Ani Bukujian

Ani Bukujian, violin and concertmaster candidate

Ani Bukujian was born into a musical family and started playing the violin at the age of two and a half. When her grandmother gifted her a toy violin, she would stand in front of the television, imitating famous violinists such as Sarah Chang and Itzhak Perlman. Ani studied with her father exclusively until the age of 15. A native of Los Angeles, she is the winner of numerous musical competitions, including three gold medals at the World Championship of Performing Arts, and first place at the Bach Competition, the ASTA Annual National Solo Competition, and the Pasadena String Festival. At age 7, she was a soloist in her debut concert with a chamber orchestra at the Alex Theatre in California. Bukujian was also part of the Viva-Vivaldi All-Girl Orchestra in Washington, DC, as the youngest 1st violinist. At the age of 8, she was asked to perform a solo piece with the Bakersfield Symphony, where she played one of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Summer). As an AGBU scholarship recipient, she performed at Weill Recital Hall in her freshman year at The Juilliard School in 2012.

She has recently performed as a member of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and has served as Concertmistress in the Miami Summer Music Festival, where she played the solo of Richard Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra. She has also participated in other festivals such as the Bowdoin Music Festival and the Fontainebleau Festival in France. She has performed in venues such as David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Stern, Zankel, and Weill Halls as a chamber and orchestral musician as well as a solo performer. Bukujian has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Kim Kashkashian, Ian Swensen, and Dimitri Murrath and participated in masterclasses with teachers including Andres Cardenes, Aaron Rosand, Ruggiero Ricci, Abraham Shtern, Gerard Poulet, Dmitry Berlinsky, Ida Haendel, and Pamela Frank, among others. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s Degrees from The Juilliard School where she studied with Lewis Kaplan and Laurie Smukler. She attended the San Francisco Conservatory, where she studied with Alexander Barantschik, the concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony.

Bukujian is the Principal 2nd Violinist of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. She has also been recently appointed Marin Symphony’s Concertmaster.

Photo by Maria Grammatikou