2022 Adjudicators

Andrea Stewart

LOWER STRINGS

Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canadian cellist Andrea Stewart is a versatile and multifaceted performer and pedagogue. Interested in the new sounds and techniques found in new music but still intrigued by the beauty of classical and baroque repertoire, Andrea is equally at home performing with electronics as she is playing basso continuo.

In 2006, Andrea made her solo debut with the University of Western Ontario Symphony Orchestra in her native London, Ontario. Since then, various solo recitals and ensemble collaborations have brought Andrea to venues across North America, Europe, and Asia, most recently as part of the Festival de Música de Morelia Miguel Bernal Jiménez (Morelia, Mexico), Sound Unbound(The Barbican Centre, London, UK), and La Folle Journée de Nantes (France).

Andrea is a founding member of the string ensemble collectif9, for which she is also the Assistant Director, and with whom she has created and performed in numerous projects including multi-media works, album recordings, film-concerts, and the commissioning of new music. collectif9’s innovative programmes and educational productions have been toured worldwide. As a member of the early music ensemble Infusion Baroque, Andrea has performed across North America presenting the ensemble’s interactive and engaging programming, and has recorded several albums. The ensemble is dedicated to championing the music of historical women composers and performers with their multi-year project, Virtuosa. 

While travelling with her principal ensembles, Andrea gives workshops and masterclasses to young musicians performing solo works or chamber music, with a focus on finding stability and flexibility in one’s technique and interpretation and allowing historical knowledge to inform one’s musical choices. When at home, Andrea also appears regularly with other ensembles in Montreal such as Arion Baroque Orchestra and Innovations en concert. Andrea was one of three finalists in the prestigious Golden Violin Competition at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, and was a finalist of the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition and the Prix d’Europe Competition.

Andrea holds the degrees of Doctor of Music (2015) and Master of Music (2009) from McGill University. Inspired by contemporary music, her research is devoted to the expansion of cello technique in relation to works in the contemporary repertoire. In the domain of early music, she has explored 18th century music for cello and viola da gamba from a multi-instrumentalist point of view. Support for Andrea’s research has been granted from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in Canada (Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship) as well as from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, for which she is very grateful.