Violinist Simone Porter has been recognized as an emerging artist of impassioned energy, interpretive integrity, and vibrant communication. She has debuted with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle and Pittsburgh Symphonies and with a number of renowned conductors, including Stéphane Denève, Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Nicholas McGegan, Ludovic Morlot, Donald Runnicles, David Robertson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Manfred Honeck, Louis Langrée and David Danzmayr. Simone made her professional solo debut at age 10 with the Seattle Symphony and her international debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London at age 13. In March 2015, Simone was named a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant. 

Porter’s recent seasons include extensive US touring with debuts and return visits to orchestras such as Colorado, North Carolina, St. Louis, Oregon, Nashville, Baltimore, Hawaii, Grand Rapids, Arkansas, Omaha, Quebec, Jacksonville and Westchester symphonies, Erie Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra and many more. After a busy summer of festival performances at Methow Valley, Bellingham, Bowdoin, Charlottesville and Britt Festival, 25/26 season begins with a return to Oregon Symphony marking the first year of Porter’s Artist in residence with the orchestra, a title she will hold through 27/28 season. In the spring of 2027 she will return to Buffalo Philharmonic and embark on a tour with the orchestra to Florida performing Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy under the baton of JoAnn Falletta. Internationally, Simone has performed with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra with  Gustavo Dudamel; the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira in Rio de Janeiro; the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica; the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong; the Royal Northern Sinfonia; the Milton Keynes City Orchestra in the United Kingdom; Orquesta Clasica Santa Cecilia de la Fundacion Excelentia in Madrid; the Opera de Marseille and at the Edinburgh Festival performing Barber under the direction of Stéphane Denève, 

In January 2026 Porter will lead a side-by-side project with New Century Chamber Orchestra and students of San Francisco Conservatory, presented in San Francisco and at Stanford Live. Recent recital highlights include a tour in Spain with pianist Pallavi Mahidhara and debuts at Celebrity Series in Boston and NY92, both of which featured the newly commissioned piece by composer Reena Esmail. An avid chamber musician, Porter has appeared at festivals such as La Jolla Summerfest, Bay Chamber Music, Moab Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival and many more. Together with her colleagues violinist Blake Pouliot and pianist Hsin-I Huang, Porter presented a program at Cliburn Foundation in Fort Worth, TX and Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA in spring of 2025. 

February 2025 marked the release of her highly acclaim first solo album ad tendo on Bright Shiny Things label, featuring pieces by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Reena Esmail, Andrew Norman, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber and Hildegard von Bingen.  At the invitation of Salonen, Porter performed his work ‘Lachen verlernt’ (‘Laughing Unlearnt’), at the New York Philharmonic’s “Foreign Bodies,” a multi-sensory celebration of the work of the composer and conductor. Simone made her Carnegie Zankel Hall debut on the Emmy Award-winning TV show From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall followed in November 2016 by her debut in Stern Auditorium. She will return to Carnegie in December of 2024 together with cellist Joshua Roman as a part of their Well-Being Concert. In June 2016, her featured performance of music from Schindler’s List with Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and members of the American Youth Symphony was broadcast nationally on the TNT Network as part of the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Williams. 

Raised in Seattle, Washington, Simone studied with Margaret Pressley as a recipient of the Dorothy Richard Starling Scholarship, and was then admitted into the studio of the renowned pedagogue Robert Lipsett, with whom she studied at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. Summer studies have included many years at the Aspen Music Festival, Indiana University's Summer String Academy, and the Schlern International Music Festival in Italy.

Simone Porter performs on a 1740 Carlo Bergonzi violin made in Cremona Italy on generous loan from The Master’s University, Santa Clarita, California.

Described as “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned,” (ArtsAtlanta) violinist Blake Pouliot (pool-YACHT) has anchored himself among the ranks of classical phenoms. A tenacious young artist with a passion that enraptures his audience in every performance, Pouliot has established himself as “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime” (Toronto Star). 

As a soloist, Blake’s 2025-26 concerto highlights include a return to National Ars Centre Orchestra to open their season with Music Director Alexander Shelley, performing Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. He will make debuts with the Illinois Symphony, performing Rózsa’s Violin Concerto with Music Director Taichi Fukumura, and with Columbus Symphony, performing the Korngold Violin Concerto with Josep Vicent. Additional concerto appearances include Rochester Philharmonic, as well as a tour with the Prague Philharmonia in Spain and the U.S., culminating with a performance at Carnegie Hall, marking Blake’s Stern Auditorium debut. He continues to expand his presence abroad, performing with the Enescu Philharmonic in Romania and with Symphony Nova Scotia.  Recital appearances this season include Newport Classical, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, Artist Series of Sarasota, and Portland Ovations with his long-time collaborator and pianist, Henry Kramer. As a chamber musician, Blake will perform at Bay Chamber Concerts, Spoleto, Cleveland Chamberfest, SummerFest in La Jolla, and Moab Music Festival.

Blake’s 2024/25 season included debuts with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, San Diego Symphony, as well as the Houston Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the San Antonio Symphony. In Europe, Blake performed with the London Philharmonic and Alevtina Ioffe, Chamber Orchestra of Europe with conductor Mattias Pintscher and cellist Alisa Weilerstein, KYMI Sinfonietta and Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire. Recital performance highlights from last season included debuts at Carnegie Hall and La Jolla Music Society. 

During his time as Soloist-in-Residence of Orchestre Métropolitain in 2020/21, Pouliot and Yannick Nézet-Séguin performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons which led to Pouliot’s 2022 debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Center, performing John Corigliano’s The Red Violin (Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra) with Nézet-Séguin. Highlights elsewhere include Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in 2022/23, with Angela Hewitt and Bryan Cheng, as well as performances of the Paganini, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns concerti and Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy in subscription series across North America. 

Pouliot released his debut album of 20th century French music on Analekta Records in 2019. Featuring Ravel’s Tzigane and Violin Sonata in G, Debussy’s Violin Sonata in G minor and Beau Soir, the recording received critical acclaim including a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine and a 2019 Juno Award nomination for Best Classical Album. 

Since his orchestral debut at age 11, Pouliot has performed with the orchestras of Aspen, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Madison, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, and Seattle, among many others. Internationally, he has performed as soloist with the Sofia Philharmonic in Bulgaria, Orchestras of the Americas on its South American tour, and was the featured soloist for the first ever joint tour of the European Union Youth Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Canada. He has collaborated with many musical luminaries including conductors Sir Neville Marriner, Pablo Heras-Casado, David Danzmayr, JoAnn Falletta, Sascha Goetzel, Marcelo Lehninger, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Matthias Pintscher, Alexander Shelley, and Thomas Søndergård

Pouliot has been featured twice on Rob Kapilow’s What Makes it Great? series and has been NPR’s Performance Today Artist-in-Residence in Minnesota (2017/18), Hawaii (2018/19), and across Europe (2021/22). Prior to that, he won the Grand Prize at the 2016 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition and was named First Laureate of both the 2018 and 2015 Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. 

Pouliot performs on the 1729 Guarneri del Gesù on generous loan from an anonymous donor.

Quickly becoming recognized as today's most sought after collaborative pianist, Hsin-I has been praised on concert stages in Germany, Russia, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. In the US, Hsin-I has played in esteemed venues such as Disney Hall and Zipper Hall.  She has collaborated with many artists such as Margaret Batjer, Andrew Shulman, Sheryl Staples, Chee-Yun, Simone Porter, William Hagen, Blake Pouliot, Jacob Braun, LA Philharmonic principal horn Andrew Bain, associate principal violist Dale Hikawa Silverman and cellist Tao Ni. Passionate about constantly growing as an artist and helping others grow, she regularly collaborates with students in master classes of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School of Music.

 Hsin-I has made guest appearances at such venues as LA Philharmonic Chamber Music, Aspen Music Festival, Ravinia BGH Classics series, NPR’s Performance Today, Sundays Live at LACMA, South Bay Chamber Music Society, and Innsbrook Institute.  

Hsin-I is also an accomplished cellist, winning many National competitions in Taiwan before completely focusing on collaborative piano.