David Lakirovich, violin & Sunny Qu, piano – Sunday, March 9, 2025 – 2:30pm

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Assistant Concertmaster, David Lakirovich, and accomplished Vancouver-based pianist, Sunny Qu, will present an afternoon of enchanting melodies that are sure to delight! Their program will feature the works of Mozart and Tchaikovsky; two timeless composers united in their mastery of melodic writing and classical structure.

The concert will open with an informal conversation between LCMS’ Artistic Director Elizabeth Bergmann and the artists, followed by complimentary coffee, tea and refreshments before the performance. The performance will take place in the Rose Gellert Hall and will last approximately 60 min, with no intermission.

Commentary & Coffee – 2:30pm, Concert – 3:15pm

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About David Lakirovich, violin

David Lakirovich was born in Brisbane, Australia, and started his violin studies at the age of three with his father, Jacob Lakirovich. David has taken part in various master classes with renowned violinists such as Felix Andrievsky, Nelly Shkolnikova, Jose-Louis Garcia, Pinchas Zukerman,Victor Tretyakov, Mauricio Fuks, Haim Taub, Pavel Vernikov, and Michael Frischenschlager. His teachers have included David Zafer in Toronto, Arkadij Winokurow and Boris Kuschnir in Vienna, Vadim Gluzman and Shmuel Ashkenasi in Chicago, and William Preucil in Cleveland.

David has performed in many recitals and concerts in Australia, USA, Canada, Israel and Europe, including solo performances in Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, Bronfman Auditorium in Tel Aviv, Stradivari Museum in Cremona, Italy, along with solo performances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Scarborough Symphony, York Symphony, and Chicago College of Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra. He also performed in the “Young Stars of the Young Century” concert in George Weston Recital Hall for the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation. He performed in a Stradivari Society concert in Chicago, playing on the 1692 ‘Lord Falmouth’ Stradivari. He has also performed solo on Chicago WFMT 98.7 Classical Radio on numerous occasions.

A passionate chamber musician, he has collaborated with Peter Salaff, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ilya Kaler, Mark Kosower, Atar Arad, William Wolfram, Alina Ibragimova and Vadim Gluzman. He has also collaborated and performed with ensembles that include the Pacifica Quartet, Cavani Quartet, and the Vermeer Quartet, and has performed in the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival in Chicago. In 2014, his quartet at the Cleveland Institute of Music won “Quartet of the Year” in the Hvide Sande Festival in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has also performed at the Instrumental Society of Calgary and Vancouver Chamber Music Society on several occasions. David has participated in and achieved top honours in numerous violin and chamber music competitions around the world. He was a participant at the Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse in Israel for two summers, as well as the Pinchas Zukerman Young Artist Program in Ottawa.

Equally passionate in pedagogy, David Lakirovich was a faculty member of the Rochetta Ligure Masterclass in Palazzo Spinola, Italy, and has been on faculty at the Cremona International Music Academy since 2013. In 2017-18, he served on the faculty of the Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary, and has given numerous masterclasses and seminars in their Advanced Performance Program. He also taught at the University of Calgary the same year. He is currently on faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the VSO School of Music and is the Program and Operations Director of the Vancouver Island Music Academy.

David completed his Undergraduate Degree at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2013 with Shmuel Ashkenasi and Vadim Gluzman, and his Master’s Degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2015 with William Preucil. He previously served as the Associate Concertmaster of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio for 3 seasons, and was a member of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra as a 1st section violin and the Acting Assistant Concertmaster. He was also invited to perform as guest Associate Concertmaster with the Jalisco Philharmonic during the entire summer of 2015 in Guadalajara, Mexico, as well as Guest Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in April and November 2019. David joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as the new Assistant Concertmaster at the beginning of the 2018/19 season.

About Sunny Qu, piano

Pianist Sunny Qu has performed on three continents in such venues as the Weiner Salle in Salzburg, Austria, Duke’s Hall in London, England, and the Chan Centre in his native Vancouver.

Sunny was a prize winner of the 2009 Knigge Competition, as well as a past winner of the UBC Concerto Competition. He has subsequently performed with the UBC Symphony Orchestra, as well as the West Coast Symphony Orchestra. In recent seasons, Sunny has appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto no. 3 and with the BC Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Double Piano Concerto alongside his teacher, Sara Davis Buechner.  He was also invited to perform as soloist in the west coast premier of Charles Hansen’s Adagio for Piano and Orchestra with the Bellflower Symphony. Sunny was the recipient of the Johann Strauss Foundation Award, and the Else Cross Brahms Prize from the Royal Academy of Music in London, England. Currently, he is working on performing the complete works of Chopin.

In 2017, Sunny was invited to join the Global Outstanding Chinese Artist Association as the organization’s ambassador in North America. In this role he has served on the jury of the GOCAA International Piano Competition in 2017 and 2018, as well as given masterclasses at the 2018 GOCAA Summer Academy held at California State University Northridge.

Sunny was a graduate of the UBC School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with Sara Davis Buechner and Hamish Milne. He then continued his studies with pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane at the University of Southern California. His past teachers include renowned pedagogue Edward Parker and concert pianist Ian Parker. He was also fortunate to receive guidance during his studies from such artists as Anton Kuerti, Robert Levin, Joanna MacGregor, Pascal Devoyon, and Steven Osborne.