Darren Hicks

Darren Hicks joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 2018/19 season as Associate Principal Bassoon. Prior to his appointment to the Toronto Symphony, Mr. Hicks was a Fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, for three seasons. At the New World Symphony, Mr. Hicks was able to marry his zeal for performance and sharing his passion for classical music through lecture recitals and one-on-one audience member conversations. He was a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra (Verbier, Switzerland) from 2013 to 2015, where he worked with world-renowned conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Gianandrea Noseda, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Daniel Harding. He has also been privileged to perform with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa), working with conductors Trevor Pinnock, Pinchas Zukerman, and Alexander Shelley.

In 2016, Mr. Hicks was named to the CBC’s “Hot 30 under 30” list of classical musicians. In 2014/15 Mr. Hicks was a participant in the Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at The Glenn Gould School (Toronto), a fellowship program made possible by the Rebanks Family and The W. Garfield Weston Foundation. Other recent accolades include the Dean’s Prize at Yale University’s 2014 Commencement, the Thomas Daniel Nyfenger Prize (awarded to the student displaying the highest level of excellence in woodwind playing) from the Yale School of Music, and the 2012 National Arts Centre Orchestra Bursary Prize.

Having begun his bassoon studies at the age of 12 in his hometown of Middleton, Nova Scotia, Mr. Hicks pursued his passion for music at Yale University and the University of Ottawa, where he studied with principal teachers Frank Morelli and Christopher Millard (bassoon), Joan Panetti (musicianship), and David Shifrin (chamber music).

Darren plays on a bassoon made in Canada by Bell Bassoons Ltd.