Recipient of the 2023 Arkady Fomin Scholarship Fund
Ava Pakiam is a 12 year old violinist studying at the Pre College of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Ava was admitted into the Pre College program at age 7 and is currently a student of violin professor, Simon James.
In her first year at the conservatory, Ava was selected as the youngest first prize winner of the 2018 Pacific Musical Society Competition and had the honor of performing at the Green Room in San Francisco. She was also a featured soloist on the St. Francis Concert Series, giving her first public full recital that same year in San Francisco.
Ava made her solo debut at eight years old with orchestra in California performing the Mozart Concerto No. 2 with the Fremont Symphony. Later that summer, she performed Vivaldi’s Winter Concerto with the Sempre Musik Orchestra and New York Sinfonietta in Boston and New York City, making her solo debut at Carnegie Hall.
During the pandemic, Ava had the privilege of performing in master classes for violinists, Nathan Cole, Noah Geller, Ariel Horowitz, and Hilary Hahn. Ava attended the 2020 Sounding Point Academy virtually in the studio of Simon James and was selected to play in their final recital performing Paganini Caprice No. 5 at age ten.
This past Fall, Ava competed in the Seattle Young Artists Auditions. Ava was awarded the opportunity to perform as soloist with the Seattle Symphony on a 2021-2022 season concert playing Saint Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso.
Along with this opportunity in Seattle, Ava was selected as one of the young artists to perform for a series of master classes and events with violinist, James Ehnes hosted by the Seattle Chamber Music Society.
In the winter of 2022, SFCM held a special donors event in the newly built award winning Bowes Center. Ava was chosen as the only student to represent SFCM and performed Vecsey’s Caprice No. 1, “Le Vent”, to a standing ovation.