adventurous with spiritual artistic sensibilities

los angeles

attempting to 
properly honor
 the universe

Hailed by Michael Tilson Thomas as "an excellent violinist," Tomas Cotik was a first-prize winner at the National Broadcast Music Competition in his native Argentina in 1997, and the winner of the Government of Canada Award for 2003-2005. An avid recording artist, Dr. Cotik is currently involved in more than a fourteen CD recordings for Naxos and Centaur Records, which have received over a hundred reviews and the highest praise from some of the best-known publications such as Fanfare, American Record Guide, Downbeat, and MusicWeb International. These recordings include Schubert’s complete works for violin and piano (nominated as recording of the year by Musicweb International), an album with Cotik’s own arrangements of music by Piazzolla (described by the critics as “among the very best”), a solo CD that includes a world premiere recording of original works by Franz Schubert and an upcoming release of Mozart’s 16 sonatas on a 5 CD set. He has worked extensively with producers such as Blanton Alspaugh and Judith Sherman and also produced four recordings himself. Cotik has performed with several internationally prominent conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, Roberto Abbado, Yakov Kreizberg, Marin Alsop, Stephan Deneve, Roger Norrington, and Robert Spano in notable venues such as Carnegie Hall.

Tomas Cotik has performed hundreds of recitals and chamber music concerts across the globe.  Since 2011, he is a member the Cotik/Lin duo. He was also a member of the acclaimed Amernet, Delray, and Harrington string quartets. He was a rotating concertmaster with the New World Symphony and a leader with various other orchestras in the United States and abroad.

Tomas Cotik earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami. He holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Freiburg University of Music in Germany and an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School in Toronto. He has worked closely with artists such as Joseph Kalichstein, Franklin Cohen and members of the Cleveland, Miami, Pro Arte, Vogler, Vermeer, Tokyo and Endellion string quartets.

Committed to passing on his passion for music, Dr. Tomas Cotik was appointed Assistant Professor of Violin at Portland State University in 2016. He previously taught at West Texas A&M University, Florida International University, and at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.


You've never heard violin like this!  The world's premier visionary violinist, Dixon's life mission is to inspire people - and he has done so across North America, including giving four TED talks/performances, over ten years at Burning Man and Electric Forest, plus radio, TV, and film appearances.  A former technology leader and symphony violinist, Dixon walked away from a distinguished career to follow his dream full-time, and invented a whole new music genre.  Dixon now improvises on a 5-string electric violin with a looping system he developed to create an all-live one-man symphony, guided by his remarkable personal story of life transformation.

Winner of the Queen Elisabeth (2009) and Yehudi Menuhin Competitions (2008), Ray Chen is among the most compelling young violinists today.   “Ray has proven himself to be a very pure musician with great qualities such as a beautiful youthful tone, vitality and lightness.   He has all the skills of a truly musical interpreter,” said the great Maxim Vengerov.
Ray has released two critically acclaimed albums on Sony: a recital program “Virtuoso” of works by Bach, Tartini, Franck, and Wieniawski, and the Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky concertos with Swedish Radio Orchestra and Daniel Harding.   Following the success of these recordings, Ray was profiled by The Strad and Gramophone magazines as “the one to watch”.   “Virtuoso” was distinguished with the prestigious ECHO Klassik award.   He is currently working on his third, all-Mozart album with Christoph Eschenbach and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, slated for release later this year.
Ray continues to win the admiration of fans and fellow musicians worldwide.   In 2012, he became the youngest soloist ever to perform in the televised Nobel Prize Concert for the Nobel Laureates and the Swedish Royal Family.   His Carnegie Hall debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Sakari Oramo, as well as his sold-out Musikverein concert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Riccardo Chailly were met with standing ovations.   Since the 2012- 13 season, Ray has been invited to join Konzerthaus Dortmund's series “Junge Wilde,” which presents young and groundbreaking artists in Germany.   Later this season, Ray will make his San Francisco recital debut at the SF Jazz Center. He also looks forward to his upcoming recital tour of Australia and his debuts with the Orchestre National de France and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Followed by over 500,000 people on SoundCloud, Ray Chen looks to expand the classical music audience by increasing its appeal to the young generation via all available social media platforms.   He is the first ever classical musician to be invited to write a regular blog about his life as a touring soloist for the largest Italian publishing house, RCS Rizzoli (Corriere della Sera, Gazzetta dello Sport, Max).   In his unstinting efforts to break down barriers between classical music, fashion and pop culture, he is supported by Giorgio Armani and was recently featured in Vogue magazine.
Born in Taiwan and raised in Australia, Ray was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at age 15, where he studied with Aaron Rosand and was supported by Young Concert Artists.   He plays the 1702 "Lord Newlands" Stradivarius violin on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

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