Biography
Winner of the 2024 inaugural Concours international de musique de Sorel-Tracy, pianist Jonathan Mak made his orchestra debut at the age of 4. Since then, he has been a guest soloist with numerous orchestras, most notably the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. In addition to his win at the Sorel-Tracy competition, Jonathan's recent accomplishments include the Grand Prize at the 2023 Bader & Overton Canadian Piano Competition, Grand Prize at the 2023 Plowman Chamber Music Competition with Trio Menil, the First Prize at the 2024 Tuesday Musical Club’s Young Artists Competition, and the third prize in the OSM competition. Jonathan received special prizes at the Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition in Slovenia, and the Maj Lind International Piano Competition in Finland. He has also participated in the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Named as one of CBC’s 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30, Jonathan is a recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts-Michael Measures award and the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award, along with the 2023 Walter Prystawski Prize.
In the upcoming 24/25 season Jonathan will be performing Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 with the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, Kingston Symphony Orchestra and the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra.
He has been invited to perform at various festivals including the Bravo! Vail Festival in Colorado, the Festival of the Sound in Ontario, Ottawa Chamberfest, and the Edinburgh International Festival.
An advocate for community outreach, Jonathan is an alumnus of DACAMERA’s Young Artist Program, a fellowship program for emerging professional instrumentalists, vocalists, and composers that serves the Houston community.
Jonathan is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at Rice University with Jon Kimura Parker. He began his studies with Aster Lai in Toronto, and holds a Master’s of Music and a Master’s of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music, studying with Boris Slutsky. He received his Bachelor’s degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Dr. Daniel Shapiro, as well as minors in viola and German.