Nineteen-year-old Kentucky native, Tessa Lark, began playing the violin at age six. In 2001, she entered the Starling Strings Program at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music and studied with Kurt Sassmannshaus. Tours with Starling included solo performances in China, Europe, and Russia, as well as at Aspen and at the Kennedy Center.
She has been a soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, appeared on From the Top, and is featured on Violinmasterclass.com. Her many awards include fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival and the Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing, China, as well as first prize at the Johansen International Competition for Young String Players. She entered the New England Conservatory in the fall of 2006 and studies with Miriam Fried. Ms. Lark plays a Euginio Degani violin, dated 1897, on generous loan to her from the Ravinia Festival.