Pala Garcia is a critically acclaimed violinist, balancing a full performance schedule with her work as an educator and advocate of socially conscious artistry. As a contemporary music specialist, Ms. Garcia performs with the Either/Or Ensemble and is a co-founder of Longleash, an “expert young trio” (Strad Magazine) specializing in contemporary music, as well as the Loretto Project, a graduate-level composition seminar and concert series in Kentucky.
Recent and upcoming highlights include solo and ensemble performances at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (MA), Columbia University’s Miller Theater (NY), Roulette Intermedium (NY), Library of Congress (DC), Music at Copland House (NY), Resonant Bodies Festival (NY), Yeosu International Music Festival (Korea), New Vision Arts Festival (HK), as well as workshops at the Curtis Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and others.
Ms. Garcia has performed as a regular guest in some of the world’s finest ensembles, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Knights, and Ensemble Modern. Her longstanding involvement with Carnegie Hall’s social impact programs have led her to work with a diverse group of New Yorkers, creating and teaching music in environments that need music the most, including prisons, shelters and hospitals.
Ms. Garcia is Assistant Faculty at the Juilliard School’s Precollege Division, a Graduate Teaching Fellow at Brooklyn College, and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, an initiative designed to serve talented young students from backgrounds underrepresented in the American performing arts. She received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Joel Smirnoff and Naoko Tanaka. Ms. Garcia is currently a Graduate Center Fellow at CUNY’s doctoral program in music performance. www.palagarcia.com