Jonathan Swartz

A native of Toronto, violinist Jonathan Swartz has distinguished himself throughout North America both as a performer and pedagogue.  While serving on the faculties at Arizona State University, the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory, and the Innsbrook Institute, Swartz has managed to maintain a prolific performing career.  He collaborates often with his sister, Jennifer Swartz, principal harpist of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and his wife, American pianist Wendy Chen.

Swartz has appeared at Colorado’s Strings in the Mountains Chamber Festival, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Mooredale Concert Series, and the Artists Series at Roy Thompson Hall, in addition to several venues under the auspices of Les Jeunesses Musicales du Canada.  He is also a member of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in Tennessee, under conductor Michael Stern, an ensemble that regularly performs with the world’s leading artists, including Gil Shaham, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Jaime Laredo, Joshua Bell, Midori, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Yefim Bronfman.

An advocate for the creation and performance of new music, Swartz has participated in numerous commissions, premieres and recordings including works by composers Stephen Hartke, Richard Danielpour, Kieren MacMillan, James DeMars, Jonathan Leshnoff, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, and Edgar Meyer.  Recent works by Canadian composer Kieren MacMillan, Chaconne and Suite No. 1, have been written for him, and two future chamber works are on the way.  In an effort to help build the career of this talented composer, Swartz plans to record these works and release the first CD devoted entirely to the music of Kieren MacMillan.

Sought after as a master clinician, Swartz was interviewed by STRINGS magazine for an article in the October 2006 issue, based on his presentation Conceptualizing Arm Weight at the 2006 American String Teachers’ National Conference.  He has given master classes throughout North America, including at Vanderbilt University, Bowling Green State University, Florida State University, the Interlochen Arts Academy, and Stanford University.  In addition, Swartz is the founder and Artistic Director of the Visiting Quartet Residency Program at ASU, a chamber music program that integrates visiting resident artists with a comprehensive chamber music curriculum.  Quartets in this residency have included the St. Lawrence and Juilliard String Quartets.

Swartz has a Bachelor of Music cum laude from Rice University, a Master of Music from the Mannes College of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Rice University.  His doctoral thesis is titled, Perspectives of Violin Pedagogy: A Study of the Treatises of Francesco Geminiani, Pierre Baillot, and Ivan Galamian, and a Working Manual by Jonathan Swartz.