Jennifer Stumm blazes a courageous, creative path as one of today's most distinctive and socially engaged violists. Known for the "opal-like beauty" (Washington Post) of her sound, she appears on the world's great stages - Carnegie Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Kennedy Center, and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam among them - and is the winner of three major international competitions: William Primrose, Geneva, and Concert Artists Guild, where she was the first violist in history to claim first prize. Born in Atlanta, she studied at the Curtis Institute with Karen Tuttle and at the Juilliard School, pursuing additional studies with Nobuko Imai in Amsterdam and Steven Isserlis at IMS Prussia Cove. She holds professorships at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and the Royal College of Music, London. Stumm is the founder and director of Ilumina, the São Paulo-based artist collective and social equity initiative that has rapidly become a model for 21st-century musical creativity and cross-cultural exchange. Her viral TEDx talk, "The Imperfect Instrument," was named an editor's pick among all TED talks and led to her solo debut at the Berlin Philharmonie. She performs on a 1589 Gasparo da Salò viola.