Matthew Hakkarainen, violin Matthew Hakkarainen, from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2018 and studies violin with Pamela Frank. All students at Curtis receive merit based, full tuition scholarships, and Mr. Hakkarainen is the Horace W. Goldsmith Fellow. Mr. Hakkarainen has appeared as a soloist with the Jacksonville Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, and the New River Orchestra. In 2018 he won first prize and three special prizes for interpretation at the Premio Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition and previously won first prize in the New World Symphony's concerto competition, where he performed Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony. Mr.Hakkarainen has also received the grand prize at the Bach Festival Society's Young Artist Competition held at Rollins College, third place in the Alhambra Concerto Competition, and first place in the American Protégé International Concerto Competition, where he performed as a soloist in Carnegie Hall. Mr. Hakkarainen served as concertmaster for the National Youth Orchestra of the United States for its performance tour across five cities in Asia. He served as concertmaster of the Florida All-State Orchestra for six consecutive years, and he has attended festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and School, Castleman Quartet Program, Ferme de Villefavard Summer Academy of Music, Orford Musique, Meadowmount School of Music, and Music@Menlo. He has been featured on NPR's From the Top and performed as a guest artist at Festival South. Also a composer, he has studied with Donald Waxman and won first place in the Florida Federation of Music Clubs composition contest.   Curtis Institute of Music Website Matthew Hakkarainen