Jasper Wood: Hitting the right notes
Heralded as one of the most gifted violinists of his generation, Jasper Wood has been making music with some of the world's finest violins. In 2000, the Moncton-born virtuoso was awarded a valuable violin for a three-year period from the Canada Council's Musical Instrument Bank.
Made in 1820 by Joannes Francesco Pressenda of Turin, Italy, the instrument is valued at an estimated $250,000 U.S and is on loan to the Council by an anonymous donor from the United States. Wood was again in the winner's circle at last year's Instrument Bank national competition when he was awarded, again for a three-year-loan, the 1700 Taft Stradivari violin.
Made during the early period of legendary Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari's so-called golden period, the instrument was once owned by Mrs. Charles Phelps Taft, one of the founders of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and sister-in-law to the 27th president of the United States, William Howard Taft.
Valued at about $2.2 million U.S., the violin belongs to the same philanthropist who lent the Council the 1820 Pressenda violin. Wood has made good use of both instruments.
His extensive touring schedule as both a soloist and a chamber musician have included performances at New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall, concerto appearances with symphony orchestras throughout North America and an open-air recital in Rome in the summer of 2003.
As a recording artist, Wood has already released three CDs, with two more on the way this year. He is regularly heard on CBC Radio, Radio-Canada and National Public Radio in the U.S.
Soon he will host and perform in a documentary on the history of the violin in Atlantic Canada, and star in a short film, "The Last Violinist," produced for the Canadian cable-television channel, Bravo!
It's a hectic but perhaps natural schedule for an artist who recently told an interviewer he couldn't imagine "not playing, not being with the violin."
Born into a musical family of six children on April 29, 1974, Wood began his love affair with the instrument at the age of five when he first performed in public. The day after his 13th birthday, he made his orchestral debut with Symphony Nova Scotia.
Awarded Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music in the mid-1990s, Wood's prowess with the violin has been praised by one critic as "complete mastery of the technical fireworks required."
Other reviews have been no less ebullient: "a control rare in violinists his age," "gorgeous sound and brilliant control," and "like an entire violin section unto himself."
Wood's enormous talent has also been recognized by the Canada Council, which in 1996 presented him with the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award - a $15,000 prize given annually to a young Canadian classical musician.
And, he's connecting with new audiences, as the personable violinist demonstrated when he jammed with Celtic fiddlers and rock stars at the East Coast Music Awards in Saint John in 2002.
At last year's ceremony in Halifax, Wood's music took centre stage when he took home the Classical Recording of the Year award for Stravinsky: Works for Violin & Piano, featuring American pianist David Riley.
- Christopher Guly