Irina Pak
Making music and interacting with audiences is Irina's great passion and gives her the opportunity to express herself in the language she knows best: music. Versatility and innovation are central to her artistic vision. She plays the baroque repertoire with the same devotion as the 20th century and is open to unconventional concepts across styles. Irina was born in 1986 to Korean parents in Novosibirsk, Siberia. Inspired by her mother and sister, she took up the violin at an early age and later studied music in Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg and Zurich. She graduated with honors from the ZHdK, where she studied with Prof. Z. Bron and U. Gröner. At the same time Irina celebrated great successes at numerous competitions, such as K. Lipinski & H. Wieniawski. She has performed as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Camerata and the KKO Mannheim. She has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Alte Oper Frankfurt, the Vienna Musikverein and at festivals such as Palermo Classica and Les Classiques de Villars.
Irina plays 1st violin in the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. She has played with stars such as Gotthard, Rod Stewart, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, David Garrett, Helene Fischer and Eminem.
Irina is co-founder, vice-president and artistic director of the association More Than Classic. Within this framework, she has realized innovative projects such as BMX meets Violin, Immersive Classic in collaboration with PROJEKTIL. She also directs the Zurich Virtuosi Ensemble and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Petersburg Foundation, which supports young Russian musicians. Irina has been teaching private violin lessons in Zurich since 2009.