Heralded as a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks, international concert violinist Rachel Barton Pine thrills audiences with her dazzling technique, lustrous tone and emotional honesty. With an infectious joy in music-making and a passion for connecting historical research to performance, Pine transforms audiences’ experiences of classical music.
Pine’s 2016-2017 season includes performances with the Columbus Symphony, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She’ll give the world premiere of the Maneein Violin Concerto with the Phoenix Symphony, conducted by Tito Muñoz.
In May, 2017 Avie Records will release Pine’s Bel Canto Paganini, which includes her performance of all 24 Paganini Caprices as well as other Paganini unaccompanied works. Pine’s most recent album Testament: Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Johann Sebastian Bach (Avie, 2016) and her 2013 Violin Lullabies (Cedille) both charted at number one on the Billboard Classical chart.
In August 2016, Pine spent time with the legendary Sir Neville Marriner to discuss their upcoming recording of the Elgar and Bruch violin concertos with the BBC Symphony. The album will now be released as a tribute to late conductor on Avie in January 2018. Pine and Sir Neville previously collaborated on Mozart: Complete Violin Concertos with The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, which charted at number three on the Billboard Classical chart in 2015.
Pine has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic; and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie. Her past festival appearances have included Marlboro, Wolf Trap, Ravinia, Davos, and Salzburg.
She has worked with such renowned conductors as Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Neeme Järvi, and Marin Alsop. She has collaborated with many contemporary composers including Augusta Read Thomas, John Corigliano, José Serebrier, and Mohammed Fairouz.
Pine has a prolific discography of 35 CDs on the Avie, Cedille, Warner Classics, and Dorian labels. She recorded Brahms and Joachim Violin Concertos with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Kalmar conducting. Her Beethoven & Clement Violin Concerto, with The Royal Philharmonic and conductor José Serebrier featured the world premiere recording of Clement’s D Major Violin Concerto.
She writes her own cadenzas to many of the works she performs. With the publication of The Rachel Barton Pine Collection, Pine became the only living artist and first woman to join great musicians like Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz in Carl Fischer’s Masters Collection series.
Pine holds prizes from several of the world’s leading competitions, including a gold medal at the 1992 J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Leipzig, Germany.
Her Rachel Barton Pine Foundation assists young artists through various projects, including the Instrument Loan Program, Grants for Education and Career, Global HeartStrings (supporting musicians in developing countries), and a curricular series in development with the University of Michigan: Music by Black Composers.
Pine performs on the Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu (Cremona 1742), known as the “ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” on lifetime loan from her anonymous patron.