David McCarroll

David McCarroll was appointed concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2022, holding the Rachel Mellon Walton Concertmaster Chair. He has been described by Musik Heute as “a violinist of mature musicality and deep understanding of his repertoire whose playing is distinguished by clarity of form and line.”

Winner of the 2012 European Young Concert Artists Auditions, he made his concerto debut with the London Mozart Players in 2002 and has since appeared as soloist with many orchestras including the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich (Simone Young, Grafenegg), Hong Kong Sinfonietta (Christoph Poppen), and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Manfred Honeck). He regularly performs in major concert halls such as Konzerthaus Berlin, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall, while his performances are often broadcast on radio stations including WGBH Boston, WQXR New York, National Public Radio, Ö1, BR­-Klassik, and the BBC.

In demand as a teacher, David is on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music. He has previously taught at Salzburg’s Mozarteum University, and has given masterclasses in violin and chamber music at Ravinia’s Steans Institute, at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and at the San Francisco Conservatory.

In addition to music, David maintains an active interest in social concerns, including the needs of those impacted by the AIDS pandemic; he is currently working on projects of the Starcross Community to help AIDS orphans in Africa.  David has performed in programs encouraging world peace promoted by the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and has given benefit concerts for Doctors Without Borders. With other members of his family, David has worked to get strings to young music students in Cuba where such items are very difficult to obtain.

David plays a 1761 violin made by A&J Gagliano.