SOLOIST · VIOLIN

Rachel Barton Pine

Violinist

Rachel Barton Pine
Major Orchestral Soloist
Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra & many more
40+
Recordings, 25 on Cedille
1742 Guarneri del Gesù
'ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat'
Founder
RBP Foundation & Music by Black Composers
ABOUT

The acclaimed American concert violinist Rachel Barton Pine thrills international audiences with her dazzling technique and lustrous tone. With an infectious joy in music-making and a passion for connecting historical research to performance, Pine transforms audiences' experiences of classical music. She is a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks and of important contemporary music.

Pine performs with the world's foremost orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, and Vienna Symphony Orchestras. She has worked with renowned conductors that include Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Stéphane Denève, Neeme Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Erich Leinsdorf, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Tito Muñoz, and John Nelson. As a chamber musician, Pine has performed with Jonathan Gilad, Clive Greensmith, Paul Neubauer, Jory Vinikour, William Warfield, Orion Weiss, and the Pacifica and Parker quartets. Recital and festival appearances have included Davos, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Marlboro, Ravinia, Salzburg, Bravo! Vail, and Wolf Trap.

Highlights of Pine's 2025-26 season include performances of the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, the Glazunov Concerto with the Newport Symphony Orchestra, the Korngold Concerto with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, and the Bruch Concerto with Symphony d'Oro Rancho Cordova. At Summermusik, in Cincinnati, Pine gives the world premiere live performance of Malek Jandali's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, which she recently recorded with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra led by renowned conductor Marin Alsop (Cedille, 2023). She will also be in residence at the Johann Sebastian Bach International Competition in Leipzig, Germany, and will give recitals across the U.S., including at Duke University in all-Brahms program with Gilles Vonsattel, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and the National Music Museum in Vermillion, SD.

Read full biography

Pine's 2024-2025 and 2023-2024 seasons included a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for its premiere of the violin concerto by José White, an Afro-Cuban composer whom Pine has long championed; the world premiere of Harry Stafylakis' Violin Concerto with the Winnipeg Symphony; Billy Childs' Violin Concerto No. 2 (written for her) with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Stéphane Denève at the Hollywood Bowl; the French premiere of Earl Maneein's Dependent Arising (written for her) with the Orchestre National de Bretagne, and performances with the Puerto Rico Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, National Symphony of Uruguay, Minas Gerais Philharmonic, and Kaohsiung Traditional Orchestra Taiwan at Festival X in Mikkeli, Finland.

This season Pine releases the new album French Impressions: Chamber Music by Chausson & Tailleferre, her 25th release on Cedille Records, featuring the Pacifica Quartet and pianist Orion Weiss. In 2024, Cedille released Corelli Violin Sonatas, Op. 5, in which Pine performs on violin and viola d'amore and improvises all her ornaments. The album also includes an audiobook-style spoken track of the program booklet, recorded by Pine herself. Dependent Arising, Pine's previous album on Cedille (2023), revealed surprising confluences between classical music and heavy metal by pairing Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1 with Earl Maneein's violin concerto Dependent Arising, written for Pine and performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. In 2022 Cedille released Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries: 25th Anniversary Edition, featuring Pine's new recording of Florence Price's Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Jonathon Heyward. Pine has made over 40 recordings, including 25 for Cedille Records. She is one of the label's best-selling artists.

Pine frequently performs music by contemporary composers, including major works written for her by Billy Childs, Mohammed Fairouz, Marcus Goddard, Malek Jandali, Earl Maneein, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Daniel Bernard Roumain, José Serebrier, Augusta Read Thomas, and Harry Stafylakis. In addition to her career as a soloist, she is an avid performer of Baroque, Renaissance, and Medieval music on Baroque violin, viola d'amore, Renaissance violin, and rebec.

With the publication of The Rachel Barton Pine Collection, Pine became the only living artist and first woman in Carl Fischer's Masters Collection series. During the pandemic, she performed the entire solo violin part of 24 different violin concertos, live and unaccompanied, for her weekly series "24 in 24: Concertos from the Inside."

Pine has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, PBS NewsHour, Prairie Home Companion, NPR's Tiny Desk and All Things Considered, and Performance Today. In 1992 she became the only American and youngest person to win a gold medal at the J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Germany. Other prizes include the Paganini and Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competitions.

An active philanthropist, Pine has led the Rachel Barton Pine (RBP) Foundation for over two decades. Since 2001, the RBP Foundation's Music by Black Composers project has collected more than 900 works by over 450 Black composers from the 18th-21st centuries, and has published pedagogical books for violin, piano, and flute. The RBP Foundation also helps young artists through its Instrument Loan Program and Grants for Education and Career. Pine has also served on the board of many non-profits, including the Sphinx Organization. Pine performs on the "ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat" Joseph Guarnerius "del Gesù" (Cremona 1742), on lifetime loan from her anonymous patron. Visit rachelbartonpine.com.

PRESS & REVIEWS

What the critics say

“Striking and charismatic…she demonstrated a bravura technique and soulful musicianship”

— The New York Times

“Displays a power and confidence that puts her in the top echelon.”

— The Washington Post

“A most accomplished Baroque violinist, fully the equal of the foremost specialists.”

— Gramophone

“Strong conversational interplay and sophisticatedly rendered passion.”

— The Strad
Discography

Recordings

VIDEOS

Videos

Recitals

Programs & Repertoire

Program One

An Evening with Clara, Marie, Amanda, and Johannes | Violin & Piano

  • Brahms Violin Sonata No. 1 in G major, Op. 78
  • Amanda Maier Violin Sonata in B minor
  • Intermission
  • Clara Schumann The Three Romances for Violin and Piano, Op. 22
  • Brahms Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108

This program celebrates the close-knit friendships and musical partnerships among Clara Schumann (1819-1896), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Amanda Maier (1853-1894), and Marie Soldat (1863-1955). Brahms performed his own Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor with both Marie Soldat and Amanda Maier, and made numerous revisions to the score based on Maier's advice. Clara Schumann was a close musical collaborator and lifelong friend of Brahms. The violin on which Pine performs, the "ex-Bazzini ex-Soldat" 1742 Guarneri del Gesu, was chosen by Brahms for Soldat, his protégé and one of the greatest violinists of her day. Beyond her instrument, this music is very close to Pine's heart because her teacher in Berlin, Werner Scholz, was a student of a student of Joseph Joachim, Brahms's best friend and collaborator and the teacher of Soldat.

Program Two

Baroque to the Present | Violin & Harpsichord

  • Schnittke Suite in the Old Style
  • Bach Sonata No. 4 in C minor
  • Ligeti solo harpsichord works
  • Intermission
  • Adolphus Hailstork Baroque Suite
  • Samuel Adler Sonata No. 2
  • Handel Sonata in D major, Op. 1, No. 13, HWV 371

Rachel Barton Pine and Jory Vinikour are both renowned for their interpretations of the music of J.S. Bach. They are also lifelong friends. The two musicians enjoy getting together to read sonatas whenever they are in the same city, and in 2018, realized a longtime dream of recording Bach's six sonatas for violin and keyboard. Their subsequent touring led to their exploration of more recent works for their instrumental combination. In this program, they complement the baroque sonatas with three of their favorites from the 20th century.

The Schnittke is a fun and clever deconstruction of baroque-style dances. Hailstork, born in 1941, is one of the most important African-American composers of his generation. His joyful suite also pays homage to baroque style while infusing his own unique language. Adler is a distinguished and prolific composer who studied with Piston, Thompson and Copland; his music has an appealing Americana flavor.

Program Three

America's Cultural Stage | Violin & Piano

  • Antonin Dvořák Sonatina in G major, Op. 100
  • Beethoven Sonata No. 9 in A major Op. 47, "The Bridgetower Sonata"
  • Intermission
  • Dolores White Blues Dialogues
  • William Grant Still Here's One
  • Billy Childs Incident on Larpenteur Avenue
  • William Grant Still Suite

Black musicians have shaped classical music for centuries; this recital honors and recognizes the artists and art forms who have shaped our cultural heritage. Dvorak's Sonatina is one of his American-flavored works, particularly inspired by the music of African Americans. Beethoven's Sonata No. 9 was written for and premiered by the Black European virtuoso violinist George Bridgetower. Still and White's works are important jazz-inspired masterpieces of the 20th century. Written for Pine, Childs's Incident on Larpenteur Avenue, is a single-movement violin sonata/tone poem written as a response to the killing of Philando Castille by police.

Program Four

American Traditions | Solo Violin or Violin & Piano

  • Solo Violin
  • Bach Partita No. 3 in E major, BWV 1006
  • Scottish traditional Air-March-Strathspey-Reel
  • Noel da Costa A Set of Dance Tunes
  • Mark O'Connor Caprice No. 1
  • Intermission
  • Darol Anger Rag from American Partita No. 1
  • Bruce Molsky Waltz from American Partita No. 1
  • David Wallace John, Son of Zebedee from Personas
  • Coleridge-Taylor Deep River, arr. Maud Powell
  • Perkinson Louisiana Blues Strut (A Cakewalk)
  • Daniel Bernard Roumain Hip-Hop Dance I
  • Vieuxtemps Souvenir d'Amérique
  • Violin and Piano
  • David Baker Blues (Deliver My Soul)
  • Dvořák Violin Sonatina in G major, Op. 100
  • Florence Price The Deserted Garden
  • Clarence Cameron White Levee Dance, Op. 26, No. 2
  • William Grant Still Suite for Violin and Piano
  • Intermission
  • Percy Grainger Molly on the Shore
  • Mark O'Connor Strings and Threads Suite
  • Harry Burleigh Southland Sketches (movement I and IV)
  • Libby Larsen Blue Piece
  • Ravel Sonata (movements II and III)

This program is a classical celebration of the violin's American folk music roots, traversing the European dance music of early immigrants to its transformation into a uniquely American style thanks to the influence of African-American music-making.

Program One

Works By Black Composers for Violin & Orchestra

  • Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges) Violin Concerto Op. 5 No. 2 in A major (c. 1775), others
  • *Billy Childs Violin Concerto No. 2 "Romance/Rejoice, Remorse, Resilience" (2020)
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto in G minor, Op 80 (1911)
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Romance in G major, Op. 39 (1899)
  • Roque Cordero Violin Concerto (1962)
  • Wynton Marsalis Violin Concerto in D major (2016)
  • Florence Price Violin Concerto No. 2 (1952)
  • Daniel Bernard Roumain Voodoo Concerto (2002)
  • William Grant Still Suite (1943)
  • George Walker Poeme (1991)
  • Jose White Violin Concerto in F-sharp minor (1864)

Rachel's Music By Black Composers project places Black classical composers and much of their previously overlooked music into today's cultural consciousness. Since 2001 Rachel and her RBP Foundation have connected with ethnomusicologists and researchers from around the world to find and publish works by Black composers, ultimately collecting more than 900 works by 450+ Black composers from the 18th-21st Centuries. An asterisk (*) indicates that the work was written for and/or dedicated to Rachel Barton Pine.

Program Two

Works by Living Composers for Violin & Orchestra

  • Sylvie Bodorová Concerto dei fiori
  • David Chesky Violin Concerto No. 3, "The Klezmer Concerto"
  • *Billy Childs Violin Concerto No. 2 "Romance/Rejoice, Remorse, Resilience" (2020)
  • John Corigliano Violin Concerto, "The Red Violin" (2003)
  • John Corigliano The Red Violin Chaconne (1997)
  • *Mohammed Fairouz Violin Concerto, "Al-Andalus" (2014)
  • *Marcus Goddard Violin Concerto (2018)
  • Malek Jandali Violin Concerto (2018)
  • *Earl Maneein Violin Concerto, "Dependent Arising" (2017/2022)
  • Wynton Marsalis Violin Concerto (2015)
  • Wynton Marsalis The Fiddler and the Dancin' Witch (1998)
  • Mark O'Connor Fiddle Concerto (1993)
  • Mark O'Connor Strings and Threads Suite (1986)
  • Arvo Pärt Fratres (1977)
  • Daniel Bernard Roumain Voodoo Concerto (2006)
  • *Harry Stafylakis Violin Concerto, "On a Path to Singularity"

An asterisk (*) indicates that the work was written for and/or dedicated to Rachel Barton Pine.

Program Three

Romantic Rarities for Violin & Orchestra

  • Franz Clement Violin Concerto in D major (1805)
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80 (1911)
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Romance in G major, Op. 39 (1899)
  • Joseph Joachim Violin Concerto in D Minor, No. 2, Op. 11, "Hungarian" (1857)
  • Alexander Mackenzie Pibroch Suite, Op. 42 (1889)
  • Amanda Maier Violin Concerto in D minor (1875)
  • John McEwen Prince Charlie Rhapsody (1924)
  • Xavier Montsalvatge Poema Concertante
  • Jose White Violin Concerto (1864)
Program Four

Standard Repertoire for Violin & Orchestra

  • Johann Sebastian Bach Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041
  • Johann Sebastian Bach Violin Concerto in E major, BWV 1042
  • Johann Sebastian Bach Violin Concerto in G major, BWV 592
  • Johann Sebastian Bach Double Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043
  • Johann Sebastian Bach Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C minor, BWV 1060
  • Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1–5, BWV 1046–1050
  • Samuel Barber Violin Concerto, Op. 14
  • Béla Bartók Violin Concerto No. 1
  • Béla Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2
  • Béla Bartók Rhapsody No. 1
  • Béla Bartók Rhapsody No. 2
  • Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61
  • Ludwig van Beethoven Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56
  • Ludwig van Beethoven Romance No. 1 in G major, Op. 40
  • Ludwig van Beethoven Romance No. 2 in F major, Op. 50
  • Alban Berg Violin Concerto
  • Leonard Bernstein Serenade (after Plato's Symposium)
  • Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
  • Johannes Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor, Op. 102
  • Benjamin Britten Violin Concerto, Op. 15
  • Benjamin Britten Double Concerto for Violin and Viola in B minor
  • Max Bruch Scottish Fantasy in E-flat major, Op. 46
  • Max Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
  • Max Bruch Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 44
  • Ernst Chausson Poème, Op. 25
  • John Corigliano Violin Concerto, "The Red Violin"
  • John Corigliano The Red Violin Chaconne
  • Antonín Dvořák Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53
  • Edward Elgar Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61
  • Alexander Glazunov Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 82
  • Alexander Glazunov Meditation, Op. 32
  • Franz Joseph Haydn Violin Concerto in C major, Hob.VIIa:1
  • Franz Joseph Haydn Violin Concerto No. 4 in G major (Hob. VIIa/4)
  • Aram Khachaturian Violin Concerto in D minor
  • Erich Wolfgang Korngold Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
  • Édouard Lalo Symphonie espagnole in D minor, Op. 21
  • Pietro Antonio Locatelli Violin Concerto in B-flat major, No. 7, Op. 3
  • Pietro Antonio Locatelli Violin Concerto in D major, No. 12, Op. 3, "The Harmonic Labyrinth"
  • Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364/320d
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Violin Concertos Nos. 1–5, K. 207, 211, 216, 218, 219
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Rondo in C for Violin and Orchestra, K. 373
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Adagio in E major for Violin and Orchestra, K. 261
  • Carl Nielsen Violin Concerto, Op. 33
  • Niccolò Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6
  • Niccolò Paganini Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 7
  • Niccolò Paganini Le Streghe, Op. 8, and many other pieces
  • Arvo Pärt Fratres
  • Sergei Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19
  • Sergei Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63
  • Maurice Ravel Tzigane
  • Camille Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61
  • Camille Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28
  • Pablo Sarasate Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25
  • Pablo Sarasate Zigeunerweisen in C Minor, Op. 20, and many other pieces
  • Franz Schubert Rondo in A major for Violin and Strings, D. 438
  • Franz Schubert Polonaise in B-flat major, D. 580
  • Robert Schumann Violin Concerto in D minor, WoO 23
  • Dmitri Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77
  • Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
  • Igor Stravinsky Violin Concerto in D major
  • Karol Szymanowski Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 35
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
  • Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending
  • Henri Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 4 in D minor, Op. 31
  • Henri Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No. 5 in A minor, Op. 37
  • Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons, and many other concertos for violin & orchestra
  • Antonio Vivaldi Complete concertos for viola d'amore
  • William Walton Violin Concerto
  • Franz Waxman Carmen Fantasie
  • Henryk Wieniawski Violin Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 14
  • Henryk Wieniawski Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 22
  • Henryk Wieniawski Scherzo-Tarantelle, Op. 16, and many other pieces
  • John Williams Theme from Schindler's List
Program One

Love and War, Baroque Style

Rachel Barton Pine serves as soloist and leader, transforming the symphony into a baroque orchestra in this program full of colorful and evocative music. Repertoire includes Battalias by Biber and Peruvian composer Zipoli, a dance suite by Pisendel, concertos for 12-string viola d'amore by Vivaldi, a Handel concerto grosso, and the daring "Harmonic Labyrinth" concerto by Paganini's predecessor, Locatelli.

Program Two

Dancing Together: Classical Violin Meets Scottish Fiddle

Rachel Barton Pine is featured as soloist in lush, Romantic classical works full of gorgeous traditional Scots tunes by Bruch and Mackenzie, interspersed with Celtic-flavored symphonic works. A longtime fiddler herself, Rachel is joined by a National Champion Scottish fiddler for fiery twin fiddle medleys accompanied by the orchestra.

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