Biography

Featured in the CBC’s 2026 edition of “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30,” Joey Machin is an avid chamber musician and soloist from Toronto, Canada. He has performed in concerts and competitions as part of a duo, piano trio, and string quartet. Following two recital rounds performed with his duo partner, Veola Sun, he was awarded first prize in the 2025-2026 Golden Violin Award Competition, one of Canada’s largest privately-funded music awards. In the 2025-2026 season, he presented recitals in the Lakeshore Chamber Music Society and McGill chamber music series, and competed in the 2026 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition as a member of Ottica Trio. Before forming the trio, his string quartet, Horatio, won the 2024 McGill Chamber Music Competition and was selected as a finalist in the 2024 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition. 

Joey has worked with members of renowned ensembles such as the Ébène, Brentano, Borromeo, Emerson, Juilliard, Dover, Talich, Calidore, and Jerusalem quartets. He has participated in a number of chamber music festivals and programs, including the Taos School of Music, Montreal International String Quartet Academy, Robert Mann String Quartet Institute, Calidore String Quartet Seminar, and Yellow Barn Young Artists Program. This past summer, he attended Yale’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.

Joey plays Baroque violin and enjoys exploring historically informed performance, especially the performing practices of the Classical and Romantic eras. He recently performed with Les Violons du Roy in Québec City and will be joining them as a resident of the Emergence program during the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons. He has also performed Romantic chamber music with fortepiano and Baroque and Classical orchestral works with McGill’s baroque orchestra.

As a soloist, Joey performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor with North York Concert Orchestra and the Hart House Orchestra in Toronto. In 2025, he performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major in the finals of the McGill Romantic Concerto Competition, having previously played it with McGill’s Beethoven Orchestra. 

Joey also has an interest in contemporary music. In addition to having his own arrangements recorded and compositions performed by groups such as the Bedford Trio and Continuum Ensemble, he has enjoyed premiering and recording chamber works of several living composers. Joey studied violin in Toronto with Ivan Ivanovich and completed his bachelor’s degree at McGill University in the studio of Violaine Melançon. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree at The Juilliard School under the guidance of Mark Steinberg. Joey is also a grateful recipient of the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation award, which supports his studies in New York.

Joey plays on a violin made by Alina Kostina in 2023, modeled after the 1741 “Kochanski” Guarneri del Gesù, and uses a bow made by Louis Morizot père, crafted circa 1900.