Ilana Setapen
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 24, she continues to thrive as a professional.
Ms. Setapen has won top prizes in many competitions, such as the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, the Pasadena Showcase Competition, 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 4 years. Now, she is one of the concertmasters of the Julliard Orchestra. For two years she was also the concertmaster of the Colburn Orchestra, and from 2003-2006 she was the concertmaster of the American Youth Symphony, with whom she performed at Carnegie Hall.
Ilana completed her bachelor of music degree at USC, where she 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 Pasadena Pops, the American Youth Symphony, the Las Colinas Symphony, the Warren Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, 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. 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 two summers 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 performed at the 92nd Street Y in New York with her piano trio, the Reuleaux Trio. In summer of 2007 she was the only American to be selected to participate in the Monte Carlo International Violinmasters Competition.
Ilana studied with Robert Lipsett both at the University of Southern California and at the Colburn Conservatory. Ilana currently attends the Juilliard School as a masters student of Donald Weilerstein and Ronald Copes. Ilana performs on a 1799 Johannes Gagliano violin, on loan from the Mandell Collection of Southern California.
