Violinist Robin Sharp, a native of California, is a
solo performer, chamber musician, concertmaster, and teacher. In addition to
maintaining private teaching studios in San Francisco and Palo Alto, Ms. Sharp
performs as concertmaster of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra with
conductor Benjamin Simon, and is on the music faculty at Stanford University
as full-time Lecturer in Violin. Ms. Sharp also served as concertmaster for
the Berkeley Symphony with conductor Kent Nagano for six seasons, and was a
guest concertmaster for a concert in Germany under conductor Vladimir
Ashkenazy. She is currently on the Artistic Advisory Board of the San
Francisco Chamber Orchestra and is also on the faculty of California Summer
Music.
Ms. Sharp has appeared in recital at many prestigious venues including
Carnegie Hall in New York, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam, the National Music Hall in Taipei, and the Palace of the Legion of
Honor in San Francisco where she
performed on Jascha Heifetz's Del Gesu violin. In 2010, a violin concerto was
written for Ms. Sharp by composer Gabriela Lena Frank, in remembrance of her
father, Terry Sharp. In January 1998 Ms. Sharp represented Carnegie Hall
in their Rising Stars Series, when she and her duo partner Jeremy Denk played
a recital at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall following a European tour. The duo
also performed on Carnegie Hall's main stage under the guidance of Isaac
Stern.
Ms. Sharp has participated in music festivals worldwide, including the
Musikalischer Sommer Festival in Germany, the Marlboro Music Festival, the
Aspen Music Festival, the Sandor Vegh masterclasses at Prussia Cove, and the
Isaac Stern Seminar in New York. She has formerly served as first violinist of
the Ives String Quartet, which toured nationally, and has played several
seasons with the San Francisco Symphony. Ms. Sharp has been a professor of
violin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in both the Preparatory and
Collegiate divisions, at Santa Clara University, and at Sacramento State
University of California. Among her collaborators in performance have been
such artists as Dimitri Ashkenazy (clarinet), Jon Nakamatsu (piano), Lori Lack
(piano), and
conductors such as Raymond Leppard, Peter Oundjian, and Vladimir Ashkenazy.
Ms. Sharp is a Laureate prize winner of the 1994 Indianapolis Violin
Competition and is featured in a documentary about the competition.