Lucia Lin

Lucia Lin is an American violinist known for her work as a soloist and chamber musician, and for her long association with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She is also a professor at Boston University, and an advocate for new music. She was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois in 1962 and she began playing the violin when she was very young. Later she studied with Paul Rolland, and she made her debut in 1973 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She earned her BM from the University of Illinois in 1982, followed by her MM from Rice University in 1985, where she was a student of Sergiu Luca. Following her graduation, she was appointed to the violin section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She served as acting concertmaster for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from 1992 to 1993, followed by two years as concertmaster with the London Symphony Orchestra. Lin also appeared on Bright Sheng: H'un (Lacerations) and Other Works in 1992, and on John Harbison: Simple Daylight; Words from Paterson with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. In 1995, Lin returned to the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and she founded the Boston Trio in 1997 with pianist Heng-Jin Park Ellsworth and cellist Andrew Pearce. That same year, the group released the album Brahms, Ravel, Suk, and Lin joined the Muir String Quartet in 1998. Also a passionate educator, she became an associate professor at Boston University in 1999, where she teaches applied violin, and courses in chamber and orchestral music. Lin recorded and performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra In the early 2000s and can be heard on My Favorite Things: A Richard Rodgers Celebration from 2002 and America from 2005. Two years later, she collaborated with the Snappy Dance Theater dance company on the innovative multidisciplinary work String Beings. She remained very active with the Muir String Quartet and the BSO throughout the 2010s, and in 2015 she appeared on the album Astor Piazzolla: Escualo with harpist Ann Hobson Pilot and bandoneon player J. P. Jofre. She was promoted to the position of professor at Boston University in 2021, and she also initiated her In Tandem project, which co-commissioned duos for the violin by composers from the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy. The featured composers chose the second instrument, and Dustin Carlson and Rajna Swaminathan performed their works with Lin. The album In Tandem was released in 2022, and also Debussy & Ravel: The New Epoch with Jonathan Miller and Diane Walsh. Lin has continued to be very active in the studio and has also appeared on the 2023 EP Leonard Bernstein: Music for String Quartet (1936); Aaron Copland: Elegies for Violin and Viola (1932) and Songs for a New Century in 2024.
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