Iris Shepherd, an 18-year-old violinist from Henry, Tennessee, studies with Cornelia Heard  at Vanderbilt University. Making her solo orchestral debut with the Georgia  Philharmonic at age 12, she has since soloed with the Fairbanks Alaska Symphony, the  Curb Youth Symphony, and the Nashville Philharmonic.

In 2023, Iris was selected as a Student Artist in Juilliard’s Starling-Delay Symposium. Previously, Iris won the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) senior strings category in 2021 and received first prize in the Nashville Symphony Concerto Competition and Nashville Philharmonic Concerto Competition in 2022. In addition, she took top honors at the Tennessee American Strings Teachers’ Association (TNASTA) Competition, the Delta Symphony Concerto Competition, and the Miami’s Symphony’s Heart Out Piano and Strings Competition. For 4 consecutive years, Iris was awarded a full fellowship for the Aspen Musical Festival, and attended the Brian Lewis Young Artist Summer Program twice.

A recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Scholarship, Iris performed on NPR’s  “From the Top” in 2021. She is also a skilled fiddle player, winning the James G. “Bobo”  Driver National Championship fiddle contest. In her free time, she enjoys vintage shopping and rock climbing.

SEMIFINALS
Dmitri Shostakovich        Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77
Cadenza
IV. Burlesque: Allegro con brio – Presto

Ernest Chausson        Poème for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 25

J.S. Bach        Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003
I. Grave