Born: (Richmond, Kentucky)

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Violinist Tessa Lark, winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition, is one if the most captivating artistic voices of our time, and was  nominated in 2020, for a Grammy in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo Category. She is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky, delighting audiences with programming that includes Appalachian and bluegrass music and inspiring composers to write for her.

Among highlights of Lark's 2023-24 season include the world premiere of Carlos Izcaray's Violin Concerto - written for her -- under the composer's baton with the Alabama Symphony; and concerts with Stuttgarter Philharmoniker marking both her European orchestral debut and her first performances of Gang Chen and Zhanhao He's Violin Concerto, "Butterfly Lovers." She reprises Michael Torke's violin concerto, "Sky" -- also written for her, and the 2020 recording of which earned her a Grammy nomination - with Oklahoma's Signature Symphony and the Sarasota Orchestra; returns to South Carolina's Greenville Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic and England's City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; and performs as a chamber musician in duos with double bassist Michael Thurber and jazz guitarist Frank Vignola. She also has a new string trio project with composer-bassist Edgar Meyer and cellist Joshua Roman.

Lark's newest album, The Stradgrass Sessions, released in spring 2023, features an all-star roster of collaborators and composers including Meyer, pianist Jon Batiste, mandolinist Sierra Hull and fiddler Michael Cleveland. Album selections mix original compositions by Lark and her collaborators with a sonata by Eugene Ysaye, a selection of Bartok's violin duets arranged for violin and mandolin and the world premiere recording of John Corigliano's STOMP.

The violinist has performed with orchestras, recital venues and festivals around the world. She has appeared with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; the Louisville Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic; the Albany, Indianapolis, Knoxville and Seattle symphonies; and has been presented by Carnegie Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, the Music Center at Strathmore, London's Wigmore Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, San Francisco Performances, Ravinia, the Seattle Chamber Music Society, Australia’s Musica Viva Festival, and the Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Bridgehampton summer festivals.

Lark's debut commercial recording was the Grammy-nominated SKY, a bluegrass-inspired violin concerto written for her by Michael Torke and performed with the Albany Symphony Orchestra.  Her discography also includes Fantasy, on the First Hand Records: fantasias by Schubert, Telemann and Fritz Kreisler, Ravel’s Tzigane, and Lark's own Appalachian Fantasy; Invention, a debut album of the violin-bass duo Lark and Thurber that comprises arrangements of Two-Part Inventions by J.S. Bach along with non-classical original compositions by Tessa and her fiance, Michael Thurber; and a live performance recording of Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, released in 2021 by the Buffalo Philharmonic in honor of Piazzolla’s 100-year anniversary.

Lark is a recipient of the Hunt Family Award, one of Lincoln Center's presitigious Emerging Artist Awards, as well as a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant. She was Silver Medalist on the 9th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.

In addition to her performance schedule, Lark was recently named Artistic Director of Musical Masterworks, a chamber music presenter in Old Lyme, CT. She champions young aspiring artists and supports the next generation of musicians through her work as Co-host/Creative of NPR's From the Top, the premier radio showcase for the nation's most talented young musicians. She also serves as Mentor and board member of the Irving M. Klein International Strings Competition.

Lark is a graduate of New England Conservatory and completed her Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School, where she studied with Sylvia Rosenberg, Ida Kavafian, and Daniel Phillips. She plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

As part of Lark's Naumburg Award she was given a commission by Avner Dorman, Violin Sonata No. 4 (2015), receiving its world premiere on October 26, 2015 in Weill Recital Hall performed by Ms. Lark and pianist Amy Yang.

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Press:

Alabama Symphony; Alpesh Chauhan, Conductor

Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3

"To the rescue came violinist Tessa Lark, the 26-year-old budding superstar who recently received an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Not only did the Kentucky native solidify the ensemble, she provided a lovely lyricism and rhythmic inflection that connected palpably. Cadenzas were beautifully rendered and infused with playfulness, sighs and effortless double- and triple-stops. While not a forceful soloist, she projected Mozart’s elegance with warmth and conviction."

-Michael Huebner, artsBHAM, November 19, 2016

‍Lexington Philharmonic; Scott Terrell, Conductor

Barber's Violin Concerto

Next, Bluegrass native Tessa Lark made her debut appearance with the LPO with her remarkable rendition and astonishing technical skill in performing Samuel Barber’s “Violin Concerto Op. 14.” Lark’s marathon “fiddling” in the last movement commanded a standing ovation and an encore. Her pensive yet playful “Appalachia Fantasy” tugged at our heartstrings as she honored her return to her Kentucky home.

-Jim Fields, Lexington Herald Leader, October 19, 2016

‍Recital with Amy Yang, piano

"Her violin produces a sweet, mellow sound that can even make the jagged edges of [the Prokofiev D major Sonata] sound warm. She and Ms. Yang combined to make the lush romantic and thrilling sound of the Strauss E flat sonata into a great recital finale, earning them the second of two ardent standing ovations."

-John G. Miller, Shelter Island Reporter, October 12, 2016

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