TD Encounters: Violins Unbound

Few instruments can match the violin’s extraordinary combination of brilliance, agility, and expressive power. This Encounters event will showcase all that the violin can offer, featuring violinists Judith Fliedl, visiting from Austria on a Canadian tour, and Toronto-based violinist Roan Ma, performing a world premiere for violin duet by André Ristic, commissioned by Soundstreams. The program will also include works by John Beckwith, Chris Paul Harman, Parisa Sabet, Ana Sokolović. A discussion and audience Q&A with Fliedl and Ma will follow the performance.

Artists Bios

Roan Ma is a multi-faceted musician passionate about creating space within the classical music world where new and diverse voices are represented. Her work focuses on rediscovering music and musicians obscured by time and social constrictions, as well as challenging the conventions of classical violin through contemporary repertoire.

Recent performances as violin soloist include Kaija Saariaho’s Violin Concerto Graal théâtre, Giacinto Scelsi’s Violin Concerto Anahit, and the Canadian premiere of Marcos Balter’s Violin Concerto. Additional recent accomplishments include performing chamber music with the Kronos Quartet, the Bang On A Can All-Stars, Continuum Contemporary Music Ensemble, and attending the 2025 Darmstadt Summer Course as a full-scholarship Fellow.

Roan received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in violin performance from Manhattan School of Music, a Master of Education from Columbia University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Toronto.

Judith Fliedl is a Vienna-based violinist and one of the most versatile Austrian musicians of her generation. Her artistic practice combines solo and chamber music performance with a strong commitment to contemporary music, an exceptionally broad repertoire, and an intensive engagement with artistic research. An award-winning artist at both national and international levels, she performs worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician. She has appeared at major festivals and concert venues including the Salzburg Festival, Settembre Musicale, impuls Festival, ECLAT Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Wien Modern, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Musikverein Vienna, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Her distinctions include prizes at the Johannes Brahms Competition, the NASOM Prize, recognition as a Jeunesses Featured Artist, and the International Reate Prize for Contemporary Music (2025).

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include solo appearances at Wien Modern, ZeitGenuss Karlsruhe, Music Current Dublin, MuTh Vienna, Soundstreams Toronto, Le Vivier Montréal, Carinthian Summer, and other international festivals.

Alongside her performing career, Fliedl is a Junior Researcher and doctoral candidate at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where she conducts research and teaches in the fields of innovative concert formats and audience participation. In 2023, she was awarded the Austrian Start Scholarship for Music and Performing Arts, followed by the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz Best Practice Award in 2024.

She studied at the Mozarteum University Salzburg with Igor Ozim and Pierre Amoyal, at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music in London, completed the postgraduate programme of Klangforum Wien, and pursued chamber music studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Since August 2026, Judith Fliedl has served as a member of the Advisory Board for Awards and Funding of the City of Vienna.

Judith Fliedl performs on a 1780 violin by Lorenzo Storioni, generously made available to her through a private loan.

*Soundstreams’ TD Encounters is a free event series which always offers something different. These events are equal parts performance, artist discussion, and Q&A, and give audiences the opportunity to engage with artists and their work in an intimate and relaxed setting.