Acclaimed as a violinist of “compelling presence, fearless attack, and technical aplomb and bravado” (New London’s The Day), Chelsea Starbuck Smith is a young artist known for her infectious enthusiasm for the violin. She has performed as solo and chamber artist in venues across the United States and abroad, including Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, David Geffen Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Musikverein Wien, Citi Field, Carnegie Hall, Palais de Fontainebleau in France, and Centre National des Arts in Ottawa.

As a chamber, theater, and orchestral musician, Chelsea is at home with both classical and crossover styles. Recent collaborators include Diana Ross, Baz Luhrmann for the Met Gala, Chris Thile of the Punch Brothers, The Eagles, Kelly Clarkson, Debbie Harry & Blondie, and The Knights Chamber Orchestra. Chelsea has performed in over ten Broadway and off-Broadway shows, is a regular section-member of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular orchestra, and has served as concertmaster for Broadway’s A Christmas Carol and Rocktopia. She is currently performing in Broadway’s &Juliet. For more theatre credits, click here. As one-half of the crossover violin duo, Les Deux, she has been hailed as “unarguably gifted with a keen ear for arranging” by the New York Examiner. In 2015 the duo dazzled Citi Field with Chelsea’s original arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner at a New York Mets home game. 

Chelsea has made solo appearances with the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra in Charleston, SC, and the Southern Finger Lakes Orchestra in Corning, NY. Her solo debut with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto was called a “show-stopper,” and she was described by music critic Milton Moore as “dominating the stage and electrifying her audience with her high-powered and knowing performance.”

Beyond the concert stage, Chelsea can be seen in such television series as Glee and, perhaps most recognizably, as the featured violinist in the long-running NYU Langone national television commercial set in New York’s Grand Central Station. Other appearances include American Public Media’s Live from Here, The Today Show, WMNR Fine Arts Radio and Connecticut Public Radio, and The String Fingers Band’s debut bluegrass album Don’t Forget. 

Chelsea completed her studies at The Juilliard School in 2016, receiving a Master of Music degree under the tutelage of David Chan and Laurie Smukler, and graduating with the Norman Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant for “talent, promise, creativity, and potential to make a significant impact in the performing arts.” She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Juilliard where she studied with Sally Thomas. Other teachers and mentors include Ann Setzer, Glenn Dicterow, Laura Wright, Jorja Fleezanis, James Gaffigan, Pinchas Zukerman, and Patinka Kopec. A third-generation teacher, Chelsea is on faculty at Temple Emanu-El’s Nursery School and has taught in the NYC Public Schools as a teaching artist with the New York Philharmonic. You can listen to Chelsea’s newly released EP with Adam Rothenberg performing the Corigliano Sonata, and her debut album, Les Deux, featuring original arrangements, available on iTunes and Spotify. Chelsea performs on a 2004 Kurt Widenhouse violin.