David Southorn
Violinist David Southorn leads a dynamic career as a concertmaster, soloist, and chamber musician. Recent solo highlights include performances of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Fremont Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Hendersonville Symphony, Aaron Jay Kernis’ AIR with the New Haven Symphony, and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Delaware Symphony, where Delaware Arts Info praised him as “nothing less than brilliant… powerful sound; immaculate precision and compelling agility… impeccable phrasing and polished lyricism… a zestful performance.” As a chamber musician, Southorn has performed with the award-winning Amphion String Quartet at Alice Tully Hall as part of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS II program.
Southorn is the Concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Assistant Concertmaster of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He is currently on the faculty of the Mannes School of Music at The New School and has recently conducted masterclasses and sectionals at Yale University and the University of North Florida.
The 2024-25 season features several exciting engagements, including a solo collaboration with Delaware Shakespeare, where he will perform works by Ysaye, Jessie Montgomery, Bach, and Biber. He will also present Bach’s Double Violin Concerto alongside Maxwell Brown with the Delaware Symphony and lead multiple conductor-less performances with the New Haven Symphony, featuring Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending.”
As a soloist, Southorn has performed with the New Jersey Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Hendersonville Symphony, Fremont Symphony, Portland Festival Symphony, and the New York Classical Players. Based in New York City, he has played with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and regularly performs as an extra with the New York Philharmonic, joining them on multiple domestic and international tours. He has also served as guest concertmaster for several orchestras, including the Jacksonville Symphony, Reading Symphony Orchestra, Incheon Philharmonic (South Korea), and Miami Symphony Orchestra.
In his chamber music career, Southorn’s notable performances with the Amphion Quartet have taken place at venues such as Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla SummerFest, the Tilles Center, The Library of Congress, The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., BargeMusic, Caramoor, Kneisel Hall, and the Seoul Arts Center, among others. He has recently appeared as a guest artist at the Garth Newel Music Center and has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Anne-Marie McDermott, Carter Brey, Anthony McGill, Ani Kavafian, David Shifrin, Edgar Meyer, and the Tokyo String Quartet. The Amphion Quartet’s recording with Nimbus Records was named a “Best Classical Album of 2015” by the New York Times and earned them several accolades, including winning the Concert Artists Guild competition.
Southorn holds a Bachelor of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from Yale University, and a Professional Studies Certificate in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music.