TESSA LARK (violin) is the winner of the coveted Naumburg International Violin Award in 2012 and one of the most captivating artistic voices of her time.  She has been consistently praised by critics and audiences alike for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility and musical elegance. Tessa, now age 25, was recently named a 2014 recipient of a career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts; as a result she will release her debut CD recording of Telemann’s Twelve Fantasies for Solo Violin in the 2014-2015 season. She was also the first prize winner in both the 2008 Irving Klein International Strings Competition and the 2006 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players. At age 16, Lark was soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and has since then performed concerti with orchestras around the world and frequents the concert stage in recitals. A passionate chamber musician, Tessa Lark has performed at such summer festivals as the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Yellow Barn, the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop and Music@Menlo, and was a top prizewinner in the 2012 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition as part of her piano trio, Modêtre. A native of Kentucky, Tessa enjoys playing bluegrass and Appalachian music. She collaborates frequently with Mark O’Connor and is included in his CD “MOC4” which was released in June 2014. Ms. Lark plays a Tononi violin, made in 1675, on generous loan to her from the Ravinia Festival.