Rachel Barton Pine

Rachel Barton Pine has appeared as a soloist with many prestigious ensembles, including the Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, San Diego, and Baltimore Symphonies; Buffalo and Rochester Philharmonics; and Philadelphia and Louisville Orchestras. Ms. Pine’s overseas performances have included the Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand, Iceland and Budapest Symphonies, Belgian National Orchestra, Mozarteum Chamber Orchestra, and Camerata Salzburg. She has worked with such renowned conductors as Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Neeme Järvi, Marin Alsop, Semyon Bychkov and Placido Domingo. Her collaborations include duo performances with many noted artists, including Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, William Warfield, Christopher O’Riley and Mark O’Connor.

Ms. Pine’s 2007-2008 U.S. orchestral engagements include the Sante Fe, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Jacksonville, Fox Valley, Youngstown, Northwest Indiana, Greenville and Columbus (GA) Symphonies and the Dayton Philharmonic. Overseas performances include the Gottingen Symphony, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, a tour with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, a recital for the National University of Singapore Cultural Center, and a trip to Ghana to teach, perform, and study traditional music. Her concerto repertoire will include those by contemporary composers Roque Cordero and John Corigliano, a neglected masterpiece by Joseph Joachim, and warhorses by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Saint-Saens and Tchaikovsky. Ms. Pine’s chamber music performances in New York include Bargemusic, Performers of Westchester, and guest appearances with the Jupiter Players.

Ms. Pine’s past festival appearances have included Marlboro, Ravinia, Salzburg, and Salzburg’s Mozartwoche at the invitation of Franz Welser-Möst. In a 2006 performance at the Montreal Festival, she performed the complete Paganini Caprices in a single evening, and in a 2007 performance, she traversed Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas in their entirety.

Ms. Pine has accumulated a critically acclaimed and prolific discography. Her latest disc, American Virtuosa: Tribute to Maud Powell, features works dedicated to and arranged by America’s first internationally acclaimed violinist. Her recording of Brahms and Joachim Concertos in collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conductor Carlos Kalmar released in 2003, featuring performances of both Joachim’s and Ms. Pine’s own cadenzas for the Brahms Concerto, was nominated for a 2004 GRAMMY Award as “Best Engineered Album, Classical.” Her next album will feature the Beethoven and Clement Concertos in collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic and conductor Jose Serebrier.

Ms. Pine is President of the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation, which assists young artists through various projects including the Instrument Loan Program, Grants for Education and Career, and The String Students’ Library of Music by Black Composers. In addition, she is Chair of the Academy Committee as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Music Institute of Chicago, which recently named the “Rachel Barton Pine Violin Chair” in her honor.

Ms. Pine began violin studies at age three and made her professional debut four years later with the Chicago String Ensemble. Ms. Pine holds prizes from several of the world’s leading competitions, including a gold medal at the 1992 J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Leipzig, Germany. She was the first American and youngest person to ever win this honor. A Chicago native, Ms. Pine was named “Classical Entertainer of the Year” at the annual Chicago Music Awards in 2003 and 2004. She plays the Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu (Cremona 1742), known as the “ex-Soldat,” on generous loan from her patron. Ms. Pine currently resides in Chicago with her husband.