Francesca dePasquale

Biography

Described by critics as “scintillating” and celebrated for her “rich, expressive playing” (Musical America), violinist Francesca dePasquale was the first-prize winner of the 2010 Irving M. Klein International String Competition and recipient of the prestigious 2014-16 career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Earning her the 2015 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award, her self-titled debut album and accompanying recital tour was praised for its “sincerity, intensity” and “individual voice” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and “immaculate and discreet phrasing” (The Strad). DePasquale has been featured by Strings Magazine and on SiriusXM, WNYC, WQXR, WRTI (Philadelphia), and WFMT (Chicago) radio.

An active chamber musician, dePasquale is the violinist of the Aletheia Piano Trio alongside pianist Fei-Fei and cellist Juliette Herlin. She is a member of the artist roster for Manhattan Chamber Players and Noree Chamber soloists, and performs with Chameleon Arts Ensemble, Marinus Ensemble, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. DePasquale has collaborated with a long list of standout musicians including Adrian Brendel, Paul Coletti, Kim Kashkashian, Itzhak Perlman, and Donald Weilerstein, and she has appeared as soloist with the Gustav Mahler Orchestra, the Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Colburn Orchestra, Galesburg Symphony, Peninsula Symphony, and Santa Cruz Symphony, among others.

Before arriving at Oberlin in fall 2020, dePasquale taught for four years at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts. She is a member of the violin and chamber music faculty for the Juilliard School Pre-College Program and the violin faculty at the Heifetz International Music Institute. She served as the Starling Fellow teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman from 2013-16 and teaching assistant to Catherine Cho from 2013-18 at the Juilliard School. She was a visiting faculty member at Oberlin in fall 2018.

DePasquale’s teachers have included Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Robert Lipsett. Previous teachers include Hirono Oka and William dePasquale, with additional mentorship from Norman Carol and Arnold Steinhardt.