A first-prize laureate in the Sphinx Competition, violinist Melissa White has enchanted audiences while performing with leading orchestras in Cleveland, Boston, Atlanta, Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. Pianist Pallavi Mahidara has been praised for her unique artistry and charismatic stage presence in solo and orchestral concerts across five continents including performances at renowned concert halls in Berlin, Madrid, Washington, DC, and Saint Petersburg.

Melissa White

American violinist Melissa White has enchanted audiences and critics around the world as both a soloist and a chamber musician. Her February 2020 performance with the National Philharmonic was deemed “absolutely breathtaking” by Maryland Theatre Guide critic Katie Gaab, who cited the “grace, precision, and warmth” of her playing in Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 1. Reviewing the same concert for The Washington Post, Matthew Guerrieri called her “an excellent advocate, prioritizing ease and fluency over intensity, suiting the music’s lyric and episodic nature.”

A first-prize laureate in the Sphinx Competition, she has performed with such leading U.S. ensembles as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Atlanta, Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit, and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras. Internationally, she has appeared as soloist with Poland’s Filharmonia Dolnoslaska; with the Colombian Youth Orchestra in a tour of that country; with the Czech National Philharmonic; and as a recitalist in Baku, Azerbaijian, and Jelenia Gora, Poland. Her film credits include a violin solo in the soundtrack to Jordan Peele’s 2019 psychological thriller Us; and in addition to her numerous classical performances she has also performed alongside several pop artists including Pharrell, Bruno Mars, Alicia Keys, and Lauryn Hill.

In addition to her musical career, Ms. White has enjoyed practicing various styles of yoga for more than a decade, and completed training in both Vinyasa and Ashtanga at Sampoorna Yoga School in Goa, India. She is the co-founder of Intermission, a groundbreaking program that unites body, mind, breath, and music-making through yoga and meditation; the program comprises sessions for students and retreats for professionals.

Pallavi Mahidhara

Indian-American pianist Pallavi Mahidhara made her orchestral debut at the age of 10, performing at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. She is the Second Prize winner and Young Audience Award winner of the 69th Geneva International Piano Competition, and of the VI International Prokofiev Competition in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She has won the Steinway Förderpreis in Germany, the Astral Artists National Auditions in the US, and has received on multiple occasions, the “Sobresaliente” Award from the hands of Queen Sofía of Spain.

Praised for her unique artistry and charismatic stage presence, she has appeared in solo and orchestral concerts across five continents, performing at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and the Grand Hall of the Dimitri Shostakovich Philharmonia in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Pallavi received her Bachelor’s Degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, and her Master’s Degree at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler. She studied for several years with Dimitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. Aside from her private studio, Pallavi is the Artistic Advisor and a Piano Professor for Young Artists Program at the Reina Sofia School in Madrid, Spain, and is regularly invited to teach for Curtis’s Mentor Alumni Program. Pallavi is the executive producer, writer, and host of the “The Conscious Artist”, a new podcast designed to promote Mental Health Awareness for musicians, artists, and all human beings.

Program Sponsor: Coastal Bend Community Foundation