UC Davis Symphony Orchestra

Matilda Hofman has a varied and busy conducting schedule. Reviewers have described her conducting as “taut and finely controlled” and giving “a striking sense of purpose.” She is Music Director of the Diablo Symphony Orchestra, conductor-in-residence for the Empyrean Ensemble at UC Davis and Artistic Director of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. Matilda also serves as a cover conductor for the San Francisco Symphony.

Matilda is a committed educator. In the 2024–25 season Matilda will be conductor-in-residence at the University of the Pacific, and a guest conductor at the Eastman School of Music and for the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra. When Matilda is not making music she can be found hanging out with her kids or working as a Wilderness Ranger in the Trinity Alps.

Ava Pakiam, age 15, is a sought-after soloist and recitalist currently residing in the Bay Area. Ava presently studies with renowned violin professors Simon James (San Francisco Conservatory of Music) and Soovin Kim (New England Conservatory of Music). Ava was recently awarded a 2025 Salon De Virtuosi Career Grant in New York City. Ava made her solo debut at eight years old in California performing Mozart’s Second Violin Concerto with the Fremont Symphony. Later that summer, she performed Vivaldi’s Winter concerto with the Sempre Musick Orchestra and the New York Sinfonietta in Boston and New York City, where she made her debut at Carnegie Hall.

At age eleven, Ava was named a Seattle Symphony’s Young Artist for the 2021–22 season, performing Saint-Saens’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso on a season concert. At the Sounding Point Academy at the Colburn School in L.A., Ava was chosen at age twelve to perform Vecsey’s Caprice No. 1 (“Le vent”) in a recital, which was livestreamed by The Violin Channel.

Ava has had the privilege of performing in master classes for many leading pedagogues and performing artists, including Nathan Cole, Noah Geller, Ariel Horowitz, James Ehnes, Vadim Gluzman, Melissa White, Simone Porter, Sirena Huang and Hilary Hahn. Her solo appearances with orchestra have included a performance featuring Grammy-Award winning composer Mason Bates. Last season’s highlights included solo appearances of the Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Bruch concertos with orchestras in the USA on both coasts as well as concert tours in Mexico and Honduras. Ava also had her New York City recital debut in the prestigious Salon de Virtuosi series.

This coming season includes solo performances of Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto, the Bruch and Beethoven concertos, as well as numerous recital appearances with collaborator and pianist Cole Anderson.

A Strumenti artist since 2022, Ava is incredibly fortunate to be playing an 1874 J.B. Vuillaume, funded by Strumenti. Ava is grateful to be under the guidance of Artistic Advisor and former head of IMG Artists, Edna Landau.

In addition to music, Ava loves art, baking, jewelry making, and creative writing.