Jackie Tso, Violin

Presenting masterpieces ranging from Bach to Tchaikovsky, violinist Jackie Tso has been heard as a soloist with orchestras around the world such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Concert Association Orchestra, and the Beijing Broadcasting Orchestra. Other past solo engagements include the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Ohio Philharmonic, Wright State University, and the Seven Hills Sinfonietta.

Ms. Tso has played in many of the world’s most prestigious competitions including the Yehudi Menuhin, Shanghai Isaac Stern, Zhuhai Mozart, and Cooper. She was a semifinalist of the International Jascha Heifetz Competition as well as the Irving M. Klein. Jackie is currently studying with Li Lin at The Juilliard School, and has also studied with Glenn Dicterow, Kurt Sassmannshaus, and Almita and Roland Vamos.

Jackie is from Cincinnati, OH and began her violin studies at the age of four with the Suzuki method. She still remembers her early years in the Suzuki Program as being so influential in her musical development. Tso made her debut in Cincinnati’s beloved Music Hall when she was eight years old, and also performed at the Lensic Performing Arts Center when she was twelve. When Tso was fifteen, she had the pleasure of collaborating with acclaimed pianist Christopher O’Riley on National Public Radio’s From the Top. She was one of twenty individuals selected for the “Most Interesting People” issue of the 2009 Cincy Magazine, a much-loved local Cincinnati publication.

Jackie was a member of Cincinnati’s Starling String Program and enjoyed tours with them to Detroit as well as Salzburg, Austria. Jackie was also a member of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy Program. Prior to her transfer to Juilliard, Jackie spent her first two years of her undergraduate at sunny Los Angeles’ University of Southern California where she was very interested in law.

Tso has been heard as soloist in many of the world’s most-cherished violin concertos: Paganini Concerto with the Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony/Cincinnati Symphony Youth orchestra, and the Sibelius Concerto with the MasterWorks Festival Orchestra.

Jackie has spent summers at the Great Wall International Music Academy, National Arts Center Young Artists Program, Meadowmount School of Music, Bowdoin Music Festival, Salzburg’s Mozarteum Summer Academy, MasterWorks Christian Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival as an orchestral fellow. This past summer, Ms. Tso performed in Virginia at the Heifetz Institute of Music. At all of these music festivals, Jackie collaborated with many fellow musicians in chamber music playing celebrated composers such as Arensky, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Ravel.

Tso’s orchestra career began with service as concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra for three years, followed by being a member of the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, University of Southern California’s Thornton Symphony, and the Juilliard Orchestra. She has played in master classes for Pinchas Zukerman, Ida Kavafian, James Ehnes, Vadim Repin, Joji Hattori, Tong Wei-Dong, Joel Smirnoff, Thomas Ades, and Martin Beaver.

Aside from music, Tso is active in the Juilliard community serving at the Christian Fellowship as a women’s Bible study leader. She also loves spending time with her family and friends, and being outdoors.