About Sylvia

Described as “adorable and formidable” by the Illinois Times, 12-year-old Sylvia Pine has won First Prize in more than 40 international competitions as a composer, violinist, and singer. In 2022, she toured as violin soloist with the Tel Aviv Soloists and in January 2024, she appeared with the Syracuse Orchestra. Since making her radio debut in 2018 on the nationally syndicated show Performance Today, she has given solo performances in Carnegie Hall (New York), Musikverein (Vienna), and the Royal Albert Hall (London). She frequently gives sonata recitals around the Chicago area with pianist Jeffrey Panko.

 Last season, Sylvia’s string orchestra work “Rising Storm” was performed by six youth orchestras across the U.S. She is currently the youngest member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Young Composers Initiative, and her new string quartet was premiered at Symphony Center on May 31 by members of the Civic Orchestra.

 An Artists of Tomorrow Merit Scholar at the Music Institute of Chicago, Sylvia celebrated her 2,600thconsecutive day of practicing on April 6. She has attended numerous chamber music camps including the Guadalajara International Music Festival, Credo, Heifetz, and Point CounterPoint. She also studies piano, baroque and renaissance violin, medieval rebec, American old-time fiddling, Scottish fiddling, and electric rock violin.

 Sylvia is a lifelong home schooler. In addition to music, she enjoys reading, writing stories, playing in the woods, drawing, and learning about different species of mythical creatures. She is vegan and loves all animals, and she is particularly passionate about raising money and awareness for the pangolin, the most trafficked mammal on earth.

UPDATED MAY 2024