Tessa Lark, violin
Michael Thurber, double bass

Violinist Tessa Lark is one of the most captivating artistic voices of our time, consistently praised by critics and audiences for her astounding range of sounds, technical agility, and musical elegance. In 2020 she was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category and received one of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Emerging Artist Awards: the special Hunt Family Award. Other recent honors include a 2018 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Silver Medalist in the 9th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and winner of the 2012 Naumburg International Violin Competition.  

She solos regularly with many of the major orchestras around the world, from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to Seattle Symphony, and has appeared in recital in such prestigious venues and series as Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Carnegie Hall’s Distinctive Debuts series in Weill Hall (2017). 

She is also a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky, delighting audiences with programming that includes Appalachian and bluegrass music and inspiring composers to write for her — most notably SKY, a bluegrass-inspired violin concerto written for Tessa by Michael Torke which earned both a Grammy nomination for Tessa and a Pulitzer finalist distinction for Torke. 

Lark is a graduate of New England Conservatory and completed her Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School. She plays a ca. 1600 G.P. Maggini violin on loan from an anonymous donor through the Stradivari Society of Chicago. 

To learn more about Tessa Lark, please visit her website (https://www.tessalark.com). 

Songwriter/bassist/producer Michael Thurber is a singular artist whose career defies category. Whether composing scores for The Royal Shakespeare Company, playing bass in The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s house band, scoring commercials for Vanity Fair and BBC, or co-founding the hit YouTube channel CDZA (30 million views), Thurber has been guided by Duke Ellington’s principal: There are only two types of music — good and bad. Make the good kind. 

As a theater lyricist/composer, Thurber made his international debut scoring Antony and Cleopatra, directed by Oscar winner Tarell McCraney. He has scored numerous Public Theater productions, including Shakespeare in the Park’s Merry Wives, Romeo Y Julieta starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, and Richard II, starring André Holland.  

Thurber’s musical Goddess received its world premiere at Berkeley Rep in the fall of 2022. It will play next in the spring of 2023 at D.C.’s Shakespeare Theater Company. 

 As a bassist, Michael has performed with James Taylor, Willie Nelson, Chris Thile, Lianne La Havis, Cee Lo Green, Yo-Yo Ma, The Zombies, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jon Batiste, and many others. Currently he tours the world in a Duo with Grammy-nominated violinist Tessa Lark. 

As a producer, Thurber’s career began in 2012 when he co-founded CDZA, a YouTube channel with 30 million views. CDZA was a headliner at the first ever YouTube Music Awards alongside Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, Eminem, and MIA.   

Thurber has produced/co-written records in the R&B, indie, jazz, and classical spaces, including Downbeat Magazine’s Critic Pick Alma Oscura. Most recently, Thurber has been releasing singles under his own name. He studied music at The Juilliard School and The Interlochen Arts Academy. 

To learn more about Michael Thurber, please visit his website (https://www.michaelthurber.org).