Jonathan Crow, born and raised in Prince George, is now the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) concertmaster.
Crow began his musical career by participating in the Suzuki music program that was offered in School District 57 in the early 80s. When that went by the wayside, the program moved to the Prince George Music School, now called the Prince George Conservatory of Music, so Crow moved with it.
"That's where I did all my music training and I had great teachers there," said Crow. "I played in orchestra and junior strings and senior strings and that sort of stuff. It was a great time to make music in the community and I was blessed in a way -- very lucky. There are many musicians in orchestras with big professional jobs that got their start in Prince George."
Crow was a typical kid growing up in Prince George, he said.
"I played street hockey and I played ice hockey on the tennis rinks that got flooded every year near Foothills elementary school so I played outdoors with my friends."
When Crow was 15, his parents were planning for their retirement and decided that Victoria would be a nice place to settle, which also gave him an opportunity to continue his musical training in a bigger centre.
Crow said there never was that ah-ha! moment where he definitively knew that he wanted to make music his career. When he went to university it was a double major in math and music that brought a balance to his education.
"I loved music but I also loved other stuff and I wasn't sure that was what I wanted to do," Crow said. "So I thought I would start with a double major and see where it took me. In a way, I knew I could always come back to mathematics later so I did music first because it's harder to go the other way because in a few years you lose the mental but you also lose the physical ability to play music."
Crow is an acclaimed orchestral and chamber musician, having served as concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra between 2002 and 2006. He was the youngest member of the orchestra as well as the youngest concertmaster of a major North American orchestra.
"Music is a really funny business in a way," said Crow. "It's very prodigious. If you're good at what you do, it's pretty noticeable at a young age. So when you think of the music business -- even in pop -- you think about Justin Beiber and all these teenagers doing these huge things. And it's funny to have the transition from that to just being a normal person doing a job. And a lot of music prodigies don't usually make that transition from child pop star to a grown up pop star who works."
In classical music you have to make that transition, he added. As he takes another concertmaster position, he is not the youngest to take on a position like this at all.
"I am very happy I was able to make the transition," said Crow. "I'm not just going to be remembered for being the youngest concertmaster in North America at one time -- and now what's happened to him, sort of thing. It's nice to be able to continue on with my career and continue to make music."
Crow is the current associate professor of violin at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University and will perform as many as 14 concert weeks at TSO as he makes the transition. The regular concert season usually consists of about 40 weeks.
Crow will move to Toronto with his wife and two children before the symphony's season begins.
The music business is a small one so although moving to another city is always stressful, it certainly won't be too upsetting or feel like starting over again.
"Because I know the orchestra and Toronto quite well, I am hoping the move will feel quite seamless," Crow said.
The TSO's last concertmaster, Jacques Israelievitch, retired at the end of the 2007/08 season.
"It's a long time but at the same time I think [TSO music director] Peter Oundijan wanted to make sure he had the right fit for his orchestra," Crow said.
"He told me you only get to hire somebody once in that sort of way and it's important to find the right person. It makes me feel really good. I'm so happy that it was able to work out and very happy that Peter was very persistent in trying to get me to take the job because we have been in discussions for about two years. So I'm really happy the opportunity still existed when I was ready and the kids were older [two girls now five and three and a half years old]."
There are no really big plans for the future right now, said Crow. Just getting through the next couple of months, with the move and transition will be plenty for now, he said. Once he's done teaching at McGill it will become more clear what to do in Toronto on a full-time basis.
