About this Artist
Violinist Vivian Kukiel, from Toronto, Canada, joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in July 2024. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Colburn Conservatory where she studied with Martin Beaver. Her past teachers include Victor Danchenko, Jonathan Crow, and Kelly Parkins-Lindstrom at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy.
Vivian has received numerous awards from national and international competitions. In the summer of 2022 she was awarded first prize at the CANIMEX Stepping Stone Competition. That same year she was named by CBC Music one of Canada’s top 30 classical musicians under the age of 30. She has also won first place at the 2018 Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition in Budapest, Hungary, second prize at the Canadian National Music Festival and multiple first prizes at the Canadian Music Competition.
As a soloist, Vivian has performed with the Toronto Sinfonietta, the Niagara Symphony, the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra and the Colburn Conservatory Orchestra, among others. She has collaborated with esteemed musicians including Tessa Lark, Martin Beaver, Nokuthula Ngwenyama and Orion Weiss.
Vivian has participated in many renowned summer festivals including the Tanglewood Music Center, Kneisel Hall, Music@Menlo, the National Arts Centre’s Young Artist Program, Morningside Music Bridge and the Salzburg Mozarteum. She currently plays on an 1851 J.B. Vuillaume violin generously on loan to her from the Canada Council for the Arts.