Tessa Lark - About

To receive this Fellowship and to be included among the incredible musicians who are part of the BBT family is such a gift. BBT is extraordinary in its encouragement of creative individuality, and the multifaceted career support I’ve experienced thus far has facilitated a rare type of deep, fruitful artistic exploration. What’s most extraordinary is the team behind the Trust – their invaluable guidance, unmatched expertise, and unwavering commitment to musical excellence and its profound impact on the world. This is a most unusual organisation in the most beautiful way.

American violinist Tessa Lark is equally at home in the bluegrass music she learnt first in her Kentucky home state and the classical repertoire, both as soloist and chamber recitalist and sometime composer. She now adds programmer to her portfolio too, as the artistic director of the Moab Music Festival, as well as Musical Masterworks in Old Lyme, Connecticut. With the widest range of musical collaborators from various musical genres, Tessa’s repertoire stretches from Telemann to Michael Torke, and she has found a special following in London with her performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to a London showcase concert, BBT supported Tessa in the recording of two CDs with an introduction to First Hand Records. The first disc, Fantasy, was released in 2019 and included music spanning Telemann to a Lark composition, Appalachian Fantasy, which played to her Kentucky roots. Her love of Bluegrass spawned the idea for the next CD. The Stradgrass Sessions was always going to be a winner, with Tessa’s A-list band of collaborators – Jon Batiste, Michael Cleveland, Sierra Hull and Edgar Meyer – mixing classical and American folk heritage, even though by the time she recorded the tracks, sometimes remotely during Covid, she no longer had on loan the Stradivarius violin that had inspired its title. BBT’s artist profile film follows the trials and tribulations of the various recording sessions until the triumphant release, neatly summed up by Songlines: “The Stradgrass Sessions is a rare gem”.

Tessa was supported with a BBT Fellowship between 2018 and 2023.

For a current biography please visit imgartists.com

Press Releases: Fantasy in Mind and Bluegrass in her Blood / The Stradgrass Sessions

Photographs by Benedict Allen