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“Kapoor's interpretation of the solo cadenza is simply phenomenal.”

- Burkhard Schäfer for Fono Forum

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Violinist Usha Kapoor made her solo debut with the Phoenix Symphony and has since performed extensively as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout Europe, North America and the United Kingdom. A passionate advocate for expanding the cannon of classical music, Kapoor's recently released debut album with pianist Edward Leung has been met with widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences alike, earning a place on the 2024 “Bestenliste” of the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

The 2025-2026 season includes Kapoor’s solo recital debut at Gasteig München and performances at the Immenklang Festival in Immenhausen and the Festival of International Artists in Cambridge, as well as the launch of her concert series, perspectives, at the Piano Salon Christophori in Berlin. She will additionally return for concerto performances with the Collegium Musicum Leer and Burchard Schaefer.

Highlights of recent seasons include concerto appearances with the Neusser Kammerorchester, Collegium Musicum Aschaffenburg, Studio-Orchester Duisburg, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Junges Sinfonie-Orchester Wetzlar, Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestra, Culver City Chamber Orchestra, Culver City Symphony Orchestra, and the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, among others, with conductors including Arlette Cardenes, Daniel Cohen, Frank Fetta, Hamed Garschi, Thomas Guggeis, Thomas Jung, Karen Kagarlitsky and Lukas Rommelspacher.

Recent recital appearances include debuts at the Wigmore Hall, Tonali Saal, Piano Salon Christophori, Festsaal Schoenbusch Aschaffenburg, Winchester Chamber Music Festival, Marden House Sunday Series, Wye Valley Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire ChamberFest, Avon Valley Concerts, the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and the Ulverston International Music Festival. In addition, Kapoor and Leung recently completed an extensive tour throughout Scotland focused on Amy Beach’s works for violin and piano sponsored by the Tunnell Trust for Young Musicians.

An avid chamber musician, Kapoor has performed with the Boulez Ensemble in Berlin and the Archipelago Collective, as well as made appearances at the Miesbach Kammermusik Festival, Rolandseck-ARP Museum Festival, Krzyżowa-Music Festival, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, and on the Colburn Chamber Music Society with musicians including Martin Beaver, Adrian Brendel, Paul Coletti, Clive Greensmith, Viviane Hagner, Konstantin Heidrich, Benjamin Hochmann, Clara-Jumi Kang, Matthias Kirschnereit, Nils Mönkemeyer, Eckart Runge, Daniel Stabrawa, Jennifer Stumm, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Tabea Zimmermann.

​Kapoor is the recent winner of a Tunnell Trust Award and the First Prize of the inaugural Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Competition with Leung. She was also the recipient of a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Grant in the Field of Music from 2018-2022 and was further supported by Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Deutschland e.V. Previously, she was the recipient of a U.S. Fulbright Grant in the Arts and a Career Grant from the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation. Kapoor has been featured on the United Kingdom’s radio station ClassicFM, Germany’s SWR Kultur, ARD Mediathek, rbb Kultur, and BR Klassik “Sweet Spot”, Arizona’s 89.5 KBAQ, National Public Radio (NPR)'s StoryCorps Archive, and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)’s “Arts District” and “Now Hear This” programs.

Kapoor’s earliest influences were her teachers Dr. Katie McLin and Phoenix Symphony concertmaster Steven Moeckel. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and an Artist Diploma from the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Robert Lipsett. Kapoor went on to receive a Master of Music degree and the solo diploma “Konzertexamen” with Mihaela Martin at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in Germany. She is grateful for additional support and guidance from Noé Inui, Tasmin Little, Alexander Rumpf, Sybille Tschopp, and Daniel Tong. Since 2020, she has been teaching at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and since 2025 at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien.

Kapoor grew up in Phoenix, Arizona with an American mother and Indian father. The mix of cultures in her childhood shaped and encouraged a curiosity to learn about and expand traditions and those specifically of classical European music. From taking up folk and fiddle music as a teenager, to focusing primarily on the European tradition and canon of instrumental music while studying, to incorporating Hindustani methods of playing in recent years, this blend of cultures is apparent in Kapoor’s life; informed from tradition and history while bringing her own identity into shaping modernity.

In addition to playing the violin, Usha loves spending time outdoors, going on adventures, hiking, keeping her hands busy, reading, and having occasional obsessions with things such as interior design and floral arrangements.

Kapoor plays on a B.S. Fendt violin made in London in 1840, and a Paul Siefried bow made in Los Angeles in 1996.

Biography current as of January 2026.