Judith Souman is a violist currently based in Waterloo, Ontario. She began violin lessons at the age of twelve, learning with the Suzuki method first with Terence McClean, and later under the tutelage of Lucia Schipperus and mentorship of Ian Hampton and Joel Stobbe at the Langley Community Music School. There she also began to explore her love of chamber music, improvisation, and music history. She holds a bachelor’s degree with a double major in viola performance and music history from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, where she studied with Christine Vlajk and the Penderecki String Quartet, and a master’s degree in classical viola from Codarts University of the Arts in Rotterdam, where she studied with Karin Dolman.
Judith has also taken lessons and played in masterclasses with people such as Nobuko Imai, Garth Knox, Asdis Valdimarsdottir, Gerald Stanick, Marc Sabbah, Brenda Brenner, Nikita Pogrebnoy, and the St. Lawrence, Lafayette, and Dali String Quartets. She has a keen interest in early music and historical performance practice and participated in a mentorship program with the Nota Bene ensemble, as well as learning from Jean Lamon and Patrick Jordan at the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. She frequently performs contemporary music and has worked with established and emerging composers to perform their works in concert. Additionally, she has explored non-classical traditions through fiddling lessons with Shane Guse, and Hindustani music lessons with Lenneke van Staalen.
Judith has performed in concerts across Canada and the Netherlands, regularly playing solo and chamber music in the Spirit of the North Classical Music Festival in Smithers, and in the Zomerconcerten Dordrecht concert series, among others. She has performed as principal violist with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra, the Wilfrid Laurier University Orchestra, and the Codarts Student Orchestra.
In addition to her career as a performer, Judith is passionate about teaching, having taught private violin and viola lessons for over ten years, in addition to conducting orchestras, leading sectionals, and coaching chamber groups at various summer camps and youth orchestra programs in Canada and the Netherlands. She has followed string pedagogy courses and continues to seek out ways to improve her teaching and continue to learn.