Festival Orchestra: Beethoven & Korngold

Adkins performs on the “ex-Chardon” Guadagnini of 1782, graciously loaned by Gabrielle Israelievitch to perpetuate the legacy of her late husband, former Toronto Symphony concertmaster, Jacques Israelievitch (1948 – 2015).

Adkins has been a Concertmaster of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra since 2018, and has served as Guest Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the São Paulo Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and orchestras in Spain, Switzerland and Germany. Adkins has also been a guest artist at numerous festivals including the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa, the Sarasota Music Festival, Brevard, Jackson Hole Chamber Music, the Sewanee Music Festival and Music in the Mountains, as well as a clinician with the National Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the National Orchestral Institute and the Haitian Orchestra Institute. In addition, she has served as the Artistic Director of the NOVA Chamber Music Series in Salt Lake City.

A sought-after soloist, Adkins has appeared with orchestras in Europe, Asia, Africa and 27 US states, including 25 concertos with the Baltimore Symphony and 15 with the Utah Symphony. As a recitalist, she has performed worldwide, from Cape Town, South Africa to Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Romanian Embassy in Washington DC. Her recording of the complete works for violin and piano by Felix Mendelssohn with pianist Luis Magalhães was released to critical acclaim. American Record Guide notes that Adkins and Magalhães are “ardent and spontaneous” and “their fierce coordination is breathtaking.”

The daughter of noted musicologists, Adkins is the youngest of eight children, six of whom are professional musicians. A champion of early music, Adkins has been active in baroque performance on period instruments since the age of 11. She has been a member of the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Baroque, among many others.

Adkins received her Bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the University of North Texas and her Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with James Buswell.

When not on stage, Adkins enjoys travel photography, reading and exploring the West. She is also passionate about animal rescue and has fostered over 100 kittens!