Claire Wells
Violin
American violinist Claire Wells is emerging as one of the most exciting and original violinists of her generation. Recognized for her personal musical voice and vivid imagination, the soloist and chamber musician captivates audiences with her compelling interpretations, making her a young artist to watch.
Highlights of Claire’s upcoming 26-27 season feature an impressive lineup of solo orchestral engagements and recitals across both Europe and the United States. Claire will make her Carnegie Hall recital debut in Weill Recital Hall, presented by Young Concert Artists, as well as her Washington, D.C. recital debut at The Phillips Collection. She will appear as a soloist performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concert with both the Aiken Symphony and the Brevard Philharmonic, and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra for their opening night gala. Her international schedule includes performances with Orquestra Vigo 430 in Spain, and a performance at the Raderbergkonzert series in Germany. On the recital stage, she will be presented by the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Hayden’s Ferry Chamber Music, the Kenwood Chamber Music Group, and UF Performing Arts at the University of Florida. To conclude her first season at YCA, Claire will perform the Bach Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor alongside internationally acclaimed violinist and YCA alum Anne Akiko Meyers at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall as part of YCA’s season finale concert.
These engagements follow her win of the 2025 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions. In the summer of 2026 she appeared at the Moritzburg Festival, and in chamber engagements with the Viridian Strings, at the IMS Prussia Cove Chamber Festival in Cornwall, and was featured in a return to Chamber Music Northwest as a Protégé Project artist.
In addition to winning First Prize and the Commission Prize at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition in 2021, Claire has taken top accolades at several of the world’s most competitive international events, including 2nd Prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in 2023, 4th Prize & Ysaye Prize in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 2022, and 3rd Prize in the Sibelius Competition in 2025. She was also named the 2023 scholarship winner of the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund.
Claire is represented worldwide by Young Concert Artists. She completed studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Lutsia Ibragimova in 2020 followed by studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. She currently resides in Berlin, and is studying at the Kronberg Academy under the tutelage of Mihaela Martin, made possible by the Opel/Dr. Schaefer patronage.
~
YCA represents violinist Claire Wells for worldwide engagements. Please contact us for more information.