Biography

American violinist Hannah Tarley began playing the violin at age two. At twelve, she was appointed the youngest concertmaster in the history of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, performing with the orchestra on two European tours. She made her san Francisco Symphony debut in 2005 and returned most recently alongside Michael Tilson Thomas and Itzhak Perlman in the 2018 Opening Night Gala.

Previously a full scholarship student at the Colburn School under Robert Lipsett, Ms. Tarley received her bachelor’s degree from the Royal College of Music in London under the tutelage of Mark Messenger. She recently received her master’s degree from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, and Catherine Cho. She is currently pursuing a Master of Musical Arts degree at Yale University, working with Ani Kavafian. She was a winner of Astral’s 2018 National Auditions and was third prize winner of the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition.

Ms. Tarley has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Detroit Symphony, Academy of Conducting at Aspen Orchestra, and Lynn Philharmonia, and she has collaborated with leading musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Mark Kaplan, Hsin‐Yun Huang, Nobuko Imai, Shlomo Mintz, Ray Chen, Itamar Zorman, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Shmuel Ashkenasi. As both a soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared in London’s Wigmore Hall and Royal Festival Hall, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Her festival appearances have included the Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, Olympic Music Festival, Kronberg Academy Masterclasses, Heifetz International Music Institute (artist-in-residence), Seiji Ozawa Academy, and Aspen Music Festival and School.  

Ms. Tarley is the Founder and Artistic Director of Notes by the Bay Music Festival, a children's summer music program in California. Now in its fifth year, the Festival presents a unique platform for kids to be imaginative, create theatrical concerts that feature poetry readings and ensemble playing, as well as perform on stage alongside their artistic mentors. She also performs with Violins of Hope, an organization that brings to life the history of the Holocaust and the stories of its victims and their violins. She will be one of the featured violinists during the organization’s Bay Area residency in 2020.

(September 2019)