About Shawn Lesure

Shawn is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and has been playing the violin since the age of ten.  He comes from a musical family where his older brother is a cellist and is a Juilliard graduate.  Shawn was the winner of the MENC all-USA High School Musicians' Competition and also has many scholarships to his credit:  Sewanee Music Festival, Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival, and the Dean's Talent Award at Oberlin, where he studied with Marilyn McDonald.  In his time at Oberlin, Shawn played in master classes for renowned artists line Anner Byslma, Jennifer Koh, and Rachel Barton Pine.  Through his playing Shawn has participated in chamber music and symphonic tours on four continents.  He has had the opportunity to concertize in venues such as Carnegie Hall, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  Shawn has taught around the world as a teaching artist, a chamber musician, solo violinist, and orchestral director, most notably at The Franz Liszt Conservatory in Quito, Ecuador and on faculty at myraid institutions such as Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI.  Shawn is the concertmaster of the San Gabriel Orchestra in Austin, TX.  Shawn has been commissioned as a composer to write works that have received their premiere to critical claim.  Shawn is an avid chamber musician and has worked with artists such as Leonard Matczyznski, Miles Hoffman, of the American Chamber Players, and Andres Fejer, of the Takacs Quartet.   Shawn plays on a violin by Gary Rickman, on generous loan from Neil Rickman and the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation.  Shawn loves to explore not only alternative music genres, such as rock, jazz, hip-hop and R&B, but also art forms such as poetry, photography, and musical arranging.  He loves working with students of all ages and backgrounds and relishes the opportunity to meet and connect with People!