Violinist Ava Pakiam Brings Beethoven to the SF Conservatory Stage

San Francisco Classical Voice has called Ava Pakiam "a rising star," and at 16, it's easy to see why. A Bay Area native, she studies with violinist Simon James at the SF Conservatory of Music Pre-College Division. In 2025, she received the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant; her gala performance in New York was live-streamed by the Violin Channel and recorded for WQXR's Young Artists Showcase.

Pakiam made her solo orchestral debut at eight with the Fremont Symphony in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 2 — and that same summer performed Vivaldi's Winter Concerto with the Sempre Musik Orchestra and New York Sinfonietta in Boston and New York, making her Carnegie Hall debut at the same age. At eleven, Seattle Symphony named her Young Artist for the 2021–22 season, where she performed Saint-Saëns's Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso on a season concert. The following year, she was chosen for a live-streamed solo recital at the Sounding Point Academy at the Colburn School in Los Angeles.

Her recent seasons have included solo concerto appearances — Bruch, Mendelssohn, Barber, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Prokofiev — alongside recitals on both coasts with pianist Cole Anderson. She has worked in master classes with James Ehnes, Vadim Gluzman, Hilary Hahn, Nathan Cole, Simone Porter, Sirena Huang, and others.

A Strumenti artist since 2022, Pakiam plays an 1874 J.B. Vuillaume violin. Her artistic advisor is Edna Landau, former head of IMG Artists.