Isa Costanza, Violin

San Francisco Bay-Area Native Isa/bella Costanza, 20, hails from a musically inclined family and no longer resents being given a violin instead of the cello she asked for on her fourth birthday. (She’s happily stuck to e-strings ever since her c-string envy subsided.) Currently, she’s a junior at the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA, studying under Mr. Soovin Kim. Isa has always enjoyed sharing her music making with others, and prior to heading east, she was an active chamber musician all around the Bay. She was first violin of the Chiaroscruo String Quartet, a group comprised of some of her closest friends that went on to win the 2014 Inaugural Galante Prize (via the Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Festival); she served as co-concertmaster of the California Youth Symphony for three years, and was lucky enough to perform Rimsky-Korsokov’s Scheherezhade, and Chausson’s Poème for Violin and Orchestra during her time there; Isabella also played with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra for five years. In 2013, Isa was a Semi-Finalist of the Mondavi Center’s Young Artists Competition; that same year, she also took home an AP Scholar award. Presently, Isabella is a strong proponent of contemporary music, and has worked with many living composers, and is always looking to new musical horizons. Additionally, Isa is an avid (sometimes overzealous) hiker; this past summer, she successfully (although somewhat rewardingly painfully) completed 200 miles of the Appalachian Trail, and is currently planning a through-hike of the entire Pacific Crest Trail in the summer of 2017. She hopes to trek the entirety of her native west coast just as you’ll find her on any given day -- with a violin on her back.