Born in early 2015 on the Philosopher's Walk in downtown Toronto, the Odin Quartet unites
four musicians who represent the diversity that Canada takes pride in. Violinist, Alex Toskov, is
originally from Belgrade, Serbia. Tanya Charles Iveniuk, also a violinist, grew up in Hamilton,
Ontario with roots in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Veronica Lee, born in South Korea, is a
violist from LaSalle, Ontario. French-Canadian cellist and composer, Samuel Bisson, hails from
Ottawa, Ontario. In June 2015, the Odin Quartet was selected to be one of the few ensembles
to participate in the Luminato Festival's epic production of R Murray Schafer's, Apocalypsis.
Through this, the Quartet had the opportunity not only of being mentored by the award-winning
Afiara and Cecilia Quartets, but were also invited to collaborate with them on outreach and
performances shortly thereafter. Since then, the Odin Quartet has been frequent performers of
the Ottawa Valley Music Festival, Barrie Concert Series, Guelph Connections, Music in the
Atrium, Music at Mount Pleasant, and Music Niagara. The Quartet, which takes its name from
the one-eyed Norse deity, aims to promote modern Canadian compositions in addition to
collaborating with other musicians and artists of other disciplines.
The Odin String Quartet has served as the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra's Ensemble-
in-Residence since September 2017. In 2018, the ensemble premiered a new piece by Samuel
Bisson, entitled EPITAPH foratonality, which featured the Quartet as soloists with the
Scarborough Philharmonic, conducted by Ronald Royer. Collaborations have included artists
such as Atis Bankas (violin), Victoria Kogan (piano), Raffi Altounian (guitar), Carmen Romero
(flamenco dancer), Christopher Kelk (actor, storyteller), the Nathaniel Dett Chorale and
Spectrum Music. In 2019, the ensemble celebrated the inaugural concert of its Drying Ink series,
performances dedicated to the premiere of new, Canadian works written for the Quartet.
Currently, they look forward to incoming compositions from their Lockdown Lullabies call for
scores. This project, initiated in May of 2020, aims to inspire composers, worldwide, to continue
to create and stay in positive spirits during the challenging times related to the COVID-19 health
crisis.