Violinist Sheryl Staples is currently the acting Concertmaster of the New YorkPhilharmonic. She joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Associate Concertmaster in 1998 and made her solo debut with the orchestra in 1999 performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with Kurt Masur. Since that time she has been featured in over 25 performances, playing concertos of Mendelssohn, Mozart, Haydn, Bach and Vivaldi with conductors including Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis, Alan Gilbert, Kent Nagano, Jeffrey Kahane and Yaap van Sweden. She has also appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Richmond Symphony and San Diego Symphony among many others. In demand as a chamber musician, Ms. Staples performs frequently in the New York area and has performed for US Ambassadors in London, Paris, Berlin, Hong Kong and Beijing as well as touring Latin America. Summer festivals include La Jolla Chamber Music Society’s Summerfest and Salt Bay Chamber Music Festival most recently, as well as Santa Fe, Seattle, Martha’s Vineyard, Sarasota and Strings Music Festivals. Ms. Staples recently joined the violin faculty at Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard Pre-College. She also teaches at the Juilliard School in orchestral studies and serves as guest faculty at the Shanghai Orchestra Academy.