Born in 2001, Claire Wells is an American violinist who is fast emerging as an original, distinctive musical voice on the international scene. As an artist, Claire’s work is shaped by an instinctive curiosity that guides her across periods and styles, drawing her toward music she finds genuinely compelling, from early repertoire to contemporary works.

Highlights in the upcoming 2026 season include Prokofiev’s Concerto no. 1 with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and past highlights include performing Kaija Saariaho’s Graal Theatre with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Dima Solobdeniouk in May 2025, as well as working on and performing Jorg Widmann’s Etude no. 3 alongside the composer as part of the CMNW 2024 season.

As a soloist, Claire has performed with orchestras including the Dallas Symphony, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmoniker,  Czech Orchestra Prague, Auckland Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Webern Kammerphilharmonie, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Dima Solobodeniouk, Pietari Inkinen, Robert Kružík, and Andrew Litton, among others. 

Having won major prizes at many internationally renowned competitions including the Michael Hill, Sibelius, Mirecourt, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and Indianapolis violin competitions, Claire was the 2023 scholarship winner of the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund, and was most recently the winner of the 2025 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions.

Having always held a love and passion for chamber music, Claire appears at leading festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Chamber Music Connects the World in collaboration with Christian Tetzlaff and Steven Isserlis, the IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music Festival in Cornwall, the Verbier Festival Academy, Tippet Rise Chamber Festival in Montana, and the Kryzyowa Festival in Kreisau, Poland. As well as performing regularly with top young artists of today, Claire has collaborated with many distinguished musicians, including Noah Bendix-Balgley, Christian Tetzlaff, Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman, Enrico Pace, Nobuko Imai, amongst others. In 2026, Claire was appointed the violinist of the renowned German piano trio, Trio Parnassus.

Claire is represented worldwide by Young Concert Artists. She currently resides in Berlin, and is studying at the Kronberg Academy under the tutelage of Mihaela Martin, made possible by the Opel/Dr. Schaefer patronage. Claire Wells plays on a Nicolo Amati and a Grand Adam bow, on loan from a generous donor.