Four fathers, lots of ideas
Next Sunday, give Dad a sweet surprise. Whatever his interests, there’s something for everyone. Cameron Taylor speaks with four fathers who deserve more than a card
Fame or family — that was the conundrum musician Timothy Ying faced as he tried to juggle the demands of being a father and lead violinist in the Ying Quartet, a string quartet he and his sister founded in Chicago in the early ’90s.
Although he’d achieved considerable success — including winning a Grammy in 2005 for Best Classical Crossover Recording — life on the road meant time away from his wife Cathy and their children.
“I didn’t want to be an absentee dad,” Ying, 47, says.
“I really wanted to have the full experience.” In 2009 he left the quartet and moved to Toronto, where he now teaches chamber music groups at The Royal Conservatory and University of Toronto. “My youngest daughter is my compensation for coming off the road,” he says.
Eager to introduce his three kids, Elyssa, 8, Elliot, 6, and Elora, 3, to “the three B’s: Beethoven, Bach and Brahms,” there are music lessons and the occasional concert.
Elyssa and Elliot both play piano, while Elora has recently announced that she’d like to play cello.
But music isn’t the only art that moves Ying.
“I don’t get a chance to see many movies these days, but I’m accumulating a list to watch when the kids don’t need as much care,” he says.
“I can’t wait to be able to go to the TIFF!”
When Ying isn’t reading Roald Dahl stories to the children, he enjoys a good novel.
“I grew up on Robert Heinlein, but a current writer I like a lot is Orson Scott Card.”