Paula Bird

Paula E. Bird, an accomplished violinist and pianist, received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, her M.M. from Texas State University, and is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio. She also studied music performance (violin and piano) at Temple University in Philadelphia with Helen Kwalwasser and Marian Filar, where Bird received the Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award. A former member of the San Antonio Symphony and the Austin Lyric Opera, Bird has been a member of numerous professional symphony orchestras in Pennsylvania and Texas, including the Harrisburg, Waco, Victoria, and Corpus Christi Symphonies. Bird has also played with the Winters Chamber Orchestra (Soloist and Assistant Concertmaster) and the Laredo Philharmonic. Bird has performed in numerous master classes as a violinist and pianist with Jaime Laredo, Elmar Oliveira, Leonard Rosen, Franco Gulli, and Eugene Fodor. Bird currently plays first violin with the Austin Symphony Orchestra and serves as Associate Concertmaster and Master Class Clinician with the Sunriver Music Festival in Oregon. She was also a principal player, soloist, and chamber player with the Conspirare Choir and the Victoria Bach Festival under the direction of Craig Hella Johnson. Bird currently teaches applied violin and chamber music at Texas State University. She is also a certified teacher of Dr. Suzuki’s Talent Education Method and maintains an extensive private studio in Wimberley, TX. In addition to her responsibilities with Texas State University, including the University Summer Strings Camp, Bird was a former faculty member of the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio summer camp and the Director of the former Texas State University Suzuki String Institute. As a pianist, Bird has accompanied recitalists at UTSA and SAC in San Antonio, Indiana University, Des Moines Metro Opera, Texas Lutheran College, and the Rome Festival Orchestra. Bird was also the accompanist for the San Antonio Symphony’s Operation Opera and for Richard Stoltzman (clarinet) in school concerts for the Austin Symphony. Bird was a founding member of the Artisan Quartet, which made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2012.

Paula also has a passion for mini long-haired dachshunds and has raised them along with her chickens, alpacas, and donkeys.