Prof. Patricia Shih:

Patricia Shih is recognized as one of Canada’s preeminent musicians as soloist, educator, and first violinist of the Borealis String Quartet. At 14, her mentor Josef Gingold described her as "one of the greatest talents that I have ever taught. Her great technique, inborn musicality, sense of style and virtuosity are unequalled." Since her Carnegie Hall debut in New York, Patricia has appeared as soloist with all the major orchestras in Canada and with leading orchestras worldwide such as the Royal Philharmonic, Halle Orchestra, Mexico National Orchestra, Singapore and Seattle Symphonies, Munich Chamber Orchestra, and the Polish National Radio. She has performed as soloist in some of the world’s great venues such as the Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, Wigmore Hall in London, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Liszt Akademy Hall in Budapest, amongst many others, and has received rave reviews for her magnificent performances often comparing her to some of the great violinists of the past. On the Biography Channel, a half hour documentary on Patricia's career was televised across North America. Patricia made her first public debut at the age of 4 and has won numerous awards from an early age. She won the Grand Prize at both the CIBC National Music Competition and the Seattle Young Artists Competition in the USA. Patricia also received the highest honor and award amongst all instrumentalists for three consecutive years in the 4,000 person entrant Canadian Music Competition, a feat that was never achieved by anyone since. As the youngest finalist, Patricia received a Special Prize at the International Wieniawski Competition in Poland and at the International Kreisler Competition in Vienna. She was also awarded the International Sommerakademie Mozarteum prize in Salzburg, Austria and in her native Canada, was honoured with the prestigious Sylva Gelber Foundation Award for the most outstanding Canadian musician. As first violinist of Canada’s foremost Borealis String Quartet and on faculty and as artist in residence at University of British Columbia and Kwantlen Polytechnic University, she has also mentored at many other universities internationally and has toured extensively worldwide at major venues.Their performance for the Prime Minister of Canada at Parliament Hill in Ottawa was viewed by over 75,000 people and consequently, the BSQ performed special concerts for the Chief Justice of Canada, Beverly MacLachlin and for His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. As an educator, Patricia has been on faculty and as Artist in Residence at the University of British Columbia and at Kwantlen Polytechnic University for over a decade. Patricia was recently honored as a “Distinguished Fellow of BC” for the applauded presentations and lectures given as a Visiting Scholar at Green College@ UBC. Patricia is also on faculty at the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival in Italy and has given innumerable masterclasses at internationally known institutions, most recently at the Szymanowski Academy in Poland and the Hochschule of Mainz in Germany. Patricia has sat on the jury panel of many competitions and festivals including the Ekhardt-Grammate National Competition and on the Canada Council for the Arts. As a philanthropist, Patricia and the Borealis have devoted their time and art by playing hundreds of performances as part of the Health Arts Society and Concerts in Care. The Borealis also raises the awareness of young composers in the annual Jean Coulthard Quartet Readings by promoting works especially written for the event. She also performs charity concerts for many causes including Children in Need, the Red Cross and Tsunami Relief amongst others. The BSQ also performed the opening concert for the Canada Day celebrations in Rome, Italy. Patrica is endorsed and sponsored by Pirastro Strings and plays on a Paolo Antonio Testore violin made in 1740 in Milan, Italy. In the media, she has been broadcast both on TV and radio innumerable times including the CBS Sunday Morning Show with Charles Kuralt, the Bravo TV Channel, CBC Television and the Classic FM Channel across Europe. Since 2019, Patricia became an Associate Professor of Violin at Baylor University in Waco, Texas and was honored as guest soloist with the Baylor Symphony Orchestra at the TMEA in San Antonio, Texas. While she is not practicing the violin, Patricia can be found practicing her cooking skills, biking and hiking in the mountains of BC and more recently, in the nature parks of Waco, Texas