Violinist Natalie Darst Xia is the recipient of the Fulbright-Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship and will be pursuing her studies in Paris for the 2024-2025 academic year. A four-time recipient of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation grant, Dr. Darst Xia has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player in France, Switzerland, and the United States. Passionate in promoting the Franco-American cultural exchange, Natalie enjoys connecting with artists through her work as a violinist and in arts management.

As an arts administrator, Natalie serves on the Board of Trustees for the Fontainebleau Associations (USA) and spends her summers as the Assistant Program director of the Fontainebleau Schools’ American Conservatory in the historic Château du Fontainebleau. She previously served as the Orchestra Personnel Management Assistant at the Spoleto Festival USA. Additionally, she is a cultural liaison and assists with administration and concert curation featuring Fontainebleau faculty and alumni in Paris and New York City.

Recent performances include appearances the Fontainebleau Schools of Music and Fine Arts, Spoleto Festival USA (Concertmaster), Académie de Musique Riviera in Switzerland as a student of Pierre Amoyal, and as a return guest soloist at the Fontainebleau Gala concerts in New York City.

Throughout her studies, Natalie has had the opportunity to perform in solo and chamber masterclasses for Noah Bendix-Balgley (First Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic), Pamela Frank, Ida Kavafian, Donald Weilerstein, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, Gerard Poulet, Philippe Graffin, Marianne Piketty, Alexis Galpérine, and Stéphanie-Marie Degand. She has studied chamber music with artists Sylvia Rosenberg, Robert Levin, Diana Ligeti, Alexander Kerr, Marcy Rosen, Clive Greensmith, and Raphaël Merlin (Quatuor Ébène). In 2015, Natalie performed in collaboration with the late Joseph Silverstein in a benefit concert presented at the Meadowmount School of Music.

A dedicated orchestral musician, Natalie served as Concertmaster of the Spoleto Festival USA, Mannes Symphony Orchestra, and has been a member of the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Sarasota Music Festival Orchestra, and the New York String Orchestra Seminar. Natalie has worked under numerous conductors including Larry Rachleff, Hugh Wolff, Vasily Petrenko, Jaime Laredo, Joseph Colaneri, David Hayes, and JoAnn Falletta. Natalie currently holds Concertmaster and principal positions in the Boston University Symphony Orchestra.

As a member of Trio FSX, a piano trio formed at the Mannes School of Music, Natalie made her Weill Recital Hall debut in December of 2016, and went on to perform with her trio in concerts through artistic director Pavlina Dokovska’s Mannes Sounds Festival. At Mannes, Natalie studied chamber music, with an emphasis on the standard piano trio repertoire, with Earl Carlyss and Ann Schein.

Through her chamber and orchestral performances, Natalie has appeared in numerous concert venues including Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall), Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Sarasota Opera House, Steinway Hall, Château de Fontainebleau, Fondation des Etats-Unis Grand Salon (Paris, France), Louis K, Meisel Gallery, The Morgan Library Museum, The Frick Collection, and the German Consulate (New York City). Natalie has also been heard on New York City’s WQXR- FM Classical Music Radio.

Natalie received a Bachelor of Music with Honors and a Master of Music from Mannes School of Music where she held the President’s Scholarship and studied with Sally Thomas, Todd Phillips, and and Nancy Wu (Associate Concertmaster- The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.) Upon graduation from Mannes, she was presented with the Mannes College of Music Dean’s Award. Natalie received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance and the Symphony Orchestra Award from Boston University College of Fine Arts where she worked with Lucia Lin (Boston Symphony Orchestra).

Raised in a musical family, Natalie was three years old when she began her violin studies. The daughter of Actor/Composer, Danny Darst (Silence of the Lambs, Manchurian Candidate), Natalie and her two siblings appeared in the biographical documentary American Songwriter produced by Michael Altman and winner of Best Film awards at four major U.S. film festivals.

In her spare time, Natalie enjoys pursuing her love of historical research, traveling, attending opera performances, and continuing studies of both the French and German languages.