About Dexter
Born and raised in upstate New York, Dexter Doris is a violinist who has enjoyed performing and exploring the art of music ever since he was four years old. He began his studies with Helena Baillie and Sally Thomas, and by the age of 12, he made his first orchestral debut with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Henri Vieuxtemps’s 4th violin concerto.
The following year, Doris was admitted to Juilliard Pre-College to further his training with Ann Setzer. During his first year there, Doris won the Sound Symphony Orchestra’s competition, where he performed Camille Saint-Saens’s 3rd violin concerto. Doris has also soloed with the Massapequa Philharmonic, playing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante under the baton of David Bernard. He has served important leadership positions, such as concertmaster and principal second violin of the pre-college orchestras. He has since then been named a National YoungArts Foundation winner and a fellow guest artist on NPR's From the Top: Show #430 and has had masterclasses with esteemed artists such as Midori Goto, Lara St. John, and Maxim Vengerov.
He has performed at venues such as Alice Tully Hall, The Hub, Usher Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was a fellow for the past two summers at the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, where he performed Samuel Barber’s violin concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade with the festival orchestra. As an active chamber musician, he has held a residency at the Frost School of Music in the University of Miami with his string quartet in February 2026. During the summer of that year, he was invited as a guest artist at Festival Mozaic and the Edinburgh International Festival to perform along with other rising stars and prominent artists, including Scott Yoo, Bion Tsang, and Nicola Benedetti.
When he has free time, you can find Doris playing early solo and chamber music on the baroque violin, which he’s had instruction from Cynthia Roberts and Audrey Axinn.
He is currently studying at Juilliard with Laurie Smukler for his bachelor's degree and plays on a fine French violin made by Joseph Domenique Lété c. 1834, in Nantes.
