Violinist Usha Kapoor made her solo debut with the Phoenix Symphony and has since performed extensively as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout Europe, North America and the United Kingdom. A passionate advocate for American music, Kapoor's recently released debut album with pianist Edward Leung has been met with widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences alike, earning a place on the 2024 “Bestenliste” of the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

In the 2024-2025 season include Kapoor’s return for concerto performances with the Junges Sinfonie-Orchester Wetzlar and Hamed Garschi, featuring the seldom played “Fantasy on Porgy and Bess” for violin and orchestra by George Gershwin (arr. Alexander Courage). She will additionally make debut performances with the Collegium Musicum Leer and Burchard Schaefer and the Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestra and Matthew Kasper. In addition, Kapoor joins forces with pianist Benjamin Hochmann to present a Schubert cycle at the Piano Salon Christophori in Berlin and returns to Aschaffenburg for a solo recital at the historical Festsaal Schoenbusch. She will also return for the second time to the Archipelago Collection chamber music festival on San Juan Island.

Highlights of recent seasons include concerto appearances with the Neusser Kammerorchester, Collegium Musicum Aschaffenburg, Studio-Orchester Duisburg, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Junges Sinfonie-Orchester Wetzlar, Culver City Chamber Orchestra, Culver City Symphony Orchestra, and the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, among others, with conductors including Arlette Cardenes, Daniel Cohen, Frank Fetta, Thomas Guggeis, Thomas Jung, Karen Kagarlitsky and Lukas Rommelspacher. Recent recital appearances include debuts at the Wigmore Hall, Tonali Saal, Piano Salon Christophori, Winchester Chamber Music Festival, Marden House Sunday Series, Wye Valley Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire ChamberFest, Avon Valley Concerts, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and the Ulverston International Music Festival.

In 2022, she and pianist Leung completed an extensive tour throughout Scotland performing Brahms’s complete works for violin and piano sponsored by the Tunnell Trust for Young Musicians. An avid chamber musician, Kapoor has performed with the Boulez Ensemble in Berlin and the Archipelago Collective, as well as made appearances at the Miesbach Kammermusik Festival, Rolandseck-ARP Museum Festival, Krzyżowa-Music Festival, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, and on the Colburn Chamber Music Society with musicians including Martin Beaver, Adrian Brendel, Paul Coletti, Clive Greensmith, Viviane Hagner, Konstantin Heidrich, Clara-Jumi Kang, Matthias Kirschnereit, Nils Mönkemeyer, Eckart Runge, Daniel Stabrawa, Jennifer Stumm, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Tabea Zimmermann.

Kapoor is the recent winner of a Tunnell Trust Award and the First Prize of the inaugural Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Competition with Leung. She was also the recipient of a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Grant in the Field of Music from 2018-2022 and was further supported by Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Deutschland e.V. Previously, she was the recipient of a U.S. Fulbright Grant in the Arts and a Career Grant from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation. In addition, Kapoor has won top prizes in the International Schmidbauer Young Artist Competition, the Edith Knox Peninsula Symphony Competition, the Parness Concerto Competition, and the Phoenix Symphony Concerto Competition. Kapoor has been featured on the United Kingdom’s radio station ClassicFM, Germany’s SWR Kultur, ARD Mediathek, rbb Kultur, and BRKlassik “Sweet Spot”, Arizona’s 89.5 KBAQ, National Public Radio (NPR)'s StoryCorps Archive, and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)’s “Arts District” and “Now Hear This” segments.

Kapoor was raised in Phoenix, Arizona where she studied with Dr. Katie McLin and Phoenix Symphony concertmaster Steven Moeckel. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and an Artist Diploma from the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Robert Lipsett. Kapoor went on to receive a Master of Music degree and the solo diploma “Konzertexamen” with Mihaela Martin at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in Germany. She is grateful for additional support and guidance from Noé Inui, Tasmin Little, Alexander Rumpf, Sybille Tschopp, and Daniel Tong.

Kapoor plays on a B.S. Fendt violin made in London in 1840, and a Paul Siefried bow made in Los Angeles in 1996. Since 2020, she has been teaching at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.

www.ushakapoor.de