Kelly Hall-Tompkins - Violinist

Kelly Hall-Tompkins is one of New York City's most in-demand violinists, whose dynamic career spans solo, chamber, and orchestral performance. Ms. Hall-Tompkins was winner of a 2003 Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize as well as a Concert Artists Guild Career Grant in 1996, leading to numerous solo recitals in New York and the surrounding area. Her solo performances also include the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, broadcast live by WFMT Radio; in Baltimore for the Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust; and, through a special grant from the IBM Corporation, at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina. Ms. Hall-Tompkins has been soloist with the Dallas Symphony, Greenville Symphony, Philharmonic of Uruguay, Monmouth Symphony, the Gateways Festival Orchestra, the Festival of the Atlantic Orchestra, and the Atlanta University Orchestra and her performances in recital have been featured on several occasions on the McGraw-Hill Young Artist Showcase, broadcast in New York by WQXR. She commissioned a new work for violin and percussion from eminent German composer Siegfried Matthus, premiering the composition at the Pine Mountain Music Festival in Michigan in the summer of 2002. Also in 2002 Ms. Hall-Tompkins released her debut CD recording, funded by the Mellon Foundation, featuring the Kodaly duo, Brahms d minor Sonata and the Ravel Tzigane. Recent press reviews tout the disc with "...energy and versatility..." - Manhattan Times and "...her playing is precise and well measured, very clean and sweet...one cannot argue with the technical expertise or fluency expressed..." - NJ Star-Ledger. The Dallas Weekly describes her as "Phenomenal."

Ms. Hall-Tompkins' distinguished orchestral career has included extensive touring in the United States and internationally with the renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, including performances in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Japan, Singapore, Scotland and a recording with countertenor Andreas Scholl. She has also performed over 150 performances as a substitute with the New York Philharmonic, under conductors including Kurt Masur, Leonard Slatkin, Andre Previn, Charles Dutoit and Valery Gergiev, stemming from her success as a finalist in auditions held by the orchestra in 1994. In 1999 she won auditions held by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and was subsequently appointed to the orchestra's First Violin section.

Ms. Hall-Tompkins is a member the Aurélia Piano Trio with cellist Eric Bartlett, of the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and pianist Craig Ketter, prominent soloist and frequent recital collaborator. In addition, she is also a member of the Florida-based Ritz Chamber Players, and the Gateways Chamber Players in Virginia. Ms. Hall-Tompkins has performed and studied at many of the major festivals in the U.S. and abroad, including Tanglewood, Aspen, the Quartet Program, the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, the Spoleto Festival in Italy, and the last New York String Orchestra Seminar under the direction of Alexander Schneider. While at Schleswig-Holstein, Ms. Hall-Tompkins performed in a quartet with principle flutist of the Berlin Philharmonic, Andreas Blau.

A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Ms. Hall-Tompkins began her violin studies at age nine. She earned a Master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music under the mentorship of Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. While there, she was concertmaster of both of the school's orchestras. Prior to that, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree with honors in violin performance with a minor in French from the Eastman School of Music studying with Charles Castleman. While at Eastman she won the school's prestigious Performer's Certificate Competition, several scholarship awards from the New York Philharmonic, and was invited to perform chamber music on the school's Kilbourn Concert Series with members of the faculty. An avid polyglot, Ms. Hall-Tompkins speaks and studies seven languages in conjunction with her active international performance career.