Karla Donehew Perez
Violin
Admired for her “luscious melodies” (New York Concert Review) and enlightened programming, violinist Karla Donehew Perez is a founding member of the GRAMMY-winning Catalyst Quartet as well as an acclaimed soloist, educator, and creative collaborator with numerous world-class artists and ensembles. Since the 2010 founding of the Catalyst Quartet, Donehew Perez has dazzled audiences as a key contributor to the ensemble’s “intense vitality and finesse” (Gramophone). She has performed as a soloist with multiple major U.S. orchestras and chamber ensembles, earning honors including an MPOWER Grant from the Sphinx Organization, as well as grants from Chamber Music America and New Music USA. She is currently a professor of violin studies at the Longy School of Music of Bard College.
With the Catalyst Quartet, Donehew Perez has toured widely, appearing alongside major ensembles and performing at such venues as the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. International engagements have brought them to South Africa, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Cuba.
With a passion for diversity and contemporary works, the Catalyst Quartet has released three Uncovered series albums celebrating previously overlooked compositions by historically important Black composers. Their 2017 album Dreams and Daggers with Cecile McLorin Salvant earned a GRAMMY Award for Best Jazz Album. For the 2023-2024 season, the Catalyst Quartet is Ensemble-in-Residence at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
As a soloist, Donehew Perez has appeared with the Berkeley Symphony, Sacramento Philharmonic, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Oakland East Bay Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Sphinx Chamber Orchestra and New World Symphony, among others. As a chamber musician, she has performed with ensembles including Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), and collaborated with such artists as Joshua Bell, Zuill Bailey, Awadagin Pratt, Anthony McGill, Stewart Goodyear, Fredericka Von Stade, Garry Karr, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, and Takács quartets. She has served as guest concertmaster at the Tucson Symphony and spent two years as a fellow at the New World Symphony.
Donehew Perez has hosted numerous collegiate-level residencies or masterclasses at such institutions as Cornell University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has taken on residencies through the Kennedy Center, New York Philharmonic, Virginia Arts Festival, Interlochen Arts Center, and the U.S. State Department. She has taken part in festivals including Chamber Music Northwest, Aspen Music Festival, Vail International Dance Festival, Encore Chamber Music and Music in the Vineyards.
Donehew Perez performs on all five Catalyst Quartet albums, as well as Strum (Azica Records), a collection of works by Jessie Montgomery; and Bandoneón y Cuerdas, a collaborative album with bandoneon player JP Jofre. She recently recorded the solo violin music for Mosaic, a new method anthology published by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, that highlights artists from underrepresented communities.
Born in Puerto Rico, Donehew Perez made her solo debut with the Puerto Rico Symphony at age 9. She moved with her family to California at age 12. She earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Donehew Perez performs on a violin made in 2013 by renowned German luthier Stefan Peter Greiner, supported in part by a Sphinx MPower Artist Grant, and a fine violin bow by Victor Fetique on generous loan from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation.