Smoke and Mirrors

 Francesca dePasqual, Violin

Born into a musical family in 1990, Philadelphia native Francesca dePasquale began the violin at age three as a Suzuki violinist, moving on to study privately with Charles Parker and Hirono Oka. Currently, she is in the studio of Robert Lipsett and a junior in the Bachelor of Music Program at The Colburn School Conservatory of Music. Additionally, Ms. dePasquale’s violin mentors include William dePasquale, Ellen dePasquale, Robert dePasquale, Joseph dePasquale, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, and Norman Carol.

As First Prize winner of the 2010 Irving M. Klein String Competition, Ms. dePasquale has been celebrated for her “purity and intensity of artistry” (San Francisco State University Press Release—San Francisco, CA), further described by critics as “a young girl who fingers [the violin] beautifully, is technically superb and performs with flair and astounding grace” (The Kennett Paper—Kennett Square, PA) and “a technical gem,” delivering “a wonderfully mature performance,” and “performed to near perfection…” (The Naples Daily News—Naples, FL). Future appearances include solo performances with The American Youth Symphony, The Peninsula Symphony, The Santa Cruz Symphony, and appearances at the Music in the Vineyards and Chamber Music Tulsa series.

Ms. dePasquale made her solo orchestral debut at age 9 when she toured Spain with The Main Line Chamber Orchestra and has since made appearances with The Colburn Orchestra, The Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, The Delaware County Symphony, The Kennett Symphony, The Bach Festival of Philadelphia, The Ocean City Pops, The Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, and The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. As recitalist, Ms. dePasquale has collaborated with artists such as Natalie Zhu and Meng-Chieh Liu. In 2004 she was presented in her solo recital debut at The Academy of Music in Philadelphia by The Music Morning Musicales, a group sponsored by The West Philadelphia Committee of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Other recital presentations have included The Classic Chamber Concerts Rising Star series in Naples, FL and The Friends of Chamber Music Series in Reading, PA.

An avid chamber musician, Ms. dePasquale began appearing professionally with her family members at age 7 and has since collaborated with artists such as Paul Coletti, Guillaume Sutre, and Ronald Leonard. Ms. dePasquale is currently Concertmaster of The Colburn Orchestra, Associate Concertmaster of The American Youth Symphony, and a past participant of the New York String Orchestra Seminar and the National Arts Centre Institute for Orchestral Studies. Ms. dePasquale has appeared in numerous masterclasses led by artists such as Gil Shaham, Benny Kim, Corey Cerovsek, Philadelphia Orchestra Concertmaster David Kim, Nicholas Kitchen, Scott St. John, The Tokyo String Quartet, The Emerson String Quartet, The Chicago String Quartet, The Cavani String Quartet, and The Miro String Quartet. Previous summer festivals include ENCORE School for Strings, The National Arts Centre Young Artists Programme, Yellow Barn Music Festival and School Young Artists Program, and The Aspen Music School and Festival where she attended as a New Horizon Fellowship recipient.