Marina Hoover
Cello
Two-time Grammy nominee Marina Hoover was born in Edmonton, Canada. She studied cello under David Soyer at the Curtis Institute of Music and obtained a Master's degree at Yale University under Aldo Parisot. She was founding cellist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, which rocketed to international prominence after winning both the Young Concert Artists auditions and the Banff International String Quartet Competition.
In her 13 years with the St. Lawrence Quartet, Ms. Hoover performed at the White House, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street “Y”, The Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and Theatre De Ville (Paris). In addition, the quartet made regular appearances at Tanglewood, the Newport Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, as well as over 1,000 other appearances throughout North and South America, Europe, Japan, Australia and Vietnam. The St. Lawrence Quartet has been the resident quartet at Spoleto USA since 1996.
The quartet’s major recording label debut Schumann String Quartets 1 and 3 won the Juno award for Best Classical recording (1999) and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik (2001). It was voted one of the most important classical recordings of the 1990s by Opus Magazine. In 2002, the St. Lawrence’s third CD, Yiddishbbuk: The Chamber Works of Osvaldo Golijov was nominated for two Grammy awards, including Best Classical Chamber Music Recording and Best Composer, as well as a Juno Award for Best Classical Recording. Ms. Hoover’s most recent CD with Pianist Patricia Tao includes works by Chopin, Strauss and Liszt. It is recorded for Centaur label and was released in March 2007.
Ms. Hoover’s solo career has included concertos with Toronto Symphony, Red Deer Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Belo Horizonte Symphony (Brazil), Edmonton Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony, Yale Chamber Orchestra and the Curtis Orchestra. She has performed recitals throughout North America and most recently at Northwestern University’s Lutkin Hall. She appeared in the movie Illuminata, directed by John Turturo. A decade after winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition she returned to Banff to serve as a juror for the competition in 2002.
For four years Ms. Hoover was Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University, where she co-directed the string program and designed and ran a summer institute for chamber musicians. She has been visiting Artist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto and participated in numerous community outreach programs with the St. Lawrence Quartet in Kansas City, Washington D.C., Palo Alto and other cities. For the 2002-03 she was visiting Professor of Cello at the University of Toronto. She has also been an Artist-in-Residence at the Banff School Of Fine Arts and Distinguished Artist at the University of Alberta. She has also taught chamber Music as part of the Chicago String Quartet at Northwestern University.
Ms. Hoover currently maintains an active performing schedule of both solo and chamber music. Recent performances include appearances with the Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Chamber Musicians, faculty members from Northwestern University and the Music Institute of Chicago. She currently coaches chamber music at the Music Institute of Chicago, Evanston Campus.
She regularly performs with her duo partner Patricia Tao in Canada and the United States.
