Julia Pautz, violin & Tina Chong, piano | Free Mini-Concert

Julia Pautz has been delighting audiences with her uniquely engaging onstage personality since her orchestral debut at age 10. Performing as a member of the San Diego Symphony since 2010, she has been called "a genuine virtuoso" by the Dallas Morning News, and has had her artistic projects featured on the front page of the San Diego Union Tribune. A native of the tiny town of Blanco, Texas, Pautz was a National Merit Scholar and earned a bachelor of music degree with honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music, a master of music degree with honors from the University of Southern California, and a professional studies certificate from The Colburn School, where she studied with renowned violin pedagogue Robert Lipsett. She held a fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival, attended the New York String Orchestra Seminar, and has appeared at the Brevard Music Center, ENCORE School for Strings, and the Sarasota Music Festival. Following her studies, she joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and served on the faculty of the preparatory department at Texas Christian University. A passionate advocate for innovative and accessible classical music experiences, Pautz is a founding member of the Artonic String Quartet, which pairs traditional classical music with enticing contemporary music and virtuosic pop arrangements and serves as the quartet in residence for the Mosaic Chamber Music Festival. During the pandemic, she and her Artonic colleagues launched Backyard Beethoven, a series bringing chamber music to outdoor spaces throughout San Diego, and the quartet has since performed for audiences ranging from thousands of migrant children housed at the San Diego Convention Center to symphony donors onstage at The Rady Shell. Earlier in her career, she cofounded the Texas-based Hall Ensemble, touring the Southwest to critical acclaim. As co-founder and artistic director of the nonprofit Blanco Performing Arts, Pautz has worked for 17 years to bring nearly 100 concerts to her hometown in the rural Texas Hill Country. Equally at home as a presenter, performer, and educator, she maintains a private violin studio where she draws on Suzuki pedagogy, body mapping, Alexander Technique and the teaching of Robert Lipsett to guide highly motivated students. Julia is also a published author whose work has been featured in the American Suzuki Journal. Hailed as “…a deity of elegance” (New Brunswick Beacon) and praise-worthy for performances described as “…mature and yet fresh, imbued with tradition and yet inhabited by individuality” (The Herald Times), Dr. Tina Chong is an acclaimed international soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. A Yamaha artist, she currently serves as associate professor of music at SDSU, following previous faculty appointments at USD and Indiana University. A native of Banff, Canada, Chong’s concert career has taken her to renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, Mexico City’s Sala Chopin, and the Sheldon Center in St. Louis, alongside featured appearances at the La Jolla Music Society Summerfest, Portland International Summer Festival, and Chicago’s WFMT Series. She has performed as a guest soloist with ensembles worldwide, including the Calgary Philharmonic, Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, and Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. A versatile collaborator across orchestral, chamber, and dance repertoire, she performs regularly with the San Diego Symphony and Art of Elan. Artists she has worked with include Rachel Barton Pine, Inon Barnatan, Anthony McGill, Stefan Jackiw, and Tyler Duncan. This breadth of creative activity continues to inspire Chong’s engagement with a wide community of musicians and audiences. She earned her doctorate of music in piano performance—with minors in music education and historical performance practice—from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music under the mentorship of Arnaldo Cohen and Elisabeth Wright. She is also a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Angela Cheng. A prizewinner at the Montreal International Musical Competition and the Jacques Klein Piano Competition, her accolades include first prizes at the CMC International Stepping Stone Competition and the Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, as well as grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. An active international clinician and adjudicator, Chong is a pioneer in keyboard accessibility, having spearheaded the acquisition of the West Coast’s first two reduced-sized piano keyboards at SDSU. Free admission. Reservations are not necessary, but seating is limited. Concerts begin at 12 noon. Doors open at 11:50 AM. Last entry at 12:10 PM or once capacity is reached. Free concerts at noon every Monday year-round . . . no wonder the Mini-Concerts are the longest-running and one of the most popular classical music series at the library! This series was founded by Glenna Hazleton in 1970