PERFORMANCE
Toni is a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, under the baton of Maestro Jonathan Darlington and the Vancouver Film Orchestra, has worked extensively in the recording studio for film television, and has recorded for artisits including John Denver, Bryan Adams, and Michael Buble as well as performed live shows with artists including Smokey Robinson, David Foster, Josh Grobin, Il Divo, and Pavarotti. Discography includes The Spirit Emerges performing the Mark Armanini Concerto for Violin and the Juno award-winning Changing Seasons by Phil Dwyer.
ORCHESTRAL AFFILIATIONS
Toni has acted concertmaster forthe Handel Society Orchestra and Sinfonia, concertmaster of the Kamloops Symphony and principal second Violin of the Fryskorkest, the Netherlands. She has also toured with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Orchestra and performed with the Vancouver and Victoria Symphonies, and with the American Sinfonietta at the Bellingham Festival.
TEACHING
Toni operates a private violin studio on the Vancouver West side. Her students have gone on scholarships to presitious universities and music schools including Juilliard, Colburn,Yale, McGill, UBC, and recieved fellowships to attend summer festivals including Aspen, Mozarteum, Verbier, Music Bridge and many others. Ms Stanick's top students have appeared as soloists with numerous orchestras and been broadcast on CBC and King FM.
Toni is also active as an adjudicator for competitions and music festivals throughout British Columbia and Alberta. She produces solo violin recitals and VIOLINPOWER ensemble, which showcases outstanding talent performing throughout the greater Vancouver area.
Matthew McFarlane of CBC Vancouver said of VIOLINPOWER ,”You run quite the amazing group. It was fun to watch.”
Toni founded and directed the Pacific Chamber Music Society from 1991 to 2002, which produced an annual chamber music summer workshop with a roster of gifted students, including Eol Lee (cello) Jaewon Bang (violin) Caitlin Tully (violin) and Ryan Karchut (violin). Ms Stanick is a memebr of the British Columbia registered Music Teachers Association and the American String Teachers Association
COMPOSITIONS
Ms. Stanick has returned to the drawing board and in the past three years was comissioned to compose a tone-poem for string orchestra, premiered to a standing ovation at the CBC for the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, as well as written several arrangements for string orchestra which have been exceptionally well-received, Cam Trowsdale concertmaster emeritus of the CBC and Vancouver Opera Orchestras said, “ your arrangement of Csardas was the most effective one I’ve heard. The standing ovation was well-earned.” And she is currently working on a suite for solo violin.
DANCE COLLABORATIONS
In the dance scene, Toni performed in Eigenfeltd/Bennathan collaborations and composed and recorded music for Katherine Labelle. Toni co-wrote the score for Serge Bennathans’ La Beaute du Diable and performed onstage with the dancers to critical acclaim.
Michael Scott said, “The score is exceptionally strong, a taut collaboration between violinist Toni Stanick and Russell Shumsky that gives real atmosphere to the proceedings. It begins with double-stopping violin chords reminiscent of Astor Piazolla's Five Tangos and their steaming claustrophobic tread...again and again the music concentrates the drama, when Stanick wields Arvo Part-style arpeggios for instance” and
critic Max Wyman, states a “ravishing violin solo”.
Toronto's Dancemakers with Bennathan at the helm, toured La Beaute across Canada and to Cannes for the International Festival de Danse.
GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY
Ms. Stanick is the founder and director of the JOY of MUSIC an annual concert raising funds and awareness for youth in our community. Toni volunteers her time and knowledge to produce and coach this annual event which brings together performers from universities across Canada and the U.S. as well as from music studios and schools across British Columbia. For the past three years 44 students and 6 mentors have performed in JOY of MUSIC has raising nearly $9000.00 BC Children’s Hospital Foundation for the research and treatment of childhood cancer.
Toni is also a dedicated volunteer in the Vancouver “Greenstreets” program nurturing and tending a boulevard garden bringing colour and life to the streets of Vancouver.
STUDIES
Toni completed her studies with Jean-Jacques Kantorow at the Rotterdam Conservatorium in the Netherlands, where she also performed in master-classes with Ivry Gitlis and Henryk Szerynk.
Toni completed her Bachelor of Music with Gerald Stanick at the University of British Columbia, and worked towards her degree with David Zafer at the University of Toronto and Yuri Mazurkevitch at the University of Western Ontario.
Toni's summer studies included two summers in Europe at CIFM (Centre International de Formation Musicale)in Nice, under Jean-Jacques Kantorow, the Johannassen International Summer Festival with Jean-Jacques Kantorow, the National Youth Orchestra under Georg Tintner. As professional development, spent one summer at Mont Royal College in Calgary, under the direction of Dr. Lise Elson, auditing private lessons, masterclasses and performances to develop her skills as a teacher. Toni is certified in the Suzuki Method, and taught Suzuki at the Vancouver Academy for many years. She has taught at the Pacific Chamber Music Camp and Marrowstone Festival.
EARLY CAREER PERFORMANCE
NEW MUSIC
In 1986 Toni returned to Vancouver from the Netherlands and became immersed in the new music scene. She was involved with the Pro Musica composers collective and was a member of Critical Band with Arne Eigenfeldt and Dennis Burke. She founded and directed Violinworks new music ensemble from 1989 to 1992, premiering works and performing at Sonic Boom and the Hear and Now series and performed for the innaugural concert at the Glass Slipper. In October 1994 she premiered and recorded the Mark Armanini Concerto for Violin with the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic in the Czech Republic. Her performance at the Hear and Now Series prompted Michael Azjenstadt to say “Toni Stanick...was able to mesmerize the audience with her mastery of the violin.....an electrifying violinist who champions new music.”
EARLY CAREER TEACHING
CONDUCTOR SURREY JUNIOR STRINGS
From 1987 to 1991 Toni conducted the Surrey Junior Strings to critical notice. Cynthia Ashton of the Surrey Leader wrote, “the Surrey Junior Strings took the stage under conductor Toni Stanick, but there was nothing junior about this program...Mozart, Handel, Bach, and Paganini all found a place on the musical agenda and all were played with considerable expertise” and the following year, Cynthia Ashton said, “Under the baton of conductor Toni Stanick, the junior strings played Haydn's Symphony No, 88 which was given a brisk classical interpretation. Schubert's Tragic Symphony made a soothing contrast, while all players were alert to the challenging fast tempo of the William Tell. Their performance showed why the Surrey Junior Strings placed first in their class at Kiwanis Festival in Vancouver.”
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