Tali Gastwirth is a 16-year-old violinist and rising 11th grade student at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois where she is a member of New Trier’s Symphony Orchestra. Her love for music began early, when she started playing the violin at age 4.

Tali currently performs as a member of the Symphony Orchestra with the prestigious Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras and also participates in Northwestern University Music Academy’s Virtuosi Strings program. Tali has performed internationally in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, as well as Provence, France.

In 2025, Tali was selected as a member of the All-State Orchestra for the State of Illinois. During the summer of 2024, she attended the Summer Music Clinic at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she distinguished herself as Concertmaster of the Orchestra, and also participated in the Summer Youth Music Senior Orchestra Program at the University of Illinois. In previous summers she participated in the orchestra program at the Interlochen Center for the Arts (2022-2023) and at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp (2021), where she was also selected as Concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2021, Tali has been studying with Stacia Spencer in her private studio at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. During her free time, Tali also enjoys volunteering by serving as a mentor for younger violin students as part of the Music Academy strings program at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Two of Tali’s most ardent musical supporters are her beloved dogs, both rescued, Remy (a black lab and great dane mix) and Ellie (a goldendoodle).