‘Exceptional’.
‘Ms. Hocking is a sensitive artist, who painted a picture of serene beauty in her playing… It was enchanting.’
-New York Concert Review
Short Bio
Hailing from Qathet, Canada, Madeline Hocking is a violinist, violist, composer, and artistic director committed to giving contemporary music the attention and passion it deserves. She thoroughly enjoys collaborating with composers on world premieres of their works, as well as interdisciplinary projects involving improvisation and electronics. Madeline is a member of the Boston-based Semiosis Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to new music, and co-founder/co-artistic director of Noise Catalogue, an award winning collective based in New York City. She also co-hosts an ongoing concert series with violist and composer Trevor New, ‘Telematic Collisions’, which employs cutting-edge technology to maximize audience interactivity and accessibility.
Madeline has achieved widespread recognition as both a chamber music and soloist, having soloed with the American Composers Orchestra, the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, the Vancouver Philharmonic, the Strathcona Symphony Orchestra and the Comox Music Centre Orchestra. She's been featured as a chamber musician in the New York Philharmonic's 'Nightcap' series, and as a solo performer at IRCAM forum, as well as being featured at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, the Banff Centre, the Bang on a Can Marathon, and countless festivals across North America. As a composer, her works have been performed at venues across the US, Canada, and Hungary. Madeline received her Bachelor's degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and a Master's degree in contemporary violin from Manhattan School of Music.
@AnnAnn Puttithanasorn
Long Bio
Originally from Qathet, Canada, Madeline Hocking is emerging as a dynamic performer, composer and curator based in New York City. A fierce advocate for new music, she maintains an active freelance career on the east coast of the US, collaborating with composers and artists throughout North America on a variety of projects ranging from giving world premieres of solo violin works, leading structured improvisations with creators in other artistic disciplines, and more. She is drawn to the collaborative, experimental process of working closely with living composers on their music, and is committed to highlighting new voices and perspectives in the realm of contemporary art. She is co-founder of Noise Catalogue, an award-winning contemporary music collective based in New York, and is a violinist in Semiosis Quartet, a Boston-based group dedicated to championing new works.
Known for her warm, singing tone and sensitive phrasing, as well as for her forward-thinking approach to concert curation, Madeline has been the recipient of widespread acclaim as a chamber musician, artistic director, and soloist. She performed her New York Philharmonic debut in 2023 on the ‘Nightcap’ concert series, and has been a featured soloist with the American Composers Orchestra, the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, the Vancouver Philharmonic, the Strathcona Symphony Orchestra and the Comox Music Centre Orchestra. She has also performed a solo for the New York City Canadian Consulate, and for Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in a performance with the Royal Danish Academy of Music Orchestra. Throughout her career, Madeline has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Centre, David Geffen Hall, National Sawdust, Chan Centre, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Canadian National Arts Center, San Francisco Center for New Music, the Banff Centre, MIT, and Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music, in addition to music festivals throughout the world. Some music festival highlights include the American Composers Orchestra’s SONiC Festival, Music By the Sea (Canada), The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, the Banff Centre Evolution: Classical Festival, Hungary Live Festival, the Orford Arts Centre Violin Masterclasses, Bang on a Can Summer Festival, Banff Centre Masterclasses for Strings and Winds, 1:2:1, Zodiac Festival, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and the Pacific Regional International Summer Music Academy.
Both as an individual artist and within ensembles, collaboration with composers on new works comprises a major portion of Madeline’s artistic projects. For instance, Semiosis Quartet regularly hosts workshops and concerts of student compositions at institutions such as MIT, Boston Conservatory, and Roger Williams University, and each year, Noise Catalogue premieres more than a dozen new works composed specifically for their ensemble. These days, Madeline’s collective Noise Catalogue represents a large portion of her creative focus, and the group has been the recipient of a competitive studio residency at So Percussion Studio, merit-based funding from the Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, as well as the Dwight & Ursula Mamlok Junior Prize, an award for performers making a significant contribution to the performance of contemporary music. Other chamber groups Madeline has belonged to have won prizes in the National Chamber Music competition at the British Columbia Festival of Performing Arts, as well as awards and scholarships at the Vancouver Friends of Chamber Music competition and other regional competitions throughout Canada.
As a collaborator and artistic director, Madeline loves any opportunity to delve into interdisciplinary projects, recognizing how artists in various mediums can enhance each other’s work by combining their different perspectives and modes of expression. Recent examples have included being a member of the first musical group to present augmented-reality visual art at the New York Philharmonic (performing alongside chromic duo and Brian Ellis), and designing a multi-disciplinary concert program involving Noise Catalogue and multi-medium artist Knox Peters - this program, premiering in NYC last spring, featured two world premieres, numerous original works, live painting, spoken word, projections, and spatialized sound. Madeline has collaborated and performed with choreographers Mark Morris, Jordyn Ryder, Saki Kawamura, and with Brooklyn Motion Capture Dance Ensemble. Alongside Semiosis Quartet, she recorded the soundtrack for ‘Eric Larue’, a film directed by Michael Shannon which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year.
Electronics and technology have become an increasingly prominent element of Madeline’s work, stemming from a passion to enhance concerts’ capacity for audience interaction in novel ways. Recent examples have included performing a solo work for violin and electronics at the IRCAM forum, and since 2022, co-hosting an ongoing series of interactive concerts with violist Trevor New, ‘Telematic Collisions’, wherein audience members attending both virtually and in-person can directly affect elements of the musical performance in real time. In 2022-2023, she performed with this cutting-edge technology (developed by En.j.inn Arts) as a virtual soloist with the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) at the Dimenna Center numerous times in the Earshot ColLABoratory Series. She also performed in the 2023 SONiC Festival at Tishman Auditorium alongside Trevor New, Dorothy Chan, and others, with the ACO.
As a composer, Madeline’s works have been performed throughout the US, Canada, and Hungary. In recent years, she has also performed the world premieres of original duos for violin and percussion co-written with Dániel Matei, at venues including the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Kiscelli Museum of Budapest, Manhattan School of Music, and Bard Conservatory.
Throughout her life in music, Madeline has enjoyed engaging with other genres as well. She is a former member of the Celtic/trad band ‘Ceilish’, which performed at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games Torch Relay, and at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival the previous year. She has also performed with Canadian bluegrass band ‘The Rakish Angles’ in 2018, has appeared on albums with jazz saxophone legends Phil Dwyer, Ryan Oliver and Cory Weeds, and most recently, had the opportunity to study Hungarian fiddle music with István Pál, a life-changing musical experience.
Madeline holds a Master of Music degree in contemporary violin from Manhattan School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and has had the privilege to study with Curt Macomber, Wei He, Ian Swensen, Eszter Haffner, Nicholas Wright, Mary Sokol-Brown, and Cathy Reckenberg.
When not making music in some capacity, Madeline can be found reading, hiking in the mountains, or volunteering in her community.
For more behind the scenes content & concert photos, follow Madeline and her ensembles on Instagram:
@anastasia.the.pumpkin
@noisecatalogue
@semiosisquartet
@enjinnarts