About

American violinist and composer Lauren Vandervelden is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School, where she was a proud recipient of the John Erskine Prize for exceptional scholastic and artistic achievement. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Solo Performance at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Switzerland with international soloist Ilya Gringolts. Previously, Lauren studied composition with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner and violin with Kurt Nikkanen, concertmaster of the New York City Ballet Orchestra.

Lauren is the First Prize Winner of the 2023 Alexander & Buono International String Competition as well as the 2022 Grand Prize Winner of the Bellagrande International Music Competition for violin performance. In addition, as a winner of the Juilliard Orchestra Competition in February 2020, Lauren was a soloist with The Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall, premiering the first movement of her Violin Concerto. She premiered the second movement of the Violin Concerto for the Next Festival of Emerging Artists at National Sawdust in 2019. Most recently, Lauren served as Guest Concertmaster for the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra in New York City. Lauren performed in chamber music groups at Juilliard and participated as a violinist in masterclasses at the prestigious International Menuhin Academy in Rolle, Switzerland. She has participated in additional lessons and masterclasses with Bella Hristova, Stefan Jackiw, Renaud Capuçon, Midori, Sarn Oliver, Kinga Augustyn, and Jeremy Constant. Previously, she was a first violinist with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and concertmaster of the Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Lauren composed and performed pieces for the Yellow Barn Young Artist Program.

Lauren has received numerous national awards in composition, including recognition from BMI, ASCAP, National Young Arts, Tribeca New Music, MTNA, NFMC, and the Frost School of Music. Lauren’s compositions have been performed at notable venues including Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Davies Symphony Hall, New World Center, The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, and the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage (workshop with George Tsontakis). Composer mentors have included John Adams, David Ludwig, Aaron Jay Kernis, Stephen Coxe, Eric Nathan, and Christopher Theofanidis.

Lauren collaborates extensively with choreographers, visual artists, and fellow musicians. She recently was a featured composer at the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of the New York City Ballet. She also collaborated with the San Francisco Ballet School, the Juilliard School ChoreoComp choreographers and dancers, and is currently engaged in a project with the New York Theatre Ballet. In addition, Lauren has composed and performed violin pieces presented online in collaboration with visual artists featured in Musaics of the Bay. Future projects include a performance of a commission from The New York Virtuoso Singers. Lauren seeks to bring an operatic, narrative quality to her compositions, drawing and expanding upon the realm of tonal harmony as a means of channeling great expressivity. She is inspired by the beauty of nature, striving to express its sublimity in her music.