Nancy Dahn
Violin, viola
B.Mus. (New England)
M.Mus. (Cleveland)
D.M.A. (Cleveland)
Office: MU-2012
Phone: (709) 864-2372
E-mail: ndahn@mun.ca
Web: www.duoconcertante.com
Hailed as an artist "so genuinely interesting to listen to one forgets how good her technique is" (Halifax Chronicle Herald), Canadian violinist Nancy Dahn has created an international career as half of the acclaimed Duo Concertante with her husband, pianist Timothy Steeves. She has appeared in recital in London (Wigmore Hall), Germany (Am Neuendorfer Anger, Berlin), Chicago (Dame Myra Hess Series), New York City (Music of the Americas; Trinity Church), Ottawa (National Arts Centre), Beijing (Forbidden City Concert Hall), and Los Angeles (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and performs at such summer festivals as the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Huntsville Festival of the Arts, Niagara Festival, Festival of the Sound, Sound Symposium, Cactus Pear Music Festival, Colours of Music Festival, Baie des Chaleurs Chamber Music Festival, and also the Tuckamore Festival, for which she is co-artistic director. The Duo is frequently heard in Canada on CBC Radio and has appeared on TV Ontario’s Studio 2 and Bravo!’s “Classical Now” series. In May 2010, Duo Concertante were named Artists of the Year by NLAC.
With Timothy Steeves, Nancy Dahn has released five commercial recordings on the ATMA Classique, Marquis Classics and Centrediscs labels. Critics have described their playing as "vigorous, passionate . . . red-blooded and romantic . . ."(Rick Phillips, CBC’s Sound Advice), "spectacular" (American Record Guide) and have praised their "exceptional warmth and intimacy of presentation" (Ottawa Citizen). The most recent recording, Wild Bird, released in fall of 2010, comprises works written especially for the duo by Canadian composers R. Murray Schafer, Chan Ka Nin, and Kati Agócs, including Schafer’s only major work for violin and piano. Also slated for a fall 2010 release is their classical music video, "Tico Tico".
As a soloist, Nancy Dahn has performed concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bach, Mozart, Saint-Saens, Pärt, Piazzolla, Vivaldi, Lou Harrison, and Andrew MacDonald with orchestras in Canada and the United States. She recently presented the world premiere of Alice Ho’s Double Concerto, written for Duo Concertante with the assistance of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and performed Marjan Mozetich’s concerto Affairs of the Heart.
Dahn is a passionate and experienced teacher who has given hundreds of workshops and master classes across Canada and in the U.S. and China including at the Glenn Gould Professional School, University of Toronto, University of Western Ontario, Wilfred Laurier University, University of Victoria, Ithaca College, Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, UBC, University of Victoria, Mount Royal College, and Bishop’s University. She also teaches at the Domaine Forget’s Violin Seminar summer program. Her students have been accepted for graduate studies at schools such as the Juilliard School, Rice University, the New England Conservatory, McGill University, the Guildhall School, the University of Toronto, the Peabody Conservatory, and the Glenn Gould Professional School.
She is currently Professor of Violin and Viola at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Dahn received her training at the New England Conservatory of Music with Masuko Ushioda, the Juilliard School with Glenn Dicterow, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she received a doctorate in violin performance with Donald Weilerstein.