Canadian-born violinist Paloma So, at age 17, is perceived by music critics as a “rising star of the violin world” in view of her significant performance and repertoire history, with her playing described as being “powerful, dramatic, and compelling… awfully good ” by the Strad Magazine. Paloma has been a student of Zakhar Bron, an internationally acclaimed violin pedagogue of Jewish and Polish descent, since the age of nine, and currently studies with Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein at the Juilliard School Pre-College.

Paloma made her debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014 followed by concerts with the Fujian Symphony Orchestra and a performance at the G20 Gala Dinner in Australia. In 2015 Paloma was the Second Prize winner at the prestigious International Wieniawski Competition for Young Violinists in Lublin, Poland at the age of 10, and in 2016 First Prize at the 8th International Violin Competition in Novosibirsk, Russia as the youngest participant in the competition’s history. 

In 2017 Paloma toured around Japan, Singapore and Taiwan with the China Philharmonic Orchestra, and won First Prize at the Moscow International Television Contest for Young Musicians “Nutcracker.” In 2018, she performed at the International Musical Olympus Festival Gala and Closing Concert in St. Petersburg, Russia, Interlaken International Music Festival in Switzerland, the Trans-Siberian Arts Festival in Tokyo, and the Shanghai International Arts Festival. She toured with the China Philharmonic again, this time in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

In 2019 Paloma performed alongside Maxim Vengerov at the Buckingham Palace, and was invited to perform at the Nature Conservancy Gala Dinner in Hong Kong to raise awareness and funds towards wildlife conservation. Later in the year, her performance with the Xiamen Philharmonic received the Best Concert Award at the Busan International Music Festival.

After a brief interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Paloma resumed regular performances, including appearances at the Beijing International Music Festival in the fall 2020 and with the China Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony, and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestras during their New Year’s Festival. 2021 saw Paloma perform at Youth Music Culture Guangdong, at the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s Season Finale concerts, and at the Yidan Prize Awards Presentation Ceremony. In May 2022, Paloma successfully held her first recital at Juilliard School. Her most recent performance was with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra as a soloist, performing Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 in June 2022, replacing the world-famous violinist Leonidas Kavakos.

 In addition to her extensive concert activities, Paloma already has a developed concerto repertoire, including those by Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Dvorak, Glazunov, Lalo, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Paganini, Prokofiev, Saint-Saens, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski. 

She has performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, St Petersburg Capella State Symphony, as well as the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Fujian Symphony Orchestra, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, and Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, amongst others.

In Asia Paloma has given concerts and recitals at venues such as Yellow Lounge of Deutsche Grammophon Shanghai, Tokyo Suntory Hall, the Singapore Esplanade, Tokyo Kawasaki Hall, Tokyo Orchard Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall and Taipei National Theater; in Europe, at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Mariinsky Theater, Moscow Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and the Buckingham Palace. 

Paloma will perform the Brahms Violin Concerto with the China Philharmonic Orchestra in April 2023.