Andrew Kizas

Andrew Kizas is currently the Artistic Director of the Regional Strings Program for the Peel District School Board at Port Credit Secondary School. He studied violin at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the University of Toronto, with John Montague, Erica Davidson, and Gerard Kantarjian, former Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He holds an Honours Bachelor’s degree in Music from Dalhousie University and the University of King’s College, where he studied violin with Philippe Djokic; and, Master of Music and Doctor of Philosophy (in Music) degrees from the University of Western Ontario.

Andrew received his teacher training at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, at the University of Toronto, and has published articles on music education, and string pedagogy, in the Journals of the Ontario Music Educators’ Association and the Canadian Music Educators’ Association. He has presented his research at numerous conferences, in both Canada and the United States, and has been invited to participate in the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School in New York. He has been an education consultant for the Canadian Music Centre, and has been contracted to write lesson plans for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Educational Outreach Concert Series.

Andrew is a former Associate Conductor of the Mississauga Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Mississauga Youth Orchestra, and has been invited to direct the Peel District School Board’s Honour String Ensemble on numerous occasions.

Andrew currently serves as a violinist with the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Toronto.