Since her solo orchestral debut at age 15 with the Amarillo Symphony, Ilana Setapen has been flourishing as a violinist with a powerful and original voice. Now age 23, she continues to thrive as a professional. Her solo appearances for this and next season include the Riverside Philharmonic, the Pasadena Pops, the Las Calinas Symphony, the Idaho Falls and Warren Symphonies, and the American Youth Symphony.
In November 2005 she was the grand prizewinner of the Pasadena Showcase Competition, and in June 2005 she was the bronze medalist in the 2005 Irving M. Klein International String Competition. She has won top prizes in many other competitions, including the Kingsville International Competition and the Amarillo Young Performers Competition. At the age of 21, Ilana won the first professional audition she took for concertmaster of the Riverside County Philharmonic, of which she has now been the concertmaster for 3 years. She is now the concertmaster of the Colburn Orchestra, and for the last 4 seasons she was the concertmaster of the American Youth Symphony, with whom she performed at Carnegie Hall.
During her undergraduate years at USC, Ilana was the concertmaster of both the Thornton Symphony Orchestra and the Thornton Chamber Orchestra. She was the winner of the 2004 USC Concerto Competition and performed Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto with the Thornton Chamber Orchestra. Ilana made her European debut in June, 2002, performing Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto in Venice. Other solo appearances have been with the Riverside Philharmonic, the National Repertory Orchestra, where she was the concertmaster in the summer of 2005, and the Amarillo Symphony. Her father, conductor James Setapen, frequently accompanies Ilana with his exceptional leadership.
Ilana grew up in Amarillo, Texas, where she performed for three seasons as a member of the Amarillo Symphony, and was the concertmaster of the Texas All State Orchestra in 2001. She was also a participant in the New York String Seminar and performed with them at Carnegie Hall in December of 2003. Ilana spent four summers at ENCORE School for Strings and the summers of 2004 and 2005 in Breckenridge, Colorado with the National Repertory Orchestra, the latter as concertmaster. In August of 2005 she toured Brazil and France with the Armstrong Quartet, of which she is a founding member. In the summer of 2006 Ilana participated in the Zeist International Music Days Festival in Holland, where she worked with the Vermeer and Jerusalem Quartets. In April 2007 Ilana will perform at the 92nd Street Y in New York with her piano trio, the Reuleaux Trio.
Ilana studies with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Conservatory as a professional studies student. She also holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of Southern California, which she attended as a scholarship student of Robert Lipsett. Ilana performs on a 1799 Johannes Gagliano violin, on loan from the Mandell Collection of Southern California.
