Winner of first prize and the audience choice award at the 24th Annual Sphinx Competition, violinist Amaryn Olmeda is a rising star sought after for her bold and expressive performances as a soloist and collaborator. Violinist.com says of Olmeda, “…her commanding stage presence, infallible technique, and interpretive ability already rival that of international concert stage veterans.”

Highlights of 2024-2025 include season-opening concerts in debut with the Boulder Philharmonic and the Alabama Symphony, as well as debut performances with the Charlotte Symphony, Albany Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Omaha Symphony, and Sarasota Orchestra. Olmeda will also debut in recital at the Kravis Center’s Young Artists Classical Series in West Palm Beach, FL and the University of Florida Performing Arts in Gainesville, FL.

Olmeda made her Lincoln Center debut during the 2024 Summer for the City Series. She made her Carnegie Hall solo debut on the Sphinx Virtuosi tour at the age of 14, garnering rave reviews. At 13, Olmeda was named the initial member of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Opus 3 Artist’s Artist Apprentice Program.

Highlights of previous seasons include debuts as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra at their New Year’s Concert Series, earning her a nomination for the San Francisco Classical Voice Audience Choice Awards. Olmeda also performed in recital at the Bouchaine Young Artist Series at Festival Napa Valley as well as at the National Arts Club in New York City.

In 2023, Olmeda made her recording debut as the featured soloist of Carlos Simon’s Between Worlds on the Sphinx Virtuosi’s inaugural recording with Deutsche Grammophon. The Strad Magazine said of Olmeda’s performance, “…it receives an impressive reading here by the young musician [and] she shows why she has garnered the word 'prodigy’.”

Other career highlights include selection as an NPR From the Top Fellow, receiving the National Arts Club’s Herman and Mary Neuman Music Award, being named a Young Artist Soloist by the Seattle Symphony, and being featured in a solo performance with the Sacramento Philharmonic and VITA Academy in the video production, The Extraordinary Life of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. In 2022 Olmeda performed for the San Francisco Conservatory Gala with pianist Yuja Wang. She has performed for numerous school and community outreach events including with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony, Auburn Symphony, and Oakland Symphony.

Born in Melbourne, Australia in 2008, Olmeda currently studies at the New England Conservatory of Music with Miriam Fried. She previously studied with Ian Swensen at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Amaryn Olmeda performs on a violin made by J.B. Vuillaume in 1864.

OCTOBER 2024

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ACCLAIM

“Olmeda is clearly on her way to a stellar career. Combining a charismatic stage presence and audience appeal with pinpoint intonation, intense lyricism, and fluid technique, she gave notice that she is here to stay.”

– Classical Voice North America

“Prodigy is a big word to throw around. But in the case of our next guest, there may be no better description.”
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– 90.9 KXJZ Capital Public Radio

"[A] Bay Area violin prodigy”

– San Francisco Chronicle

“[…] her commanding stage presence, infallible technique, and interpretive ability already rival that of international concert stage veterans.”

– Violinist.com

“Olmeda’s performance had a profoundly mystical quality, capturing a full range of emotions throughout the plaintive G-minor opening and the fiendishly virtuosic chromatic section built on tritones ("the Devil’s interval") which, from her capable hands and searing intellect, brought images of the spirit world.”

– Violinist.com

“[...] played with dazzling pyrotechnics by Amaryn Olmeda using every violin trick in the book. Wonderful, wonderful!!”

– ConcertoNet.com

“Violinist Amaryn Olmeda, first-prize winner at the 24th annual Sphinx Competition, is a remarkable talent. And at 15, she is no mere hotshot - she plays with nuance and fresh interpretive ideas, investing more into Ravel’s “Tzigane” than just faux-Gypsy showiness. The crowd responded to her every impetuous gesture and flourish, applauding quickly at every pause and then extravagantly at the close.”

– Cleveland.com