Maxime Despax

viola

Canadian violist Maxime Despax is an active chamber and orchestral musician. Currently, he is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Teng Li, with whom he also completed a Master’s degree in Viola Performance. Originally from Gatineau, Quebec, he has studied at the Conservatoire de musique de Gatineau and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Emmanuel Beaudet and Jocelyne Bastien. 

Maxime has performed alongside many distinguished musicians such as members of the New Orford String Quartet, the Gryphon Trio, Rob Kapilow, Krisztina Szabó, Philip Chiu, Alex Kerr, and Yehonatan Berick. He has also performed as a soloist with the Orchestre du Conservatoire de Musique de Gatineau, as well as the Indiana University Summer String Academy chamber orchestra. 

An avid chamber musician, Maxime is a co-founding member of the Interro String Quartet, which is based in Toronto and performs throughout the Greater Toronto Area. Furthermore, Maxime is an active member of Quatuor Despax, a family string quartet that tours extensively throughout Canada, as well as internationally in France, Italy, and Colombia.

In addition to these musical activities, he is a member of the Orchestre Symphonique de Gatineau and has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. 

A strong advocate of contemporary music,  Maxime has collaborated with many prominent living composers and has performed in the Canadian premieres of Salvatore Sciarriano’s operatic work “Luci Mie Traditrici” and Toshio Hosokawa’s “The Raven”.

Maxime is passionate about music education and outreach.  He currently lives in Toronto where he teaches with Neighbour Note, an online school that offers lessons throughout Ontario.