Antonio Pontarelli (born April 1, 1991), is an American singer-songwriter and rock violinist. Pontarelli has played across the United States and abroad, performed as a soloist at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

and

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

, and collaborated with artists such as

Serj Tankian Serj Tankian ( , ; born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band System of a Down, which was formed in 1994. Tankian has released five albums with System of a Down ...

and Jethro Tull. He has won several competitions and awards including

PAX TV Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American terrestrial television, broadcast television network and Free ad-supported streaming television, FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scri ...

's 2004 competition show "

America's Most Talented Kid ''America's Most Talented Kid'' is an American television series that premiered on NBC on March 28, 2003. In each round, three age groups (3–7, 8–12, 13–16) of talented children would perform songs, dance numbers, magic (illusion), magic, a ...

". In 2012, Pontarelli was hired by

FremantleMedia Fremantle Limited (), formerly FremantleMedia, is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. The company was founded as Pearson Television in 1993 when publishing and education company Pearson ...

to compose music for The Pet Collective, one of Google's Original 100 YouTube Channels; videos with his music have combined views of over 31 million as of 2016.

Personal life

He was born in

Westlake Village, California Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County, California, on its western border with Ventura County. Upon its incorporation in 1981, Westlake Village became the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks We ...

and raised in

Temecula, California Temecula (; , ; Luiseño language, Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and was Municipal corpora ...

. He attended Hillcrest Academy and was then home-schooled to accommodate his music career and graduated from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

in 2011. In 2014, Pontarelli moved to

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. Most of the city is within Summit County, Utah, Summit County, with some portions extending into Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is sou ...

. He performed at private events during the 2015

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and continues to play local venues throughout the state.

Career

Pontarelli was classically trained on the violin from age four. In the years that followed, Pontarelli played in local orchestras and youth violin competitions and from 2003 to 2005, he was concertmaster of the San Diego Youth Symphonic Orchestra. While continuing his classical education, Pontarelli experimented with other genres and improvisation, performing with jazz, country, blues, world, and rock musicians. He appeared on national television in 2004, winning the Grand Champion title of

's competition show America's Most Talented Kid. After gaining recognition as a rock violinist, Pontarelli played throughout Southern California, performing with Jethro Tull,

Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor (born August 5, 1961) is an American fiddle player, composer, guitarist, and mandolinist whose music combines bluegrass, country, jazz and classical. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he has won six Country Music Association Mu ...

, Rene Paulo, David Benoit, and

Melissa Manchester Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Since the 1970s, her songs have been played by adult contemporary radio stations. She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage. Early li ...

among others. His performances continued across the United States as a soloist performing Gershwin's "Summertime" at

in 2010 followed by another solo performance in 2011 at Lincoln Center, and abroad at the 2009

Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival (JJF) is one of the largest jazz festivals in the world and arguably the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere, held in Jakarta, Indonesia. The annual jazz festival is held every early March and was designed ...

. In 2006 Pontarelli began writing and recording original music for a demo EP. His co-writers on the album included

Toby Gad Tobias "Toby" Gad (born 28 March 1968) is a German music producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. He is known for co-writing songs including John Legend's biggest hit, " All of Me", the fifth-highest certified single in RIAA history, and for ...

Dan Monti Dan Monti, also known by his stage name Del Rey Brewer or simply Brewer, is an American musician, record producer and audio engineer who has worked with such bands as Metallica, Slayer and Guns N' Roses. The bulk of his work, however, has been i ...

Tommy Henriksen Tommy Henriksen (born February 21, 1964) is an American musician from Port Jefferson Station, New York, best known for his work as a guitarist, bassist and songwriter with Alice Cooper, Hollywood Vampires, Crossbone Skully and German metal ban ...

, and Wizardz of Oz. In addition to his own music, he recorded violins on

's debut solo album

Elect the Dead ''Elect the Dead'' is the debut studio album by rock musician Serj Tankian, lead singer and founding member of Armenian-American metal band System of a Down. It was released on October 22, 2007. Alongside Tankian appears Armenian-American color ...

in 2007 and on

's 2015 album

You Gotta Love the Life ''You Gotta Love The Life'' is an album by the Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Melissa Manchester in 2015. Her 20th studio album, and her first since '' When I Look Down That Road'' (2004), the fourteen-track album is primarily written ...

. Pontarelli has also composed music for film and television, and in 2012, was hired by

to produce music for one of Google's Original 100 YouTube Channels called "The Pet Collective".

References

External links

Official website
Singers from California Living people 1991 births Participants in American reality television series Reality show winners American child singers People from Westlake Village, California People from Temecula, California 21st-century American singers 21st-century American violinists {{violinist-stub