photo: Carlos Funn

A native of Buffalo NY, Teagan Faran is a multidisciplinary musician focused on enacting social change through the arts. Her playing has “brought the house down” (Represent Classical) as she explores the boundaries of genre and performance. An avid collaborator, she has worked with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Palaver Strings, and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. Recent recording features include albums with Carlos Simon, La Martino Orquesta Típica, loadbang, and Diamanda Galás. She has had compositions featured at the NYSSMA Conference and the Persis Vehar Competition for Excellence. Also active in the world of tango music, she has performed with Victor Lavallén and the Orquesta Escuela de Emilio Balcarce, as well as at festivals across the United States. 

As a soloist, Faran has performed throughout the United States, Italy, Argentina, Germany, México, and Canada, including appearances with the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Uptown Philharmonic, the Clarence Summer Orchestra, the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Camerata, the Williamsville East Symphonic Orchestra, and the University of Vermont Symphony.

Administratively, she has held positions in the Marketing and Education Departments of the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Education and Concerts/Touring with Jazz at Lincoln Center. She founded the Ann Arbor arts collective Red Shoe Company and worked as a teaching artist with the Kennedy Center, the University Musical Society, and the Sphinx Organization.

​After graduating from the University of Michigan, Faran moved to Buenos Aires on a Fulbright grant. Faran was also a Turn The Spotlight Fellow, receiving their inaugural Hedwig Holbrook Prize. Faran participated in OneBeat, a fellowship in musical diplomacy, DeeDee Bridgewater’s Woodshed Network, and graduated from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied Contemporary Performance. She is a co-artistic director of the unconducted ensemble Palaver Strings, forms half of the electroacoustic duo Persephone & the Phoenix, and is a certified personal trainer, with a focus on career longevity for performers. Faran currently teaches violin at Ithaca College. Faran plays on a 1977 Silvano Rebessi violin and “The Briar” viola by John Perrin Bean, as well as enjoying experiments with luthiers to push the definition of what makes a violin a violin.

Albums

Middle Child

Release Date: January 24, 2025
Catalog Number: NV6704
21st Century
Chamber
Solo Instrumental
Flute
Violin
Voice
MIDDLE CHILD from multi-instrumentalist Teagan Faran confronts concepts of culture and identity through the music of Johannes Brahms’ Intermezzo Op. 118, no. 2, from 6 Klavierstücke along with the works of contemporary composers. Faran employs the Brahms intermezzo (rearranged for multi tracked violin choir) as a recurring motif; it reappears throughout the album, each time reimagined by a different artist in a different style. The album also features contributions from artists like Leilehua Lanzilotti and Jens Ibsen. Reflecting on her Cantonese-Irish heritage, as well as her own “middle child” status and her family’s connection to Hawai’i, Faran seeks a sense of belonging through the blending of past and present through this Navona Records release.