Héctor Merchant

Violin

Héctor began his musical studies in piano in 1997 at the Corporación Sinfónica de Concepción, in Chile and excelled from a young age. In 2002 he started his violin studies with maestro Jorge Inzunza Vera at the Centro Cultural de Concepción. In 2007, he continued his violin studies with Alejandra Urrutia at the Conservatory of the Universidad del Bio-Bio, and the following year at the Pontifical University Catholic of Chile (PUC). It is in this institution where he pursued his Bachelor’s degree, studying with Alejandra Urrutia, Frida Ansaldi, and Gonzalo Beltran.

Héctor has participated in numerous masterclasses with renowned international teachers like Álvaro Parra (Chile-Germany), Bryan Lewis (USA), Raúl Orellana (Chile), S. Khoshafian (France), Manfredo Kraemer), Laura Klugherz (USA), the VIKTORIA QUARTET (Germany), Trio Image (Germany), Leon Spierer (Argentina-Germany), Federico Agostini (Italy-USA), Otto Derolez (Belgium), Richard Roberts (Canada), Ole Bohn (Australia), Charles Stegeman (USA), and Rachel Stegeman (USA) among others. In one of these opportunities, he was selected to play with Brian Lewis performing the violin quartet of Andreas Makris, within the PUC Visiting Professors program.

He has also participated in violin and piano competitions (Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition, FOJI National Violin Competition, Kutztown University Music Festival Competition, among others,), and was a member of a tour in Germany of the Camerata of Young Musicians of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, playing cities like Berlin and Detmold in 2009. He has also participated in International Festivals like the Kutztown University Music Festival in the United States and the Santa Catarina Music Festival in Brazil.

In addition, he has been invited to play with different orchestras in Chile, like the Classical Orchestra of the University of Santiago de Chile, University of Concepción Symphony Orchestra, Solistico de Santiago, the Antofagasta Symphony Orchestra, and the Chilean Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2019 Héctor moved to the US to continue his violin studies. In 2021, he obtained his Masters in Music in Performance at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he studied with Professor Charles Stegeman. Currently, he is pursuing his Artis Diploma in this institution where he is part of the Duquesne Symphony Orchestra and the Duquesne Chamber Orchestra. Furthermore, he has been invited to participate in different orchestras from the US, like the Westmoreland Symphony, Butler Symphony, Washington Symphony, YADO Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony, Wheeling Symphony, Canton Symphony and Pittsburgh Opera, among others.

Héctor joined Radiant Strings at the end of 2022 and was a classmate of Nicole’s at Duquesne University. Héctor always knows how to make you laugh!