Hailed by The Washington Post as “Sweetly Lyrical,” violinist, composer, and community organizer Ariel Horowitz (they/them or she/her) cannot remember life before loving music. In 2020, Ariel joined the prestigious Concert Artists Guild roster as a winner of CAG’s Victor Elmaleh Competition. Ariel enjoys an active concert schedule performing their multimedia compositions alongside other contemporary works and beloved staples of the Western classical canon both as a soloist and as one-half of Vision Duo, an ensemble formed with fellow CAG artist Britton-René Collins in 2021.
Recent touring highlights include concerts at Chamber Music Detroit, the Kravis Center in Palm Beach, FL, a showcase at the Washington Performing Arts Society Annual Gala, educational residencies at Texas A&M University and Musical Masterworks’ MMModern series, concerti in New York City and Albany, Georgia, and premiering her original compositions for violin with voice at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center. Ariel is excitedly anticipating their Merkin Hall concerto debut in early 2024, as well as Vision Duo’s collaboration on an interactive and introspective mixed-media program entitled “Reflections: Past, Future, Present” with fellow CAG ensemble Chromic Duo. Ariel is also looking forward to releasing their debut album, Phoenix, featuring original compositions, poetry, and songs bookended by works of the Western classical canon.
Ariel is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Heartbeat Music Project, a tuition-free program offering music and Navajo (Diné) cultural education as well as direct aid resources to young people in grades K-12 living on the Navajo Nation and their families. HMP’s year-round programming features an in-person two-week Summer Academy, as well as a one-week Winter Workshop, and weekly in-person and virtual private lessons in disciplines including classical, jazz, and pop instrumental and vocal traditions, as well as electronic music production. In 2022, HMP was honored to receive the Lewis Prize for Music’s Accelerator Award in the amount of $500,000.
Ariel is a graduate of the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Ani Kavafian, and previously studied with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho at The Juilliard School. They are a prizewinner of the Menuhin, Grumiaux, Stulberg, and Klein International Competitions, and when they are not performing, composing, or organizing for HMP, Ariel enjoys dancing, practicing yoga, and listening to memoirs on Audible. Ariel a proud Aunt to nephew Theo and niece Maxie, as well as a devoted cat-parent to feline child Roxy.