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The Violin Channel Vanguard Concert Series | Porter & Pouliot
About Simone’s Literary-Themed Recital Program
Barber Violin Concerto with Seattle Symphony
Simone Porter on “Performance Today”
With Louis Langrée and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra

“Porter commands the technical chops, throbbing vibrato but, most importantly, the expressive panache, needed to bring the music’s rhapsodic lyricism to life; she did so with absolute sincerity and not a whiff of gloppy sentiment.”

Chicago Classical Review

“Violinist Simone Porter exudes positive energy, from the confident way she takes the stage to her welcoming manner as she delivers insightful remarks to an audience. She was absolutely the perfect choice to lead New Century Chamber Orchestra…Her performance of J.S. Bach’s Violin Concerto in E Major, BWV 1042, showed off her solo chops perfectly. There was striving and passion in the way she attacked the first-movement allegro, yet that was balanced with poise in the way she listened to her colleagues and connected with them. Her violin sang effortlessly in the second movement, the phrasing and articulations not interrupting the flow of the line. She is a great match for this orchestra.”

San Francisco Classical Voice

“Morlot had a future star to work with in violinist Simone Porter…Wait: let’s strike the world ‘Future.’ She sounds ready. Now.”

Los Angeles Times

“Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Lachen Verlernt had some exquisite vibrato on the high opening notes, immediately followed by the gripping depth of the G string; all told, this powerful, work was virtuosically performed by Porter. Hildegard von Bingen’s O virtus sapientiae was beautifully arranged by Olivia Marckx for Porter, who played with elegance and eloquence. After this, Andrew Norman’s Sabina was just one example of inspired programming. It was given a captivating performance…”

The Strad

“Porter displayed a smooth, well-focused and unforced tone of considerable sweetness and warmth in Thursday’s concert. Her phrasing is clear and beautifully finished; the intonation is reliable […], and her interpretation is mature and confident. Clearly this is an artist ready for the big leagues.”

The Seattle Times

“Our violin soloist, Simone Porter, is a rising star, and one can see why. Her silvery tone is gorgeous, and she can overcome any technical hurdles thrown her way, of which the Korngold has several. She plays with uncommon passion and involvement in the music, and seems to enjoy what she’s doing; when not playing she would bask in the orchestral richness behind her.”

Grunion

“If you wish to know what Simone Porter can do on the violin, the answer is simple: whatever she wants. An utterly perfect technique allows her to take on passages of the most hair-raising difficulty with complete poise and relaxation. Her right-arm technique, in particular, enables her to achieve quicksilver changes in color, and to spin out long legato phrases without the hint of a break.”

The Spokesman-Review

“Simone Porter’s Celebrity Series debut at Pickman Hall Wednesday night proved revelatory on two fronts. The violinist’s bracing accounts of mostly 21st-century works confirmed the good reasons for her quick rise to fame. And a world premiere by composer Reena Esmail proved a remarkable discovery. Each has established a unique voice at a relatively young age. Porter continues to earn acclaim for her silver-toned virtuosity and probing interpretations.”

Boston Classical Review

“She is quite simply marvelous. She reminded me most of all of the young Yehudi Menuhin — the same kind of remarkable golden tones and vibrant smoothness, the huge sound, the sense that any technical virtuoso challenges are a figment of the imagination, the seemingly fearless ease of the whole thing. Like Menuhin, she has the energy, the invigoration of youth, but a maturity of emotional expression beyond her years.”

Edmonton Journal

“In her SLSO debut, soloist Simone Porter proved to be a most persuasive interpreter of Bruch’s sentimental and appealing work. Fully engaged with both the conductor and the orchestra, Porter played with rich warmth in the lyrical first and third movements.”

KDHX

Violinist Simone Porter has been recognized as an emerging artist of impassioned energy, interpretive integrity, and vibrant communication. She has debuted with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle and Pittsburgh Symphonies and with a number of renowned conductors, including Stéphane Denève, Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Nicholas McGegan, Ludovic Morlot, Donald Runnicles, David Robertson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Manfred Honeck, Louis Langrée and David Danzmayr. Simone made her professional solo debut at age 10 with the Seattle Symphony and her international debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London at age 13. In March 2015, Simone was named a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Simone’s recent seasons include extensive US touring with visits to orchestras such as Colorado, North Carolina, St. Louis, Oregon, Nashville, Baltimore, Hawai’i, Grand Rapids, Arkansas, Omaha, Jacksonville and Quebec Symphonies, Buffalo and Erie Philharmonics, Florida Orchestra and many more. The 2026/2027 season features returns to the Virginia, Princeton, Eugene, Colorado, and Pasadena Symphonies and debuts with the Greensboro, Gonzaga, and Port Angeles Symphonies. She will also return to the Oregon Symphony, where she currently serves as the Artist-in Residence through the 2027/2028 season. Internationally, Simone has performed with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel; the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira in Rio de Janeiro; the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica; the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong; the Sun Symphony in Vietnam; the Royal Northern Sinfonia; the Milton Keynes City Orchestra in the United Kingdom; Orquesta Clasica Santa Cecilia de la Fundacion Excelentia in Madrid; the Opera de Marseille and at the Edinburgh Festival performing Barber under the direction of Stéphane Denève.

An eager collaborator and chamber musician, Simone has appeared at festivals such as La Jolla Summerfest, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Bay Chamber Music, Moab Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival and many more. She recently collaborated with Third Coast Percussion at Swarthmore College and 92NY and will collaborate this season with violinist Blake Pouliot and pianist Hsin-I Huang for performances at Stanford and Northridge, CA. Simone previously lead a side-by-side project with New Century Chamber Orchestra and students of San Francisco Conservatory, presented in San Francisco and at Stanford Live. Recent recital highlights include a tour in Spain with pianist Pallavi Mahidhara and debuts at Celebrity Series in Boston, NY92, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. This season, Simone will make her recital debut with Pallavi Mahidhara at the Morelia International Music Festival.

February 2025 marked the release of Simone’s highly acclaimed first solo album ad tendo on the Bright Shiny Things label, featuring pieces by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Reena Esmail, Andrew Norman, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber and Hildegard von Bingen. Her album received a five star review from BBC Music Magazine and was later nominated for the Magazine’s 2026 Newcomer Award. At the invitation of Salonen, Simone performed his work ‘Lachen verlernt’ (‘Laughing Unlearnt’), at the New York Philharmonic’s “Foreign Bodies,” a multi-sensory celebration of the work of the composer and conductor. Simone made her Carnegie Zankel Hall debut on the Emmy Award-winning TV show From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall followed in November 2016 by her debut in Stern Auditorium. She returned to Carnegie in December of 2024 together with cellist Joshua Roman as a part of their Well-Being Concert. In June 2016, her featured performance of music from Schindler’s List with Maestro Gustavo Dudamel and members of the American Youth Symphony was broadcast nationally on the TNT Network as part of the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award: A Tribute to John Williams.

Raised in Seattle, Washington, Simone studied with Margaret Pressley as a recipient of the Dorothy Richard Starling Scholarship, and then attended the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles in the studio of Robert Lipsett.

Simone Porter performs on a 1740 Carlo Bergonzi violin made in Cremona Italy on generous loan from The Master’s University, Santa Clarita, California.

2026-2027