Violinist Maya Kilburn, 22, is a rising artist and Kovner Fellow at The Juilliard School, where she studies with Donald Weilerstein and Catherine Cho. A native of Muncie, Indiana, she began her musical training with Chin Mi Kim and Anna Vayman, later continuing for several years with Mimi Zweig at Indiana University’s Jacobs School String Academy.

Maya has appeared as a concerto soloist more than a dozen times with orchestras across the United States and abroad, including the Indianapolis Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Louisville Symphony, Southeast Missouri Symphony, Carmel Symphony, New World Youth Symphony, Muncie Symphony, PRISMA Festival Orchestra, CREM Orchestra, and the Orquesta de la Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. Her performances have taken her to major venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and the Kennedy Center, and on international tours throughout Argentina, Chile, Japan, and Central America.

Deeply committed to social impact through music, Maya has performed alongside Juilliard faculty members Catherine Cho and Natasha Brofsky for If Music Be the Food, a concert series supporting communities experiencing food insecurity. As a Gluck Community Service Fellow (2023–2024), she brought performances to hospitals, care centers, and community organizations across New York City. She recently appeared at King’s Place, London, in the “We Have One World” fundraiser for Save the Children UK. An active chamber musician, she frequently collaborates with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.

At Juilliard, Maya serves regularly as concertmaster as part of the principal pool. She has performed alongside artists including David Chan, Atar Arad, Jaime Laredo, and Luke Hsu, and has appeared with ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Her artistic development has been shaped by masterclasses and coachings with renowned violinists including Pamela Frank, Vadim Gluzman, Robert Lipsett, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Stella Chen, Kyung Sun Lee, Jinjoo Cho, Sarah Kapustin, among many others.

In addition to six years of private teaching experience, Maya has also served as a recurring guest artist and educator at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica and La Castella Arts School (2017–2019, 2024), offering performances, masterclasses, and mentorship to young violinists. Her work has been highlighted on radio and television, and she is a prizewinner at competitions at the regional, national, and international levels.