Paul Widner

As a cellist and teacher, Paul Widner has appeared throughout Asia, Europe, the United States and Canada. Since 1985, Mr. Widner has been the assistant principal cellist with the Canadian Opera Company orchestra. Much sough after as a chamber musician, he has performed with a variety of chamber groups, including the Made-in-Canada Piano Quartet and the Toronto Chamber Players. He was also a founding member of the Amadeus Ensemble. He is on the faculty of the Glenn Gould School and the University of Toronto and was acting cello professor at the University of Western Ontario in 2007-2008. He has been invited to conduct master classes and workshops at several schools throughout Canada, including the University of British Columbia, the Banff Centre and the Royal Conservatory of Music and is on the faculty of the Music at Port Milford summer chamber music festival. His expertise has been in the field of contemporary music. He has been the principal cellist with the Esprit orchestra since 1985, founding member of the Continuum ensemble and performs regularly with New Music Concerts, Arraymusic and Soundstreams and has debuted and commissioned numerous Canadian works. He has recently performed as soloist in the North American premiere of the Penderecki Concerto Grosso for three cellos and orchestra and “Seven Words” by Sofia Gubaidulina. Mr. Widner records with CBC records and other independent labels and appeared with Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian on “Azulao”-a recording for voice and cello ensemble, which won a Juno award for best Classical Vocal Album. Mr. Widner has performed at various international festivals including the Huddersfield New Music Festival, Athens Festival, Die Neue Musik in Chicago, the Gaudemus and Shift Festivals in Amsterdam, the Edinburgh Festival and the Montreal New Music Festival. In May, 2015, Mr Widner, as a member of the Continuum Ensemble, was part of the Canadian delegation at the Classical:Next conference in Rotterdam.