Francesca dePasQuale

Described by critics as “scintillating” and celebrated for her “rich, expressive playing” (MusicalAmerica), violinist Francesca dePasquale leads a dynamic career of performance, pedagogy, and community engagement. Francesca is the First Prize winner of the 2010 Irving M. Klein International String Competition and recipient of the prestigious 2014-2016 career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts. Earning her the 2015 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award, her self-titled debut album released in March of 2016 encompasses works that scope from Bach to a new commission from composer Paola Prestini for violin and electronics. For the album and accompanying recital tour, Francesca was praised for “sincerity, intensity” and “individual voice” (Philadelphia Inquirer), and “immaculate and discreet phrasing” (Strad Magazine). Additionally, she was featured in Strings magazine and on SiriusXM, WNYC, WQXR, WRTI (Philadelphia), and WFMT (Chicago).

2017-2018 season highlights include debut recital and chamber music appearances for the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, Rutgers University, and Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove (Cornwall, England). This season also marks debut appearances for the Busan Maru International Festival (Busan, Korea), Macon Concert Association (Atlanta, Georgia), Friends of Chamber Music (Reading, PA), and Beacon Hill Concert Series (Stroudsburg, PA) with the Aletheia Piano Trio.

Since her debut as soloist at age 9 touring Spain with the Main Line Chamber Orchestra, Francesca has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Colburn Orchestra, Galesburg Symphony, Peninsula Symphony, and Santa Cruz Symphony. As recitalist, she has collaborated with artists Meng-Chieh Liu, Natalie Zhu, John Root, and Reiko Uchida on series such as the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, In Situ at National Sawdust, California Music Center, and the Perlman Music Program.

An active chamber musician, Francesca has performed with renowned artists Paul Coletti, Thomas Cooley, Jennifer Frautschi, Nicholas Kitchen, Ronald Leonard, Robert Levin, Merry Peckham, Itzhak Perlman, Jeffrey Sykes, Roger Tapping, Richard Todd, and Donald Weilerstein. She has performed for Chesapeake Chamber Music, the Heifetz International Music Institute, Marinus Ensemble, Lyrica Chamber Music, Music at Bunker Hill, 23Arts Initiative, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Manhattan Chamber Players, Music in the Vineyards, Olympic Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Colburn Chamber Music Society, and the Perlman Music Program. Francesca is the violinist of the Aletheia Piano Trio alongside pianist Fei-Fei Dong and cellist Juliette Herlin. Additionally, she has collaborated with dancers Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside for the Fall for Dance Festival alongside composer Stefan Levin, as well as performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Brooklyn based orchestral collective The Knights, and A Far Cry.

Francesca is a member of the violin faculty at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts and served as the Starling Fellow teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman from 2013-2016 at the Juilliard School, where she is currently teaching assistant to Catherine Cho. Additionally, Francesca is a member of the violin faculty at the Heifetz International Music Institute and its Program for the Exceptionally Gifted. Committed to classical music outreach and its power to connect entire communities, Francesca has served as a mentor for the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles program, appeared on the Philadelphia Orchestra Sound All Around series, and traveled to São Paulo, Brazil for an educational residency of Juilliard Global.

Francesca graduated from the Juilliard School with a Master of Music degree, where she studied with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho. As a student of Robert Lipsett, Francesca earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music. Previous teachers include Hirono Oka and William dePasquale, with additional mentorship from Norman Carol and Arnold Steinhardt. Francesca performs on a 1968 Sergio Peresson violin and a François Nicolas Voirin bow. Please visit http://francescadepasquale.com for more information.