About Me
Los Angeles native Mari De Napoli is a multi-faceted violinist, violin and viola teacher, and entrepreneur. When she was four, she begged her parents to start violin lessons and it was history from there! She completed her pre-college studies as a merit scholarship student at The Colburn School and at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. She went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from UCLA, earning a Bachelor’s in Violin Performance with minors in Music Industry and Entrepreneurship. In June of 2023, she completed her Master’s degree at Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music on a nearly fully-funded scholarship. She has studied under renowned teachers, such as Blair Milton, Guillaume Sutre, Varty Manouelian, and Anne Montzka-Smelser. She has performed on stages across the world from Carnegie Hall and Aspen Music Festival’s Benedict Tent to Estonia’s historical House of the Blackheads.
Presently, Mari is maintaining an active concert schedule, building her teaching studio throughout the Chicagoland area, and growing Evanston Strings. Building relationships with students, families, and clients is the best part of her jobs! She performs with Peoria Symphony, Logos Symphony, North Shore Chamber Orchestra, Evanston Strings, in solo recitals, and in chamber groups around the city. She founded Evanston Strings, a live strings collective for weddings and special events, as a Masters student at Northwestern and has performed over 150 events. She also teaches both privately and on faculty at the Oak Park School of Music. As a Suzuki-trained teacher who loves teaching students of all ages and abilities, she aims to highlight the joy that learning music brings. She believes in building a strong foundation that leads to beautiful tone, minimal pain, and long-term enjoyment.
Music has been a foundation in all facets of her life, teaching her lifelong skills such as tenacity, patience, and a love for collaboration. In her spare time, Mari is a voracious reader of fiction, an avid hiker, and a passionate houseplant mom. Mari performs on a gorgeous 1947 Giuseppe Pedrazzini violin and a 1965 Roger François Lotte bow.