Paloma So

18-year-old Paloma So is perceived by music critics as a “rising star of the violin world” in view of her significant performance history, with her playing described as being “powerful, dramatic, and compelling ... awfully good” by The Strad Magazine. Paloma has studied with Russian pedagogue Zakhar Bron since the age of nine, and graduated last year from the Juilliard School Pre-College Programme, under the tutelage of Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein. She is currently in her first year studying at the Harvard-New England Conservatory Dual Degree Programme with Professor Weilerstein, where she received a full merit scholarship; and is also under the artistic mentorship of Professor Eduard Wulfson.

Paloma made her debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014. At the age of 10, Paloma was the Second Prize winner at the prestigious International Wieniawski Competition for Young Violinists in Lublin, Poland in 2015, and in the following year the Gold Prize winner at the 8th International Violin Competition in Novosibirsk, Russia as the youngest participant in the competition’s history. Since then Paloma has been invited to perform as soloist with globally renowned ensembles including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic; and has performed at esteemed venues including the Mariinsky Theater, Buckingham Palace, the Philharmonie at Berlin, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. 

In November 2023 Paloma performed the Brahms Violin Concerto at Harvard’s Sanders Theater as the 2023–24 Winner of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra’s Concerto Competition; and is scheduled to perform the work again with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra in June. More recently, she has been selected to attend the Verbier Festival Academy’s prestigious Soloist Programme this summer. She is thrilled and honoured to receive the opportunity to tour with the HK Phil for their 50th anniversary. 

Paloma plays the “Cathedral”, a 1707 Stradivari violin, at these HK Phil concerts.