Barry Shiffman, B.M., ARCT

Violinist and violist Barry Shiffman has a rich and varied career as a performer, recording artist, teacher, and administrator. Shiffman made his debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 15. In 1989, he co-founded the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ). During his 17 years with the quartet, he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe and recorded several critically acclaimed discs under an exclusive contract with EMI Classics.

Since the fall of 2010, he has been at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, as both Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at The Glenn Gould School and Director of The Taylor Academy.

At The Banff Centre, he is Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Festival. He has also previously served as Director of Music Programs and Artistic Director of Summer Classical Programs at Banff. 

Since 2017, he has been Artistic Director of Rockport Music, directing the summer chamber music festival and other classical programming at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport Massachusetts. 

He is the recipient of the Nadia Boulanger Prize for Excellence in the Art of Teaching awarded by the Longy School of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary. His formal studies were at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, University of Toronto, Utrecht Conservatory, Hartt School of Music, Juilliard School and Yale University.