Della Lucinda Gardner (17) began her violin studies at the age of three. She had her first concert debut at the age of five on the stage of Minneapolis Orchestra Hall, as a soloist on the Kaleidoscope Concert for the Suzuki Association of the Americas biannual international conference. Della has performed with many groups, including Rocky Mountain Strings, Vivace!, Subarashi String Quartet, Glorioso Cinco, the Suzuki Youth Orchestras of the Americas, where she served as assistant principal second violin, and the award-winning Cleo String Quartet. She has won awards with ASTA, MTNA, UMTA, The Utah Symphony Youth Guild, OPUS music Competition, The Utah Philharmonic Orchestra and Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra and has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as a winner of the American Virtuoso International Music Competition. Della completed the 4-year training program at the Gifted Music School as a full scholarship student and currently studies with Will Hagen. Previous teachers include Deborah Moench, Melissa Thatcher and Eugene Watanabe. Della enjoys writing, running with her high school’s track and cross country teams, and baking. She hopes to someday be a violin-playing lawyer.
Watch Della Lucinda Gardner perform Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35, Mvmt 1 (Allegro Moderato) by Tchaikovsky on the violin for the 2024 Autumn Music Competition as part of the Charleston International Music Competition.