Simone Porter

At 17 years old, violinist Simone Porter has been recognized by national and international critics as an emerging artist of impassioned energy, musical integrity and vibrant sound. Her performances have been described as "bold" (Seattle Times), "coolly virtuosic" (The London Times), and Ms. Porter herself has been praised as "a consummate chamber musician" (The Telegraph). Ms. Porter made her professional solo debut at age ten with the Seattle Symphony, and her international debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at age thirteen. Ms. Porter’s engagements for the 2012-2013 season included several debuts, including appearances with the New York Philharmonic on their Young People’s Concerts series (Lalo Symphonie espagnole), the Reno Philharmonic (Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1), Orchestra Seattle (Vivaldi The Four Seasons, “Winter”), the American Youth Symphony (Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1) and at the Aspen Music Festival under the baton of Nicholas McGegan (Vivaldi Concerto for Two Violins with Adele Anthony). She also made her Salt Lake City recital debut at Libby Gardner Hall. This summer Ms. Porter made her debut with the Nashville and Utah Symphonies, the Festival Amadeus Orchestra in Montana, and a return appearance at the Aspen Music Festival with Nicholas McGegan. During the 2013-14 season, Ms. Porter makes her debut with the Pasadena Symphony (Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1), Pacific Symphony (Beethoven Two Romances), Albany Symphony (Barber Violin Concerto) and the Corpus Christi Symphony (Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1). Ms. Porter will also travel to Central America to perform with the Costa Rica Youth Symphony (Lalo Symphonie Espagnole), and gives two solo recitals in Los Angeles on the South Bay Chamber Music Series. Ms. Porter is also an avid chamber music performer, having most recently collaborated with violinist James Ehnes at a benefit concert in Zipper Hall in Los Angeles. Additionally, she has appeared on the Colburn Chamber Music Society Series at Zipper Hall with violinist Arnold Steinhardt, at the South Bay Chamber Music Society with violist Paul Coletti, and at the Miami International Piano Festival. Past performances of note include a solo appearance in Singapore at the 2010 Great Eastern International Kids Performing Festival. In 2008, Ms. Porter had the honor of performing for the Dalai Lama at the opening ceremony of a five-day symposium on compassion in Seattle, Washington. Other past performances include solo appearances with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, the Northern Sinfonia and the Milton Keynes City Orchestra in the UK, the Olympia Symphony, and the New West Symphony and Young Musician Foundation's Debut Orchestra in California, among others. Nationally, Ms. Porter has been heard on the renowned syndicated NPR radio program From the Top, featuring America’s best young classical musicians, and hosted by acclaimed pianist Christopher O’Riley. Her performance in July 2012 marked her third appearance on the program; she first appeared in 2007 at the age of 11. Ms. Porter also made her Carnegie Hall debut on the Emmy Award-winning TV show From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall. Other TV appearances include the BBC Documentary, The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies, which aired in the UK in June 2009. She has been featured on Seattle’s Kiro 7 TV’s Quarterly Magazine, In Color, and in August 2011, she was selected as the only Aspen Music Festival student to be featured on the popular national APM radio program Performance Today, recorded live at Aspen’s Harris Hall. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Ms. Porter was recently selected as a 2011 Davidson Fellow Laureate by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, which carries with it a $50,000 scholarship to further her musical education. In 2009, she was presented as an "Emerging Young Artist" by the Seattle Chamber Music Society. Raised in Seattle, Washington, Ms. Porter studied with Margaret Pressley as a recipient of the Dorothy Richard Starling Scholarship, and was then admitted into the studio of the renowned pedagogue Robert Lipsett, with whom she presently studies at The Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. Summer musical studies have included attendance at the Aspen Music Festival for six years, Indiana University's Summer String Academy, and the Schlern International Music Festival in Italy. Simone Porter plays on a 1742 Camillus Camilli violin on generous loan from The Mandell Collection of Southern California.