About Pala
Pala Garcia is a critically acclaimed violinist, balancing a full performance schedule with her work as an educator and advocate of socially conscious artistry. As a contemporary music specialist, she is the co-founder of Longleash, an “expert young trio” (Strad Magazine) that recently added two highly acclaimed releases to their discography: a debut album, Passage, that earned them Sequenza 21’s Best New Recording Artist of 2017, and a work on the album Soft Aberration, named a Notable Recording of 2017 by The New Yorker. Their work has been recognized and supported by Chamber Music America, the Alice K. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, The Amphion Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Puffin Foundation, the Atherton Family Foundation, and an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Grant from the Music Academy of the West.
Pala has performed as a featured artist throughout Asia, Europe and North America, and has also performed as a regular guest in some of the world’s most respected ensembles, including the the International Contemporary Ensemble, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, her longstanding involvement with Carnegie Hall's social impact programs has led to meaningful artistic collaborations with New Yorkers from all walks of life, making music, celebrating creativity and building community in prisons, shelters and hospitals.
Pala is Assistant Faculty at the Juilliard School's Precollege Division, a Graduate Teaching Fellow at Hunter College, and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, which serves talented young students from backgrounds underrepresented in the American performing arts. With Longleash, Pala also co-founded the Loretto Project, an annual weeklong graduate composition seminar in central Kentucky, and directs its Pipeline Initiative, a high-school composition workshop invested in addressing issues of gender justice and representation. She is an alumna of The Juilliard School and is currently a Graduate Center Fellow at CUNY's doctoral program in music performance, where she is also pursuing a Certificate in Women’s Studies.
Projects
Longleash
a (new music) piano trio
An ensemble with a traditional instrumentation and progressive identity, Longleash takes its name from a Cold War era CIA operation that funded the worldwide dissemination of American avant-garde art. Since 2013, the trio has been commissioning, premiering and recording new works for violin, cello and piano developed through meaningful, long-lasting relationships with composers and fellow collaborators.
The Loretto Project
a graduate composition seminar
A weeklong annual event in Central Kentucky, comprising two composition workshops, a series of performances, and collaborations with local artists, organizations and institutions. Named after the Loretto Motherhouse, the generous and loving community that welcomes our project every August, the project seeks to facilitate both the creation of new work and opportunities for cultural exchange.