Trio Ottica

Biography

Joey Machin

Joey Machin is a violinist from Toronto, Canada. As an avid chamber musician, he has performed for members of renowned ensembles such as the Ébène, Brentano, Borromeo, Emerson, Juilliard, Dover, Talich, Calidore, and Jerusalem quartets. He was awarded first prize in the 2025-2026 Golden Violin Award Competition, one of Canada's largest privately-funded music awards. Joey is currently exploring the piano trio repertoire with Ottica Trio, coached by Violaine Melançon. Before joining 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. They were nominated for the Harvard Musical Association's Arthur W. Foote Award in the same year.

Joey has participated in numerous chamber music festivals and programs, including Taos School of Music, Montreal International String Quartet Academy, Robert Mann String Quartet Institute, Calidore String Quartet Seminar, and Yellow Barn Young Artists Program. As a soloist, he has performed Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E Minor with North York Concert Orchestra and is scheduled to perform it again with the Hart House Orchestra in March 2026. Joey is currently pursuing a bachelor of music in violin performance at McGill University in the class of Violaine Melançon.

Evelyne Methot

Evelyne Methot earned her master's degree with distinction under the guidance of Carole Sirois at the Conservatoire de musique de Montreal. She is currently pursuing her studies at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University with Brian Manker. Participant in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 editions of the National Arts Centre Orchestra Mentorship Program in Ottawa, Evelyne has accumulated professional orchestral experience by joining the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Drummondville Symphony Orchestra on multiple occasions. Considered a versatile musician, she was invited to join the 2025 NACO tour in Japan and South Korea, where performed both as part of the orchestra and in a chamber music recital alongside alumni of the Mentorship Program and Canadian pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko. She also performed at the OSM's Virée Classique in 2024 and 2025 with a group of emerging artists, as well as at the opening concert of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival in 2023.

Evelyne plays an Italian cello, circa 1820, labeled "Carlo Tononi Bolognese Fece la Venezia l'A 17.." and a Victor Fétique bow, circa 1930, kindly provided by Canimex Inc. of Drummondville (Quebec).

Veola Sun

Veola Sun is a doctoral student at McGill University studying with Ilya Poletaev. She made her orchestral debut in 2019 with the UCLA Philharmonia and, in 2024, gave two performances of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24 with Alexis Hauser and the McGill Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, she was honoured to sit on the first junior jury of the Concours musical international de Montreal (CMIM). Veola earned her Bachelor of Music degree and a minor in Musicology at UCLA with David Kaplan, graduating magna cum laude.

Highly sought after as a collaborative pianist, she has played with many colleagues in recitals and competitions, including McGill's prestigious Golden Violin Award. In 2023, her piano trio was invited as the fellowship ensemble at the Við Djúpið Festival in Ísafjörður, Iceland. Currently, she is the pianist of the Ottica Trio, under the guidance of Violaine Melançon.