Maia Jasper
violin
Hailed as a “ravishing” performer by the Los Angeles Times, violinist Maia Jasper has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in France, Israel, Portugal, Turkey, the Netherlands and on both American coasts.
In 2003, she received her Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Musicology from Yale University, where she was awarded the Master’s Prize in Music Performance. During her junior year at Yale, she received a scholarship to study at the Paris Conservatory in France. She completed her Master’s degree as a fellowship student at USC’s Thornton School of Music in 2006.
An avid chamber musician, Maia is co-artistic director of the Salastina Music Society. She has performed chamber music around the world and throughout Southern California, collaborating with such artists as the Ysaÿe Quartet and cellist Paul Katz. In 2008, she recorded early duos of Schoenberg with Los Angeles Philharmonic concertmaster Martin Chalifour for Yarlung Records. Other chamber music performances have been broadcast on KUSC, Sundays Live!, KMZT, KCSN and NPR.
Maia has been a prizewinner and finalist in several solo and chamber music competitions, including the Concert Artists Guild, National Federation of Music Clubs, Corpus Christi International, Pasadena Showcase House and Chesapeake Chamber Music competitions.
She has participated in summer festivals such as the Keshet Eilon Violin Mastercourse, Juilliard Quartet Seminar, Music Academy of the West, International Holland Music Sessions, Banff Centre Quartet Residency, ENCORE School for Strings, and Great Lakes Chamber Music and Aspen festivals.
Maia has studied with Martin Chalifour, Gérard Poulet, Kyung Yu and Michelle Kim, among others. Other musical figures that have helped shape her approach as an artists include Itzhak Rashkovsky, Herman Krebbers, Kathleen Winkler, Paul Kantor and Robert Lipsett. Additionally, Maia has performed in master classes for legends Ruggiero Ricci, Ida Haendel, Gil Shaham, Midori, János Starker and Ivry Gitlis, as well as with the Tákacs and Juilliard string quartets.
In January 2010, Maia was appointed to the first violin section of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She joined Pacific Symphony in 2006.
Performance aside, Maia’s writing has been published by Strings magazine. She is active with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team In Training program, completing her first full marathon with the Team as a mentor in 2009. Having interned for Martha Stewart in college, she still loves to cook and bake. She also loves to read and go to the movies with her film-making husband Daniel.
