Aysel Taghi-Zada

Aysel Taghi-Zada is a passionate violinist/violist devoted to the performance of classical and contemporary music. She has collaborated with some of the most distinguished composers and musicians from North America and Europe, such as Philip Glass, Brian Current, Salvatore Sciarrino, Chris Paul Harman, Kevin Lau, Mark Fewer, Pierre Leroux, David Geringas, Gidon Kramer and Pascale Beaudin.

She is frequently invited to perform with contemporary ensembles such as New Music Concerts, Freesound Ensemble, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Soundstreams Canada, and Continuum Contemporary Music. She was invited to be a Guest Concertmaster for the Georgian Bay Symphony in 2018 and 2019, and a Guest Assistant Concertmaster for the Kingston Symphony Orchestra in 2019. She has performed with several orchestras, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company, Windsor Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Concert Orchestra.

She is a graduate of the Artist Diploma Program at the Glenn Gould School, where she studied with Barry Shiffman. While studying at McGill University with Jonathan Crow, she co-founded Ensemble Paramirabo, a group specializing in showcasing music written by Canadian composers, and she performed on their first album, Autoportrait.

Most recently, Aysel became a member of Labyrinth Ensemble, dedicated to the study and performance of sonic traditions of modal makam music.

Photo by Shawn Erker