Faculty
David Sariti
Associate Professor, Violin
Biography
Violinist David Sariti enjoys a multifaceted career, with performance and scholarship interests that span four centuries. Known for bringing fresh perspective to works both familiar and unfamiliar, he has appeared as recitalist at universities across the country, as soloist with orchestra, and in diverse chamber collaborations. A recent all-Mendelssohn piano trio program was hailed as “Chamber music at a high professional level, reflecting credit on the schools that choose to have their students taught by musicians who not only have academic credentials but are also first-class performing artists.” (Classical Voice of North Carolina). An ardent proponent of new music, he has performed works by composers throughout the Southeast, including UVA Professor Emeritus Judith Shatin.
Equally at home with earlier repertoires on period instruments, Sariti has appeared with many notable chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Washington Bach Consort, The Vivaldi Project, and others. He plays frequently with Chapel Hill, NC-based Baroque and Beyond, and was a founding member of “Mr. Jefferson’s Musicians”, which was featured on the Gotham Early Music series in New York. He has given numerous solo presentations on Jefferson’s music, and is featured on the CD “Music from the Jefferson Collection”. An improviser of music both old and new, he has been guest soloist with the UVA Jazz Ensemble, and frequent collaborator with John D'earth and the late Greg Howard.
Faculty at UVA since 2005, he is Director of the period-instrument Baroque Orchestra, performs on the faculty Chamber Music Series, and is Principal Violin II of the Charlottesville Symphony, having previously served in over a dozen professional symphonies. He served as Director of Performance in 2021-24, and in 2016-17 he was part of the first cohort of College Arts Fellows. His studio teaching emphasizes the development of a relaxed, efficient technique and comprehensive musicianship skills that enable students to make informed interpretive choices. His articles on topics ranging from performance practice to string pedagogy have been featured in Early Music America, American String Teacher, and American Music Teacher. He holds degrees from the Hartt School, where he also taught studio violin and music history, the University of Akron, and Ithaca College; studies were with Pamela Gearhart, Katie Lansdale, Pamela Frank and members of the Cleveland and Miami quartets and the Meadowmount Trio.