Grace Park, winner of the 2018 Naumburg International Violin Competition, was named concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra on February 3, 2025. She succeeded Vahn Armstrong, who had held the post since 1993 and was to remain in the first violin section as concertmaster emeritus.
The appointment also included plans for a chamber music series. Park said she wanted audiences to get to know the orchestra’s musicians and visiting soloists through those smaller ensembles.
Her first concerts in the new role were announced for March 14 and 16, ahead of a full start in the 2025–26 season. Hampton Roads audiences had already heard her with the orchestra in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and a program featuring Copland’s Appalachian Spring.
The Virginia Symphony’s appointment announcement
Below, Park performs with pianist Albert Cano Smit in a Naumburg concert.
