Violinist Natalie Yu made her solo debut with the Oregon Symphony in 2005 at the age of 11, and has since had a thriving career as a concert artist and orchestral musician. Ms. Yu has appeared as soloist on many occasions, including a performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with members of the Oregon Symphony and Oregon Ballet Theater in Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, the Vivaldi Four Seasons with the Oregon Symphony, and the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Brentwood-Westwood Symphony as the grand prize winner of their Young Artist Competition. Other awards include prizes in the Petri Scholarship Competition, Vancouver Symphony Young Artists Competition, the NFAA YoungARTS Competition, and the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, for which she won the Grand Prize in 2011.
In 2021 Ms. Yu was appointed Assistant Principal 2nd Violin of the Florida Orchestra. She has also served in leadership positions of the American Youth Symphony, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Colburn Orchestra, Young Artists Symphony Orchestra, Portland Youth Philharmonic and the Young Musician Foundation’s Debut Orchestra. She has played under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, James Conlon, and Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. As a full scholarship recipient, she was invited to participate in the National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute at the Kennedy Center during the summer of 2008 and has also spent many wonderful summers at the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, Bowdoin International Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine, and the Heifetz International Music Institute in Staunton, Virginia.
Ms. Yu holds an Artist’s Diploma and Bachelor of Music from the Colburn Conservatory of Music as well as a Master’s of Music from The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University where she studied with Robert Lipsett and Kathleen Winkler respectively. When not making music, she enjoys spending time traveling, playing board games and doing yoga. She has also recently taken an interest in beach volleyball.