Canadian cellist CHRISTOPHER HWANG is a dynamic and profound artist who has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician across North America and Asia.
A laureate of numerous prestigious competitions, Mr. Hwang most recently won the 2023 Canada Council Instrument Bank Competition, securing a three-year loan of an exquisite Italian Carlo Giuseppe Oddone cello (1929). His participation as a finalist in the 2021 Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition ignited his passion for commissioning new Canadian works such as Kevin Lau, Kevin He and Ron Royer, further distinguishing him among Canada’s emerging classical talents.
Among his upcoming projects in 2025 is his debut commercial recording under the Akashic Label, featuring three newly commissioned Canadian works juxtaposed with a traditional standard piece for solo cello. This initiative is generously supported by the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ontario Arts Council.
Mr. Hwang has appeared as a soloist with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Youth Orchestra, CAST (Chinese Artist Society of Toronto) Orchestra, and the Yale Baroque Ensemble. His performances have graced prestigious venues including Sprague Memorial Hall, McMillan Theatre, Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, and Centre In The Square.
His artistic development has been enriched through participation in distinguished international music festivals, including the Banff Centre’s Chamber Residency, Masterclass and Orchestra Seminar, Great Mountains Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, and Morningside Music Bridge. Throughout these programs, Mr. Hwang has collaborated with celebrated masters such as Janos Starker, Steven Isserlis, and Gary Hoffman.
Mr. Hwang studied at the New England Conservatory with Laurence Lesser and Lluis Claret, Yale University under Aldo Parisot, and the University of Toronto with Shauna Rolston. His foundational instruction came from David Hetherington and Paul Pulford.
A dedicated pedagogue, Mr. Hwang frequently serves as a guest artist, offering cello instruction at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and throughout the United States.
Learn more about the Carlo Giuseppe Oddone cello (1929) on loan from the Canada Council Instrument Bank below.
1929 CARLO GIUSEPPE ODDONE CELLO
Cellos by Oddone are highly praised and sought after by players, as they are world-renowned for their sound, quality and consistency of tone. This cello is no exception: it possesses a very strong, focused, and complex voice. Created during the zenith of Oddone’s skills, this cello exhibits his most successful varnish to date.
The instrument is labelled “Carlo Guiseppe Oddone, OP.222 Fece Torino A-1929” and is made of a two-piece back slab cut of select quarter-cut maple and displays strong figure descending from the centre . The ribs and scroll are cut from matching maple. The varnish is a light golden brown over an amber base, and the chamfers of the scroll and the rib corners were blackened by the maker.
Carlo Giuseppe Oddone was born in Turin, Italy, in 1866 and studied with Benedetto Gioffredo Rinaldi for close to ten years. Rinaldi was a student of the acclaimed Giovanni Francesco Pressenda of Turin (b. 1777 – d. 1854). Oddone travelled to Paris to work with Georges Chanot III and later to London to work with Hills and Carlo Andreoli, returning to Turin in 1901. Oddone died in 1936.
The 1929 Carlo Giuseppe Oddone cello was played on for 12 years by former MIB recipient Rachel Desoer, cellist of the now disbanded Canadian ensemble Cecilia Quartet.
Donor: Dr. Robert S. Williams
Acquired: 2022