Gwen Hoebig

Hoebig, Gwen. Violinist, b Vancouver 19 Sep 1959; B MUS (Juilliard) 1980, M MUS (Juilliard) 1981. She began musical studies with her father at five. Other teachers were Sydney Humphreys in Victoria, Stephen Staryk and John Loban in Vancouver, and Ivan Galamian and Sally Thomas at the Juilliard School. Hoebig's orchestral debut was with the Vancouver Youth Orchestra at age seven, and she was a frequent winner of music festivals and competitions in Canada and Europe. In 1972 she won the string category in the National Competitive Festival of Music (CIBC National Music Festival), and in the same category in 1975 was first in the CBC Talent Festival. In 1975 a piano trio with her cellist brother Desmond Hoebig and pianist Jon Kimura Parker tied for second place in the Concertina Praga. Hoebig won the grand prize in the 1976 Canadian Music Competitions, the International Competition for junior violinists in Glasgow (second, 1977), the S.C. Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition (1977), and second prize (no first awarded) in the 1981 Munich International Violin Competition. Her New York concerto debut was with the Juilliard Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall in 1980. With her brother Desmond, and her husband, the pianist David Moroz (b Winnipeg 1959; M MUS Juilliard 1981), she formed in 1979 the Hoebig/Moroz Trio, which won first prize in the CBC Radio Talent Competition in 1983 and continued to perform on an occasional basis in 2003. In 1993 she received a Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation for her contribution to the arts.

Positions
Hoebig was concertmaster of OJQ 1983-5, and a member of the MSO 1984-7. She became concertmaster of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1987, a position she maintained in 2003. She held the same position with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra 1987-90. She joined and remained active in the Winnipeg Chamber Music Society. In addition she performed frequently as a chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist in summer festivals at Banff, Festival of the Sound, Stratford, Monterey (California), and the Centara New Music Festival; and with orchestras in Canada (including the Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Quebec City, and Edmonton symphony orchestras) and Europe (Bayerische Rundfunk Orchester, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra). Hoebig taught at the Banff Summer Gifted Youth Program (1985), at the Banff Centre (1995, 1997), and at the Domaine Forget and Kincardine summer programs. In 1997 she co-founded (with John Kadz) the Morningstar Music Bridge program, an international four-week summer festival in Calgary. She was on the string faculty at the University of Manitoba (1988-91) and again from 2002, and from 1989 at Mount Royal College, Calgary.

Hoebig premiered violin concerti by Canadian composers Eckhardt-Gramatté, Gary Kulesha (2000), and Patrick Carrabre (1995), and performed works by John Estacio, Michael Matthews, and Jim Hiscott. She also gave Canadian premieres of violin concerti by Joan Tower, Christopher Rouse, and Philip Glass. For her contributions to Canadian music, Hoebig was named a Canadian Music Centre ambassador in 2009.

Author Susan Spier

Links to Other Sites
Gwen Hoebig
A profile of Canadian violinist Gwen Hoebig. From the Winnipeg Chamber Music Society website.