Alexandre Da Costa, 31, has won the Virginia Parker Prize for young classical musicians. (Bo Huang/Canada Council for the Arts)Alexandre Da Costa, 31, has won the Virginia Parker Prize for young classical musicians. (Bo Huang/Canada Council for the Arts)

A Montreal violinist has won the $25,000 Virginia Parker Prize for young Canadian performers of classical music.

Alexandre Da Costa, 31, has played more than 1,000 concerts with symphonies around the world, including the Toronto and Montreal Symphony Orchestras.

He has recorded CDs for the XXI-21 Records and ATMA labels, among them the world premiere recordings of violin concertos by Portuguese composers Luis de Freitas Branco and Armando José Fernandes. His next CD will be a concerto recording with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Pedro Halffter.

Da Costa received his masters in violin at 18 and a first prize from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. He went on to study in Madrid with his mentor Zakhar Bron.

In 2002, he won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award for best Canadian artist under 30 years old. Between 2003 and 2006, he played the 1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius after winning the Canadian musical instrument bank competition.

He currently plays the 1727 Di Barbaro Stradivarius with a Sartory bow, courtesy of Canimex, where he is musical development director. In addition to his concert schedule, Da Costa is active as a teacher.