Elle Polifka

 

 

Instrument: Violin

 

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Biography:

 

Elle Polifka, age 16, just completed her sophomore year at Charlottesville High School, where she is an active participant in the fine arts program. Some highlights from the past school year include playing the role of Fiddler in “Fiddler on the Roof”, performing in Orlando, FL with the String Ensemble at the WorldStrides Heritage festival both as violinist and solo pianist, serving as the Teaching Assistant to Concert Orchestra, and a singing tour throughout Italy with the Voices of Virginia Choir.

 

Outside of school, Elle plays violin in the Youth Orchestra of Central Virginia (YOCVA), where she served as the rehearsal assistant for the 2022-23 season. She also serves as coordinator for her student-led string quartet “The Accidentals”, who are regularly hired to perform in the Charlottesville area.

 

This past February, Elle competed in Charlottesville’s 2023 Annual Wednesday Music Club Competition. She was a First Prize Scholarship winner in the High School Division for her performance of Ernest Bloch’s “Nigun” from Baal Schem. She was also awarded a substantial scholarship from Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, NC, which she will attend this summer.

 

A well-rounded musician, Elle sings in several choral groups, and plays the piano. Some of her recent non-violin music accolades are her participation in the Virginia 2023 All State Choir in Richmond, VA, the Carolina Course of the Royal School of Church Music in Durham, NC, a senior camp scholarship award for piano performance from the Wednesday Music Club in their 2022 competition, and the Denver University Lamont Summer Academy Piano Prize. 

 

Elle continues to study violin, piano, organ, voice, cello, and conducting, with a primary focus on violin. She currently plays a 2002 Oliver Radke violin generously on loan from the Virtu Foundation.

 

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