Francisco Fullana
Violin
Spanish-born violinist Francisco Fullana, winner of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2023 Khaledi Prize, has been hailed as “frighteningly awesome” (Buffalo News). His latest album on Orchid Classics, Bach’s Long Shadow, was named BBC Music Magazine’s Instrumental Choice of the Month. Its five-star review stated: "Fullana manages to combine Itzhak Perlman's warmth with the aristocratic poise of Henryk Szeryng." His thoughtful virtuosity has led to collaborations with conducting greats like Sir Colin Davis, Hans Graf, and Gustavo Dudamel. Besides his career as a soloist, which includes recent debuts with the Philadelphia and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras and a season-long artist residency with the Grammy-winning orchestra Apollo’s Fire, he is making an impact as an innovative educator. He created the Fortissimo Youth Initiative, a series of seminars and performances in partnership with youth and university orchestras, and co-founded San Antonio’s Classical Music Institute, an outreach-focused chamber music festival that serves hundreds of Title I underrepresented minority students every summer. He was a first-prize winner of the Johannes Brahms and Angel Munetsugu International Violin Competitions and is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the University of Southern California, Fullana performs on the 1735 Mary Portman ex-Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
