Described by critics as “scintillating” and celebrated for her “rich, expressive playing” (MusicalAmerica), violinist Francesca dePasquale is the First Prize winner of the 2010 Irving M. Klein International String Competition and recipient of the prestigious 2014-2016 career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts. Earning her the 2015 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award, her self-titled debut album released in March of 2016 encompasses works that scope from Bach to a new commission from composer Paola Prestini for violin and electronics. For the album and accompanying recital tour, Francesca was praised for “sincerity, intensity” and “individual voice” (Philadelphia Inquirer), and “immaculate and discreet phrasing” (Strad Magazine). Additionally, she was featured in Strings magazine and on SiriusXM, WNYC, WQXR, WRTI (Philadelphia), and WFMT (Chicago).
2020-2021 season highlights include a performance of works by William Grant Still by the violin faculty at Oberlin Conservatory as well as a return recital appearance for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society featuring On the Blue Shore of Silence, a multimedia suite for violin, piano, electronics, and visual art by composers Gity Razaz, Gloria Justen, Sayo Kosugi, and artist Johanna Andruchovici. Additional recent performance highlights include chamber music appearances for Noree Chamber Soloists’ Portsmouth Music Festival and Opera America series, Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, Friends of Chamber Music (Reading, PA) with the Aletheia Piano Trio, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, and Manhattan Chamber Players at the Timucua Arts Foundation, Sanibel Music Festival, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and Valley Concert Society. Additionally, solo appearance highlights include Barber Concerto with the Riverside Philharmonic, Mendelssohn D minor Concerto with Noree Chamber Soloists, and Shostakovich Concerto no. 1 with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra.
Since her debut as soloist at age 9 touring Spain with the Main Line Chamber Orchestra, Francesca has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Gustav Mahler Orchestra, the Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Colburn Orchestra, Galesburg Symphony, Peninsula Symphony, and Santa Cruz Symphony. As recitalist, she has collaborated with artists Meng-Chieh Liu, Natalie Zhu, John Root, and Reiko Uchida on series such as the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, National Sawdust, Rutgers University, the University of Pennsylvania, California Music Center, and the Perlman Music Program.
An active chamber musician, Francesca has performed with renowned artists Adrian Brendel, Paul Coletti, Thomas Cooley, Jennifer Frautschi, Kim Kashkashian, Nicholas Kitchen, Ronald Leonard, Robert Levin, Pavel Nersessian, Merry Peckham, Itzhak Perlman, Jeffrey Sykes, Roger Tapping, Richard Todd, Donald Weilerstein, and Helena Winkelman. Francesca is a member of the artist roster for Manhattan Chamber Players and Noree Chamber soloists, and performs frequently with Marinus Ensemble and Chameleon Arts Ensemble. Additionally, she has performed for the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove, Friends of Chamber Music (Reading, PA), An Appalachian Summer Festival’s Broyhill Chamber Ensemble, Chesapeake Chamber Music, Heifetz International Music Institute, Music at Bunker Hill, 23Arts Initiative, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Music in the Vineyards, Olympic Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Colburn Chamber Music Society, and the Perlman Music Program. Additionally, she has collaborated with dancers Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside for the Fall for Dance Festival alongside composer Stefan Levin, as well as performed with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Brooklyn based orchestral collective The Knights, and A Far Cry.
Francesca is the violinist of the Aletheia Piano Trio alongside pianist Fei-Fei and cellist Juliette Herlin. Formed in 2013 at the Juilliard School, the trio gave debut performances at the Rose Studio and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York and the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The Aletheia Piano Trio has performed for Shenson Chamber Music Concerts (Washington, D.C.), PLAY the Classics at Bethel Woods (Bethel, NY), Friends of Chamber Music (Reading, PA), Macon Concert Association at Wesleyan College (Macon, GA), Concerts in the Barn (Quilcene, WA), Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach (Palm Beach, FL), Saint Vincent College Concert Series (Latrobe, PA), Shandelee Music Festival (Livingston Manor, NY), and the Busan Maru International Music Festival (Busan, Korea), which included Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Gustav Mahler Orchestra and conductor Wilson Ng. Additionally, the trio has toured China in 2018 and 2019, performing at Poly Theatres throughout the country. Recent media highlights include several broadcasts on Performance Today of Haydn Trio No. 39 in G major, HOB XV/25 “Gypsy”, recorded live in performance for the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach.
Francesca is a member of the violin faculty at Oberlin Conservatory of Music as well as violin faculty for the Juilliard School Pre-College Program. Additionally, she is a member of the violin faculty at the Heifetz International Music Institute and its Program for the Exceptionally Gifted. Previously, Francesca served as the Starling Fellow teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman from 2013-2016 and teaching assistant to Catherine Cho from 2013-2018 at the Juilliard School, as well as Visiting Assistant Professor at Oberlin Conservatory of Music during the Fall of 2018. A graduate of the Juilliard and Colburn Schools, Francesca studied with Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Robert Lipsett. Previous teachers include Hirono Oka and William dePasquale, with additional mentorship from Norman Carol and Arnold Steinhardt. Francesca performs on a 1968 Sergio Peresson violin and a Jean “Grand” Adam bow.