Hina & Fiona

Dear to Us, the debut album by New York violinists Hina and Fiona, is the sound of sibling revelry. Born in New York, these gifted sisters have already achieved remarkable milestones individually: Hina recently won first prize at the 2023 Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition, while Fiona debuted with the New York Philharmonic at 16, and respectively embark on illustrious solo careers. Together, their playing reveals a profound connection shaped by lifelong collaboration, honest artistic dialogue, and complementary interpretations.

As sisters, though, Hina and Fiona share a bond unlike most other collaborators. Having started violin at age 3 after abandoning early plans to pursue ballet, Hina took to the instrument like a natural—and served as a role model to Fiona, who followed in her sister’s footsteps also at age 3. They first performed together as fledgling Suzuki method students, and continued to collaborate even as their individual careers began to flourish.

Hearing them play together now, you might be forgiven for assuming that the sisters share some kind of uncanny telepathic bond. In reality, Hina and Fiona make no supernatural claims; what accounts for their exceptional connection as players, they say, is long hours of experience, discipline, and a sisterly knack for getting straight to the point without undue delay or deference when tackling matters of technique or interpretation.

That’s not to suggest that the sisters always think alike—or even play alike, necessarily. “The fact that we’re pretty much opposites in the way we interpret music is a really inspiring thing for me,” Fiona says. “We always have something we disagree on, for sure. But that allows us to really discuss it, and that discussion helps me understand a piece more deeply.”