Stephen Tavani

Originally from Northern Virginia, violinist STEPHEN TAVANI currently lives in Philadelphia, where he was recently appointed as the new concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician around the world. He has appeared as soloist with Carlos Miguel Prieto and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, the National Repertory Orchestra under Andrew Litton, the American Youth Symphony, the Brentwood Westwood Symphony, and others. Mr. Tavani recently has served as guest concertmaster for the Louisiana Philharmonic, and has served as concertmaster of many orchestras, including the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, the Colburn Orchestra, the Youth Orchestra of Americas for a 2015 tour of Canada, the National Repertory Orchestra, the American Youth Symphony and the MasterWorks Festival Orchestra.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Tavani has collaborated with many great musicians, including Edgar Meyer, members of Quatour Ebene, Roberto Díaz, Peter Wiley, Paul Katz, Shai Wosner, Meng-Chieh Liu, Jon Kimura Parker, Ronald Leonard, Clive Greensmith, José Franch-Ballester, and Daniel Hope. In summer of 2016, he participated in his first season of the prestigious Marlboro Music Festival, and will be returning in 2017. He has performed at the Dresden Music Festival, Music From Angel Fire, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Colburn Chamber Music Society, Curtis Recital Series, and with Curtis On Tour and the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble. In the spring of 2016, Tavani toured extensively with a chamber ensemble from Curtis On Tour throughout Spain and Germany, giving concerts in Berlin (at the Konzerthaus), Bremen, Dresden, Munich, and Valencia collaborating with Curtis students and alumni, including clarinetist José Franch-Ballester.

Mr. Tavani performed at the 11th Sibelius International Violin Competition in Helsinki, where he advanced to the semi-final round. He also participated in the 2012 Queen Elisabeth Competition, and was a semi-finalist at the 2013 Michael Hill Violin Competition in New Zealand. Tavani is currently finishing studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Ida Kavafian and Arnold Steinhardt, and he holds the Dorothy J. del Bueno Fellowship. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, where he studied with Robert Lipsett and Arnold Steinhardt. Other previous teachers include Aaron Rosand, Shirley Givens, and Ronda Cole.  He plays on a W.E. Hill & Sons bow generously loaned by Tom Frisina. Stephen comes from a musical family; he is one of six brothers, including two cellists, another violinist, and a pianist.  His mother is a voice teacher and lyric soprano, his father a family physician and pianist.

This bio is from 2017. For more up-to-date information, please visit https://stephentavani.com/!