Biography
Canadian violist Brandon Chui has been a member of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra since 2007. Brandon also holds the position of Co-Principal Viola of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra after serving as Assistant Principal Viola of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony from 2015-17. He has performed extensively with the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra and Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Brandon has held leading roles at Italy’s Centre for Operatic Studies, Switzerland’s Verbier Festival and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, has been Guest Principal Viola at Orchestra London, and is a regular mentor and Principal Viola at Boris Brott Music Festival’s National Academy Orchestra in Hamilton.
A native Torontonian, Brandon has toured throughout North America, Asia, Australia and Europe, appearing on such stages as Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, New York’s David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, Lucerne’s KKL, Zurich’s Tonhalle and the opera houses of Genova, Lyon and Versailles. Working with many of today’s most celebrated conductors, including Semyon Bychkov, Valery Gergiev, Manfred Honeck, Gianandrea Noseda and Jaap van Zweden, he has been heard on the CBC (Canada), DRS2 (Switzerland), NDR (Germany), RAI3 (Italy) and RSR (Switzerland) radio networks.
An all-around music nerd, Brandon received his first violin lessons at the age of thirteen. He started piano at a young age and took up a keen interest in the trombone, an instrument he started in elementary school and faithfully continued with nerdy love until the end of high school, by which time he had added trumpet, tuba and timpani to the home cacophony.