Lydia Munchinsky
Cello, Piano
Lydia Munchinsky is a cellist, pianist, recording artist and composer. She is originally from Straffordville, Ontario. She began her piano studies at the age of 4 and cello when she was 10. She completed her ARCT in performance for both piano and cello before coming to Toronto in 2000 to study cello with Simon Fryer and piano with Peter Longworth at The Glenn Gould School of Music. Her previous teachers include Dorothy Jones and Karen Rowell (piano), and Amanda Keesmaat and Julia MacGregor (cello).
At the ages of 10 and 12, Lydia participated in the International Suzuki Conventions in Australia and Korea, where she performed for Dr. Sininchi Suzuki and worked with Haruko Kataoka. She spent 3 months as a language exchange student in France when she was 16 years old and, the year after graduating high school, backpacked across Europe with her cello for 5 months, spending 3 of those months in Switzerland at the International Christian Study and Philosophy Centre l'Abri.
Since completing the Performance Diploma Program at the Glen Gould School, Lydia's eclectic performance experience has included playing for Stage West and Theatre Aquarius, Dr. Draw, and Sarah Slean. She was a member of the Venuti String Quartet, the Array Ensemble, and the Canadian Folk Music Award-nominated chamber-folk group Ozere. She has premiered solo cello and chamber music works by many Canadian and Austrian composers and gives recitals regularly, some of which have been recorded by CBC and CIUT radio. Lydia also toured extensively across North America and Korea with Quartetto Gelato, usually with her baby daughter in tow, and is featured on their album “All Original, 100% Canadian.” She has recorded soundtracks for films and TV scores including "Percy", "The Breadwinner", "The White Lie", and "Astronaut".
Besides recording albums with Ozere and Quartetto Gelato, Lydia also recorded with Alessia Cara, Jesse Cook, Sarah Slean, Mike Janzen, The Great Lake Swimmers, Royal
Wood, The Weather Station, and Laila Biali.
In 2020, Lydia discovered a new passion for writing and recording her own music and cello arrangements. Since 2020, she has co-written and recorded 3 albums and a number of singles with BC pianist Cory Alstad, some of which were released through the Aemeralds record label and for the Music Supervisors library in the UK.
Lydia started teaching at the age of sixteen. For two years, she taught with Sistema
Toronto in Parkdale and currently teaches at the Toronto School for Strings and the Kingsway School of Music. She has two children, and can often be found making sourdough bread and ice
cream when she's not making music.