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Lithuanian-born Canadian violinist Atis Bankas has performed as a soloist in Canada, Europe, the United States, Korea, Japan, and elsewhere, with orchestras under the direction of Neeme Järvi, Iona Brown, Sir Andrew Davis, and JoAnn Falletta, amongst many others. His chamber music partners include pianists André Laplante, Stewart Goodyear, Robert Silverman, R. McDonald, N. Kogan, and others. He is also the dedicatee of numerous new works by composers such as G. Kulesha, H. Freedman, D. Varelas, S. Adler, M. Bronner, V. Bartulis, A. Navakas, G. Samsonas, A. Martinaitis, D. Hyman, S. Burbi, A. Šenderovas, and Peter Tiefenbach.
A long-time member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Atis Bankas is first violinist of the Gould String Quartet, member of the Potsdam Trio, leader of Ensemble CamerAtis. He is also the founder and artistic director of Music Niagara, a highly regarded annual international summer music festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, which will be marking it’s 28th season in summer of 2026. Bankas’s critically acclaimed solo and chamber music performances have been featured on CJRT, CFMX, CBC, and NPR radio networks, he has recorded for the Fidelis, Analekta, Radioservis, and CBC labels.
Atis Bankas first gain international attention after winning the International Violin Competition in Tallinn, Estonia. After graduating from the Lithuanian State Conservatory with a magna cum laude in solo violin, chamber music, pedagogy, and orchestral performance, Mr. Bankas continued his post-graduate work in violin performance at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he studied in David Oistrakh's violin class. His principal teachers were Victor Radovich (in Vilnius, Lithuania) and Semyon Snitkovsky (in Moscow, Russia), both students of David Oistrakh.
Mr. Bankas is also sharing his musical talents by teaching a large violin studio at the Glenn Gould School and Taylor Academy of the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. For his extraordinary dedication and achievement in the educational field, Atis Bankas was awarded the Bärenreiter Prize, and Carnegie Hall's American Protégé and Enkor Competition awards. He has adjudicated competitions and conducted masterclasses in Japan, Korea, Europe, the United States, and Canada. Many of Mr. Bankas’s students have become prizewinners of international and national competitions, such as the Paganini International Violin Competition, Stradivarius International Violin Competition, J. Heifetz International Violin Competition, Kocian Violin Competition, Stulberg International Competition, the Toronto Symphony and Montreal Symphony competitions.
In recognition of his musical contributions, Atis Bankas was inducted into the International Knightly Order of St. George and was named the honorary doctor of arts by the Azerbaijan Ministry of Education and the Academy of Fine Arts. He also received the prestigious 2017 Spirit of Niagara Christopher Newton Award for extraordinary vision in business, and most recently was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal.
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