Daring, versatile, charismatic and passionate, American violinist Robyn Bollinger is a young artist on the rise. Just out of conservatory, Ms. Bollinger is carving a career as a soloist and chamber musician. Already recognized for her musical creativity, rich tones, emotional depth, and technical mastery, she is a recipient of a prestigious 2016 Grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for her multimedia performance project entitled “CIACCONA: The Bass of Time,”  which she will begin touring in the second half of the 2017-18 season. Having made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut at age twelve, Ms. Bollinger has since performed with orchestras and at festivals nationwide, among them the Boston Pops, the Grand Tetons Music Festival Orchestra, and the music festivals of Aspen, Lake Champlain, Maui, Marlboro, and Rockport.

Dividing her time between solo engagements and chamber music, this 2017-2018 season Robyn Bollinger appears as soloist with the Orchestra of Indian Hill (MA), Symphony in C (NJ), and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and guests in a special concert for the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. She begins her solo tour of “CIACCONA: The Bass of Time,” a multi-media concert that tells the story of one of the oldest musical ideas, the repeating bass line, through solo violin music. Tour performances announced to date include Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Emory University, National Sawdust (Brooklyn, NY) and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. With the Grammy-nominated string orchestra A Far Cry, Ms. Bollinger can be heard in Boston, Massachusetts and on tour at The Royal Conservatory in Toronto, Canada. Additional chamber music performances include engagements with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble, the Lydian Quartet at Brandeis University, and Mistral Music, as well as in concert for Boston’s Music For Food concert series. Also of note is the release of her debut solo CD, “CIACCONA: The Bass of Time” on Crier Records November 3, 2017.

A sought-after collaborator, Ms. Bollinger is a popular figure on the chamber music stage, both as a member of the renowned, Grammy-nominated Boston-based ensemble A Far Cry, and for her work at Festivals, and on chamber music series. She has performed in Midori’s Music Sharing International Community Engagement Program “ICEP” in Japan, performed in recital in Japan’s Phoenix Hall, (Osaka), Oji Hall, (Tokyo), and Tokyo National Arts Center, and served as a Young Artist Fellow for Music for Food, the national musician-led initiative for local hunger relief. A former member of the Newman String Quartet, which took the silver medal at the 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, she has also served as a member of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival’s Young Trio in Residence (2015 – 2017). Collaborations include the Jupiter Chamber Players at Lincoln Center, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, and with members of the Borromeo, Cleveland, Juilliard, Johannes, Mendelssohn, and Pro Arte quartets, among others.

In addition to the 2016 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship, Ms. Bollinger’s talent has been recognized with numerous awards, among them an Entrepreneurial Musicianship Grant from New England Conservatory for her ground-breaking “Project Paganini,” a performance project featuring all twentyfour Paganini Caprices. Ms. Bollinger has received top prizes at many international competitions, among them the International Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna, the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists in France, and the Louis Spohr International Competition in Germany. She has been specially recognized with prizes for her performances of Bach and Beethoven works at several competitions. A familiar figure on radio, Ms. Bollinger came to national attention through her 2014 residency on PRI’s “Performance Today” and several appearances on NPR’s “From the Top.”  

Born in Philadelphia in 1991, Robyn Bollinger is a former recipient of the Laurence Lesser Presidential Scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA, where she received both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with honors. Ms. Bollinger’s former teachers include Miriam Fried, Soovin Kim, and Paul Kantor. From July 2013 to May 2017, Ms. Bollinger played a 1778 Joseph and Antonio Gagliano violin on generous loan from the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute Instrument Bank. As of May 2017, she now performs on a beautiful 2017 violin made by the world-renowned luthier Samuel Zygmuntowicz, on loan from a private collection.