Adeline Gao

violin

Adeline Gao, age nine, currently studies violin with Simon James. Inspired by her sister, Sophia, she began her violin journey at the age of four with Jan Coleman. In 2025, Adeline won the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and made her debut with the SYSO Debut Symphony Orchestra in 2026 at Benaroya Hall. She is a two-time winner of the Simon-Fiset High Strings Competition (2025 and 2026) and received the Jean Kantner Memorial Trophy for Best Elementary Student in the same years. In 2024, she won first place in both the Solo and Concerto divisions at the Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside. Adeline has also participated in the Japan-Seattle Suzuki Institute and the SAWS (Suzuki Association of Washington State) Festival, where she performed in Honors Recitals. Since 2022, she has appeared annually in the Coleman Violin Studio’s Afternoon of Encores at Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall in Seattle.