About Alessia

Award winning Toronto and Boston-based violinist Alessia Disimino is recognized for her thoughtful musicality and instinctive interpretations. Described as "one of Toronto's finest violinists" (Snapd Beaches/Danforth), she is the co-founder and violinist of the Bedford Trio, the 2023/2024 Artist in Residence at the University of Toronto with the Bedford Trio, violinist with the North York Concert Orchestra, and founder and Director of Strings at the North York String Academy, where she teaches the violin on a private and group class basis and curates the violin program. Alessia is a graduate of the University of Toronto's Master of Music in Performance as a scholarship student of Dr. Timothy Ying, and also obtained her Bachelor of Music in Performance with a Minor in English, with Annalee Patipatanakoon of the Gryphon Trio.

Alessia has performed extensively as a chamber musician and soloist, and is the recipient of numerous awards. She has appeared as soloist and concertmaster with the North York Concert Orchestra, Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Toronto Concert Orchestra, and performs regularly as a violinist with numerous orchestras including Esprit Orchestra and Kindred Spirits Orchestra. Alessia has performed in notable recital halls including Carnegie Hall (New York), Koerner Hall (Toronto), Walter Hall (University of Toronto), MacMillan Theatre (University of Toronto), Haggar Hall (Notre Dame University), Studzinski Hall (Bowdoin College, Maine), and others.

As a soloist, Alessia received a Fellowship to the prestigious Bowdoin International Music Festival (2022), a competitive subset of the Festival which invites only 30 musicians internationally each year. Here, she focused her studies on performance and discussions on pedagogy and community engagement with internationally acclaimed educators Renée Jolles, Lewis Kaplan, Kurt Sassmannshaus, and David and Phillip Ying of the Ying Quartet.

With the Bedford Trio, Alessia has concertized across Ontario, Canada and competed internationally.

Bedford Trio is the 2023/2024 Artist in Residence at the University of Toronto, and will host and adjudicate the Piano Trio Composition Competition as part of the New Music Festival, a position they have held since the Competition's inaugural edition in 2020/2021. They have been the Piano Trio in residence since 2018, when they were appointed for the inaugural Irene R. Miller Piano Trio Residency.

The Bedford Trio was a finalist in the Anton Rubinstein Chamber Music Competition in Dusseldorf, Germany (2018), a recipient of Ottawa Chamberfest’s 2018 Career Development Residency, and has been featured at the Sony Centre (Xenia Concerts), the Faculty of Music’s “Thursdays at Noon” recital series, and Toronto’s LISTEN UP! outreach and educational programme in Etobicoke. The trio also received a Fellowship at the Toronto Summer Music Festival (2019), where the trio was one of only two ensembles invited to participate as chamber music fellows. The trio worked side by side with renowned artists such as the members of the New Orford String Quartet and the Dover Quartet, Barry Shiffman, Yegor Dyachkov, and Desmond Hoebig. Bedford Trio is lauded for their curated yearly recital series including their series titled IMMERSED, currently in it's third edition, which highlights their dedication to multi-artistic collaboration of contemporary works written for the trio, alongside captivating digital, lighting, dance, and visual art.

A recipient of numerous awards, Alessia was awarded the Gordon Cressy Leadership Award for her extracurricular contributions to her community and to the University, and also received an Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2017). Previous awards include the Gerhard Kander Graduating Award for Violin, the Suba Institute Award for Performing Excellence, the Felix Galimir Award for Excellence in Chamber Music (2015), and the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto Centennial Scholarship (2014). Alessia holds her Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto (ARCT) in Violin Performance, is an alumnus of the RCM’s Young Artist’s Performance Academy and the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and has attended summer study programs including the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, the Orford Academy, and the Domaine Forget Academy. For her pedagogical training, Alessia has attended the University of Toronto Wind Conducting Symposium and the Indiana University Violin and Viola Teacher Retreat. During her time at the University of Toronto, Alessia served as concertmaster of the University of Toronto Orchestra and Opera, and has studied with esteemed artists Jonathan Crow, Andrew Wan, Erika Raum, Mark Fewer, Jeanne Lamon, Lara St. John, Gryphon Trio, Rob Kapilow, Menahem Pressler, and the Juilliard String Quartet, amongst others.

Alessia is equally passionate about teaching and community outreach. An experienced teacher for students of all ages and levels, Alessia’s interest focuses on diversifying pedagogy to help students excel as independent, competent, and creative musicians. Alessia has performed outreach concerts for numerous senior residences throughout Toronto and Ontario. In her spare time, Alessia loves to write poetry, commission paintings, and read books on a variety of subjects, including English literature, Fiction, Theology, and translations of Classical literature.

To learn more about North York String Academy, please visit https://northyorkstringacademy.com/.

To learn more about the Bedford Trio, please visit http://www.bedfordtrio.com/.