I started playing violin when I was four years old, after spending several months parading
around the house with chopsticks pretending to play them as a violin until my mom finally
signed me up for lessons. During my junior and senior year of high school I decided I wanted
to take it a bit more seriously and went to college in upstate New York at the Eastman School
of Music. Whilst at Eastman, I spent a lot of time practicing, making music with my friends,
and trudging through the snow (winter tends to last from about October to mid-April there). I
played everything from Baroque operas to crazy contemporary works with live electronics, to
lush Brahms sonatas and silly Christmas shows in my friends’ basements. After graduating
from Eastman, I moved to the comparatively warmer New York City, where I lived for three
years and recently completed a Masters degree at Juilliard. During my time in NYC, I was
very lucky to perform in big venues including Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, as well as smaller venues such as the James Cohan Gallery and MISE-EN_PLACE, and little DIY house concerts in my friends’ living rooms.
I started playing violin when I was four years old, after spending several months parading around the house with chopsticks pretending to play them as a violin until my mom finally signed me up for lessons. During my junior and senior year of high school I decided I wanted to take it a bit more seriously and went to college in upstate New York at the Eastman School of Music. Whilst at Eastman, I spent a lot of time practicing, making music with my friends, and trudging through the snow (winter tends to last from about October to mid-April there). I played everything from Baroque operas to crazy contemporary works with live electronics, to lush Brahms sonatas and silly Christmas shows in my friends’ basements.
After graduating from Eastman, I moved to the comparatively warmer New York City, where I lived for three years and recently completed a Master’s degree at Juilliard. During my time in NYC, I was very lucky to perform in big venues including Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, as well as smaller venues such as the James Cohan Gallery and MISE-EN_PLACE, and little DIY house concerts in my friends’ living rooms.
One project I am especially proud of that came out of my time in NYC is my work with the Glass Clouds Ensemble, of which I am a founding member along with violinist Lauren Conroy and soprano Marisa Karchin. This group formed out of a mutual desire to connect meaningfully with environmental issues through contemporary music and improvisation, with a mission to amplify the message of New York Area climate leaders through the commission, performance, and promotion of new music for chamber ensembles. We have had the opportunity to work closely with several composers on new commissions for our unique instrumentation of two violins and voice, and have recently done a lot of work in improvisation through the lens of Pauline Oliveros’ sonic meditations. I really enjoy playing contemporary music because I love the way the repertoire interrogates and expands our concept of beauty, and explores the variety of sounds we can make on our instruments – I love how it invites me to think about the violin in a new way all the time. This curiosity and constant sense of discovery is a central part of all music for me, and is a central part of continuing to evolve and grow as an artist.
EDUCATION
The Juilliard School
New York, USA
Eastman School of Music
New York, USA
OTHER PROJECTS
Glass Clouds Ensemble
QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS
Where’s your favourite place to listen to music and why?
I definitely spend the most time listening to music on the subway! This has become a favourite place for me to discover new music because it’s a part of my daily routine where I have the time to tune the rest of the world out and just listen. Some days I’m listening to Beethoven or Bartók quartets, some days it’s Tyler the Creator or Kendrick Lamar, and others it’s Harry Styles or Ariana Grande.
What do you do with your time when you’re not playing music?
I love cooking, doing yoga, running, reading a good book, and catching up with my friends.
