Paul Festa
violinist
"Exquisite" (Voice of Dance)
"Astounding" (Pacific Sun, Marin, CA)
"A searing, stunning virtuoso" (San Mateo Times, CA)
"Unbelievable" (Östgöta Correspondenten - Linköping, Sweden)
PERFORMANCES
Schubert String Quintet
Paul Festa and Marcia Lotter, violins; Marion Crombie, viola; Marcia Sloane and Abigail Donner, cellos
Wellspring Renewal Center, Philo, CA
11 August 2010
Works by Bach and Tchaikovsky
Velocity Circus, Oakland
5 June 2010
Works by Bartok and Schnittke
Role of Tragedian
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
TheatreFIRST, Oakland - MaryBeth Cavanaugh, director
23 January - 14 February 2010
World premiere, Nathaniel Stookey's arrangement for solo violin of Alfred Schnittke's Concerto for Mixed Chorus (1st movement: "I, an Expert in Human Passions")
Yannis Adoniou's Kunst-Stoff
"(Where) Every Verse Is Filled with Grief" and "Raqs al Moza"
Role of The Violinist
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
11, 12, 13 June 2009
Complete works for violin and piano by Olivier Messiaen, on the "Betts" Stradivarius, with pianist Jerome Lowenthal
- Theme and Variations
- Lecture-performance of "The Oriole" from "The Bird Catalogue" for piano solo
- Reading from OH MY GOD: Messiaen in the Ear of the Unbeliever
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Washington, D.C., premiere of Messiaen's Fantaisie for Violin and Piano
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Final movement from Quartet for the End of Time
The Coolidge Auditorium - Library of Congress
1 November 2008
Works by Bach and Ravel
Stephen Pelton Dance Theater
Spring workshop performance of "Citizen Hill" by Stephen Pelton and Brian Thorstenson
Role of Jeb
Margaret Jenkins Dance Lab
15th anniversary show, Dance Mission Theater
May/June 2008
Los Angeles premiere of Messiaen's Fantaisie for Violin and Piano, with pianist Steven Vanhauwaert
Jacaranda - Music at the Edge of Santa Monica
A Messiaen Centenary Concert
26 April 2008
San Francisco/West Coast premiere of Messiaen's Fantaisie for Violin and Piano, with pianist Steven Vanhauwaert
Grace Cathedral Messiaen centenary celebration
18 April 2008
New York premiere of Messiaen's Fantaisie for Violin and Piano, with pianist Melvin Chen
Great Music at St. Bartholomew's
Messiaen centenary celebration
27 February 2008
US premiere of Messiaen's Fantaisie for Violin and Piano, with pianist Luke Berryman
Boston University Messiaen Project
College of Fine Arts Concert Hall
13 October 2007
Works by Bach and Philip Glass
Roles of Curio and the Priest
North Bay Shakespeare Company's production of Twelfth Night
Hamilton Amphitheater Park, Novato
24 August - 30 September 2007
Works by Bach
Role of Jeb
Stephen Pelton Dance Theater workshop
Margaret Jenkins Dance Lab,
San Francisco
28 April 2007
Featured-extra roles as violinist and "sextra"
Shortbus (2006), directed by John Cameron Mitchell
Chamber music of Schubert and Ravel
Mendocino Music Festival
July 1999
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Jonathan Edwards Chamber Orchestra, New Haven
April 1996
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Symphony of the Redwoods, California
October 1994
Schumann chamber music including the Violin Sonata in a minor
Albert Fuller's Helicon Ensemble
Merkin Concert Hall, New York, October 1993
Walter Zimmerman's Schatten der Ideen
World premiere of chamber concerto with violin solo
Focus! Festival, The Juilliard School, February 1993
Recital, Conservatorio de Oaxaca
Oaxaca, Mexico, March 1993
Recital: "An Evening of American Music" The Juilliard School
Corigliano, Carter, Glass, Robert Mann, Cage, Paul Schonfield
November 1992
Chamber music with tenor Robert White in Alice Tully Hall, New York
November 1992 (Times review)
Recital, The Juilliard School
Bach, Bartok, and Busoni
December 1991
Haydn chamber music concert
Albert Fuller's Helicon Ensemble
Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, November 1991
Recital, The Juilliard School
Mozart, Stravinsky, Bach, Carter, and Szymanowski
October 1990
Wieniawski Violin Concerto #1 in f# minor
Nine performances with California Youth Symphony
Scandinavia and California, including radio broadcasts
June 1987
AWARDS
Jonathan Edwards Arts Prize (for musical performance)
Yale University, May 1996
John Haas Award (for musical performance)
Yale University, December 1995
San Francisco Symphony Young Musicians Award
June 1987
California Youth Symphony Young Artist Competition
November 1986
TOURS AND FESTIVALS
Student Fellow at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Connecticut
Performances include Festival concerts and contemporary music and composition seminar
Summers of 1992 and 1993
Fellow, Evian Music Festival
Evian, France, June 1992
Juilliard String Quartet Seminar
June 1991
San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Asian Tour
Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia
July 1989
San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra European Tour
Austria, Germany, Hungary, France: City of Vienna Prize
Summer 1986
MUSICAL EDUCATION
The Juilliard School, New York
Violin studies with Robert Mann; chamber music studies with Albert Fuller
Advanced Certificate, May 1993
Certificate, May 1992
- William Randolph Hearst Foundation Scholarship
- Lilly Z. Foldes Fund in Piano and Violin
- Maxwell Elliot Gordon Violin Scholarship
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Scholarship violin studies with Isidore Tinkleman
Preparatory Division, 1982-1988