Javier Pinell, D.M.

About Javier

Javier Pinell is Professor of Violin at Sam Houston State University. With a broad teaching experience, he also serves on the violin faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

A two-time recipient of the prestigious Theodor Presser Award, Pinell has done pioneering research on compositions by contemporary Bolivian composers. The release of the groundbreaking recording Bolivia: The Unknown Sounds (1998), was recognized by the the Bolivian Government, and a second recording titled The Rescue: The Surviving Musical Works of Gustavo Navarre was released in 2015. Pinell's research was also presented at The International Music Council for the Three Americas in Puerto Rico (2016). In addition, Pinell performed the world premiere of the Violin Concerto by Bolivian composer and conductor Ramiro Soriano with the National Symphony in La Paz (2024).

As a violinist, Pinell has traveled extensively with performances on four continents. As a teacher, he has given master classes in the United States, Germany, China, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia. As a chamber musician, Pinell is a founding member of the Lindsayan String Quartet, an ensemble that held two prestigious residencies; a National Endowment for the Arts/Chamber Music America residency at Western Kentucky University (1995-1997); and String Quartet in Residence with the Midland/Odessa Symphony in Texas (1998-2002).

Alongside concertmasters and principal players of major orchestras around the world, Pinell represented Bolivia in the World Philharmonic Orchestra under Giuseppe Sinopoli in Tokyo, Japan (1987), and in the Simón Bolívar Orchestra in Caracas, Venezuela under José Antonio Abreu (1984).

Pinell's active collaboration with developing music programs in Latin America, included the Orquestas Infanto-juveniles de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, the Orquesta Juvenil de Santa Cruz, the Orquesta Filarmónica de El Alto, the Fundación Bolivia Clásica, the program "Music, Hope for Life" in Mexico, and "Open Musical Frontiers" in Ecuador.

For me, one of the most enriching aspects of teaching is helping students discover ways to connect with the instrument so that they can more easily express themselves through music. In this process, there is a heightened awareness and curiosity in the artistic, acoustical, and mechanical dimensions of playing.