Musicale). Of a recent Germany tour the Rheinische Post wrote: “Duo Concertante impresses with their technical brilliance, but their musicality is even more special.”
Tim released a solo CD of Haydn sonatas in 2015 on the Marquis Classics label and with Duo Concertante has created eleven acclaimed commercial recordings on the ATMA, Marquis Classics, and Centrediscs labels. These include the complete Beethoven Sonatas and J.S. Bach Six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard which are frequently heard on CBC. Of the Beethoven CD, Music Toronto’s John Terauds wrote, “these beautiful interpretations are so good right down to the tiniest of details that they deserve to be called a reference in the contemporary performance of these 10 great pieces.” The Wiener Zeitung (Vienna) called it “majesty, passion, and excitement – inspiring!” The Duo’s disc Wild Bird won a JUNO award for Murray Schafer’s Duo for Violin and Piano in 2011 (Classical Composition of the Year category), and for the last three years in a row Duo Concertante have won the East Coast Music Award for Classical Recording of the Year.
With the Duo, Tim has commissioned a total of sixty-five new works and original arrangements for violin and piano from many of Canada’s leading composers, such as Chan Ka Nin, Clifford Crawley, R. Murray Schafer, Kati Agócs, Andrew Staniland, Kelly-Marie Murphy, Alice Ho, Omar Daniel, Clark Ross, Andrew MacDonald, David Scott, Linda Bouchard, and Jean Lesage. His tenth recording, Incarnation, released in 2017 featured works written especially for them by Jocelyn Morlock, Denis Gougeon, Alice Ho, Chan Ka Nin and Andrew Staniland, and was picked by CBC as one of the ten best recordings of the year.
Tim maintains a busy touring schedule, with frequent performances across North America, as well as in Europe and China. With Duo Concertante he has appeared at Wigmore Hall (London), Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall (New York), Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), Old First Church (San Francisco), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles), the Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre (Toronto), the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), the Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing), and the Chapelle du Bon-Pasteur (Montreal). He also performs at music festivals throughout North America, including the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Cactus Pear Music Festival, Indian River Festival, Colours of Music Festival, Festival of the Sound, Music Toronto, Music Niagara, and the Huntsville Festival.
A highly regarded teacher, Tim has given hundreds of master classes and workshops across Canada. His commitment to working with young musicians gave rise to the annual Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival, which he and Nancy founded in 2000 to bring together young chamber music performers with world-class artists and ensembles for an intensive two weeks of learning and performance. For the past five summers, he has served on the chamber music faculty at Domaine Forget in Quebec.
A native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Tim is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario and the academies of Hannover and Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany. In 2016, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and awarded a University Research Professorship by Memorial University. In addition to his busy career teaching and performing, Tim is also the proud father of children Clara and Sasha and enjoys astronomy and history.