A recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, violinist Praise Lam is emerging as a highly active soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician both in Canada and abroad. In 2002, Praise was invited to play for the Canadian Ambassador to China (His Excellency, Ambassador Joseph Caron) and the Director of the Canada Arts Council (Dr. Shirley L. Thomson) in Beijing. Since capturing the 2003 Emerging Performing Arts Award at the Mississauga Arts Awards, Praise’s solo performances has taken her from her hometown orchestral stage with the Mississauga Philharmonic Orchestra to television appearances with Rogers Cable & CBC to Hollywood’s 20th Century Fox Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles, California.
Praise holds an ARCT Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music, a Bachelor of Music Performance degree and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto. As a consistent scholarship student, Praise studied with renowed pedagogues David Zafer and Alec Hou and has also spent two years of applied violin studies with Professor Lin Yaoji at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. Praise also had the opportunity to play for such esteemed musicians as Jose Luis Garcia, Mauricio Fuks, Mayumi Seiler, and members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Orford String Quartet, and the Prazak String Quaret. An avid promoter of arts in education, Praise held the position as conductor of the Mississauga Youth Orchestra’s Junior Concert Strings in 2000-2001 and continues to maintain an active role in music education.
In her early years, Praise had been active as an accomplished pianist as well as a composer. A consistent award winner in both fields, Praise began her piano studies at age 4 and her composition endeavours at age 9. A student of Canadian composer Larysa Kuzmenko at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Praise Lam was the scholarship winner of the Ettore Mazzoleni Memorial Composition Scholarship and the Dr. Igor Kuchivnsky Memorial Composition Scholarship for three years. She was 15 years old when she first held the position of student composer-in-residence at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s YAPA program (Young Artists’ Performance Academy) in Toronto, and 16 when her work for string orchestra (Shadows of a Journey) was premiered by the Royal Conservatory of Music Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Simon Streatfeild. Her commission at age 18 by the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra to compose an orchestral work (Scenes from a Dream) was her last official work before she decided to pursue a full-time career as a violinist.
Praise’s performances as a member of Sinfonia Toronto, a 13-piece virtuoso strings orchestra, can be heard regularly nationwide on “Symphony Hall” and regionally on “Music Around Us” on CBC Radio Two. Praise currently works as a professional freelance musician in the Greater Toronto Area, holds the position of Principal Second Violinist of the Georgian Bay Symphony, and maintains a busy teaching studio both in Owen Sound and in the GTA. In addition to her classical endeavours, Praise enjoys performing with film and theatre groups. Praise was cast as the solo violinist in Forward Theatre’s productions of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (2003) and Hamlet (2006). She can also be heard playing in the soundtrack of the upcoming film “Gray Matters” (2007) starring Heather Graham and Tom Cavanagh. A fan of improv, jazz and eclectic violin repertoire, Praise enjoys playing with musicians from all walks of life.