Katia Tesarczyk

Violinist Katia Tesarczyk joined the San Diego Symphony as Principal Second Violin in the fall of 2025. Katia was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She grew up in a musical household: her father was a cellist in the Minnesota Orchestra, and her mother is a pianist and teacher. She received her Bachelor of Music degree and Professional Studies Certificate from the Colburn Conservatory of Music where she studied with Martin Beaver. At Colburn, she studied orchestral repertoire under the guidance of Nathan Cole and Bing Wang. In her home state of Minnesota, Katia was a student of Sally O’Reilly.

Katia was a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow for two consecutive summers. She was invited to the 2025 Shostakovich Festival, a collaboration between the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, where she served as concertmaster for the Festival Orchestra’s opening concert at the Gewandhaus under the baton of Anna Rakitina. In previous years, she attended the Music Academy of the West, New York String Orchestra Seminar, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Orford Music Festival and Pienza Music Festival in Tuscany.

During her studies at Colburn, Katia actively participated in Colburn’s Chamber Music Society, Contemporary Ensemble, Baroque Ensemble and Colburn Orchestra. She collaborated with guest artists Arnaud Sussman, Tessa Lark, Rachel Podger and Jeanette Sorrell, as well as faculty members Andrew Bain and Clive Greensmith. Katia has led Colburn Orchestra performances as concertmaster and Principal Second under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Carlos Miguel Prieto.

Katia has been a prizewinner in several solo competitions, including the National YoungArts Foundation, National MTNA Competition and the Schubert Club Competition. She has performed as a soloist with the Minnesota Sinfonia, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Dakota Valley Symphony Orchestra and the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra of Minnesota.

Katia Tesarczyk plays on an 1895 Gustave Bernardel Violin.