Aisslinn Nosky is a Canadian violinist. She is the concertmaster of the Boston-based Handel and Haydn Society and a member of Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. She is also a member and co-founder of the baroque quartet I Furiosi and the Eybler Quartet.
Nosky hails from Nanaimo, British Columbia, where she took up violin studies at the age of four. She left Nanaimo for Toronto at age 15 to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
In a 2011 interview with music website the Whole Note, she said she was taken with violin music from her earliest days, apparently quieting down when her mother played a recording of the Brahms Violin Concerto. She also said that she first declared that she wanted to be a violinist after seeing Itzhak Perlman on Sesame Street.
Prior to joining Tafelmusik in 2005, Nosky was assistant principal second violinist with the Canadian Opera Company orchestra.
She was appointed concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society in 2010. Prior to the appointment, she had been featured as a guest concertmaster with that orchestra as well as with several others.
In a 2012 interview with the Toronto Star, she estimated that between the four ensembles to which she belongs she performs in more than 200 concerts per year.
In 2012, she released a solo album featuring works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Eugène Ysaÿe and Canadian composer Michael Oesterle, from whom she commissioned an original work. She also appears on recordings by Tafelmusik, I Furiosi and the Eybler Quartet.
I've seen her perform live as a part of Tafelmusik five times, twice in performances that involved her solo playing prominently. She has tremendous skill.
Nosky herself is well known in the classical (and especially baroque) community for her virtuosity, but her bright red hair is well known in its own right. The subject has come up in just about every article about her I've read, and she patiently answers questions about it every time.
Tradition with an attitude — Toronto Star
Interview with Tafelmusik violinist Aisslinn Nosky
We are all music's children: Aisslinn Nosky — The Whole Note
Handel and Haydn Society's hair apparent — Boston Globe
New year to bring fresh starts for Boston baroque Handel and Haydn Society
Aisslinn Nosky (official site)
Aisslinn Nosky on Twitter
Aisslinn Nosky on Facebook