Spotlight | Associate Concertmaster

Stirling Trent

A native of Colleyville, Texas, violinist Stirling Trent has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. While a resident of Southern California, he performed in many of the region’s top ensembles, such as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Pasadena Master Chorale. Previously a member of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Stirling joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2015, where he held the chair of Associate Principal Second Violin. Stirling was recently named the Associate Concertmaster. Notable concert appearances by Mr. Trent include Live from Lincoln Center with Itzhak Perlman,

as well as a series at Carnegie Hall in 2003 in which he was concertmaster for the New York String Orchestra under Jaime Laredo. In 2007, Stirling sat as concertmaster for the Moritzburg Festival Academy Orchestra under Hermann Bäumer, in Dresden, Germany. Mr. Trent has won numerous awards, including Grand Prizes from the Texas Association of Symphony Orchestras’ Juanita Miller Competition, the Dallas Symphonic Festival, and the Hubbard Chamber Music Festival. In 1999, he received the inaugural Bayard Friedman Award for an Outstanding Student in the Performing Arts. His international competition experience includes the Sixth Quadrennial International Violin Competition in Indianapolis, the Geneva International Music Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition for violinists in Brussels, Belgium, the 5th Seoul International Music Competition, in Seoul, South Korea, and the 4th Sendai International Music Competition, in Sendai, Japan.

Stirling has received lessons and master classes from Charles Avsharian, David Cerone, Pamela Frank, Ida Kavafian, Jaime Laredo, Cho-Liang Lin, Elmar Oliveira, Arnold Steinhardt, Sally Thomas, and Pinchas Zukerman. He has been privileged to work with members of such renowned chamber groups as the Emerson, St. Lawrence, Schoenberg, Brentano, Orford, Fine Arts, Guarneri and Tokyo string quartets.

Mr. Trent is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Itzhak Perlman. In addition to his Bachelor’s degree from Juilliard, he studied for many years with Jan Mark Sloman, and earned an Artist Certificate from Southern Methodist University. Stirling holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California, where his principal teacher was Midori Goto. When not performing, Stirling enjoys hiking and trail running with his wife, fellow violinist Rachel Sandman, and their two dogs, Tyler and Rocky.