Biography
American violinist Karisa Chiu first came to international prominence with her first prize win at the 2021 Isangyun Violin Competition, resulting in her debut with the KBS Symphony Orchestra at the Seoul Arts Center. She has since gone on to solo in some of the most renowned concert halls around the world such as Severance Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Casals Forum. Karisa received top accolades from the Menuhin, Leopold Mozart, Stulberg, and Irving M. Klein Competitions and has been featured as a soloist with orchestras such as the Munich Radio Orchestra, Tongyeong Festival Orchestra, Asheville Symphony Orchestra, and Montgomery Symphony Orchestra. Her debut album Home, recorded with pianist Zhu Wang, is set to release with Cedille Records in the fall of 2025.
Raised in a musical family, Karisa began her studies at age two with her father, Cornelius Chiu, a first violinist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She collaborates frequently with her mother and uncle, pianists Inah Choi-Chiu and Frederic Chiu. The Chiu family has given annual concerts for over two decades at the Festival of the Arts at Mohonk Mountain House. She has performed in many other music festivals around the globe including Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Music@Menlo, Chigiana Summer Academy, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, and Aspen Music Festival.
In 2018, Karisa won a Chicago Symphony Orchestra substitute violin position and has been performing with them regularly since. She was also selected to be a participant in the 2017 YoungArts Week where she was awarded the Bronze Medal and nominated to be a U.S. Presidential Scholar. The same year, she was invited to give a solo recital at the prestigious Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago which was broadcasted live over WFMT radio. Karisa has appeared on several other broadcasts including the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and NPR’s From The Top. She has played in master classes given by renowned artists such as Augustin Hadelich, Leonidas Kavakos, Victor Danchenko, Pamela Frank, Mauricio Fuks, Ilya Kaler, Dora Schwarzberg, and Joel Smirnoff.
In addition to her solo career, Karisa is a passionate chamber musician. She is co-director of the Plymouth Chamber Players based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, an innovative chamber music collective that inspires new audiences through world-class concerts and supports young artists in the West Michigan area. Karisa has collaborated with esteemed musicians such as Jaime Laredo, Kathryn Brown, Todd Phillips, James Austin Smith, Ida Kavafian, and Colin Carr. As the first violinist of the Tesoro Quartet, formed at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Karisa received the honor of the Sidney D. and Nina Josephs Chamber Music Prize upon graduation. In other chamber groups, she has won top prizes at the Saint Paul, Fischoff, and M-Prize competitions.
Karisa is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein. She received her Master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was named the recipient of the Anna Y. Tringas Award for an exceptional violinist, and she previously earned her Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. Her preceding mentors include Jaime Laredo, Malcolm Lowe, Ida Kavafian, and Almita Vamos.