“The Metropolitan Opera announced Thursday that its next concertmaster would be the young Canadian violinist Nikki Chooi, who has appeared with orchestras around the world and played last season with the eclectic, genre-bending string trio Time for Three,” writes Michael Cooper in Thursday’s (7/7) New York Times. “Mr. Chooi, 27, who was offered a one-year contract beginning next month, will join the Met’s other concertmaster, David Chan. (The Met orchestra, which performs seven times a week during the opera season, more than most symphony orchestras, has two concertmasters.) Time for Three, which performs music from Bach to pop, congratulated Mr. Chooi upon joining what it called ‘one of planet earth’s most amazing ensembles, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,’ and said that he would be succeeded by the violinist Charles Yang. Mr. Chooi was hired with the input of James Levine, who stepped down as the Met’s music director at the end of the season to become music director emeritus … If Mr. Chooi’s contract is extended the Met orchestra could find itself with a Canadian flavor: the Montreal-born conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin will become music director designate in the 2017-18 season, and music director in the 2020-21 season.”
Posted July 8, 2016
Nikki Chooi photo by Simon Darby
