Lindsey Stirling at Arizona Financial Theatre

Combining her love of classical music with electronic dance and hip-hop, California artist Lindsey Stirling is a violinist, dancer, and performer who surpassed early viral fame with a solo career that captured an audience in the pop mainstream. Early on, she was known for her YouTube cover videos and for competing on the 2010 season of America’s Got Talent, but she quickly became a crossover success after the release of her self-titled 2012 solo debut. As the decade progressed, she issued multiple Top Five, gold-certified albums, including 2014’s Shatter Me and 2016’s Brave Enough, both of which found her expanding her sound with singers including Lzzy Hale, Dia Frampton, Christina Perri, Rivers Cuomo, and others. Stirling has continued to explore new musical territory, releasing the 2017 holiday album Warmer in the Winter and collaborating with vocalists Amy Lee and Elle King on her chart-topping 2019 LP Artemis. After another holiday album, 2022’s Snow Waltz, she returned with the existentially charged Duality in 2024.

Born in Santa Ana, California, Stirling grew up in Arizona and began studying classical violin at the age of five. In her teens, she played in a rock band called Stomp on Melvin and competed in the Junior Miss competition, winning the Arizona Junior Miss title. An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she studied therapeutic recreation at Brigham Young University. In 2010, Stirling appeared as the “hip-hop violinist” on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, in which she showcased her unique performance style of dancing and playing the violin at the same time accompanied by electronic backing tracks. After finishing in the quarter-finals of the show, Stirling began focusing more on filming videos for her YouTube channel. Working with director/cinematographer Devin Graham, she produced a series of videos featuring her in beautiful, evocative outdoor settings or with striking visual accompaniment; one of her videos, “Crystallize,” ended up being viewed more than 100 million times. She issued her self-titled debut album of all-original material in 2012 through her own Lindseystomp label. The set sold over 200,000 copies in the United States as an independent release, and was certified gold in Germany (selling over 100,000 copies there), Austria, and Switzerland.

After successful concert tours throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Russia, Stirling signed a deal with Lady Gaga‘s management firm, Atom Factory, and reissued her eponymous debut album through Universal Music. In 2013, Stirling released a pair of collaborative EPs — one with Tyler Ward, the other with Ward and Chester See. Her sophomore long-player, Shatter Me, arrived the following year. It was her first to include collaborations with other vocalists (Lzzy Hale, Dia Frampton), and it debuted at number two on the album charts. Along with taking part in several new collaborations (Jesse J, Pentatonix, Joy Enriquez), Stirling devoted much of 2014 and early 2015 to a massive world tour that took her across North America, through Europe, and into Oceania.

In June 2015 she announced the completion of an autobiography, The Only Pirate at the Party, and began work on a new album. Released in 2016, Brave Enough was a partially fan-funded production that included the single “Arena.” The album — which debuted atop both the Billboard classical and dance/electronic charts — featured appearances from Weezer‘s Rivers Cuomo, Indian-American rapper Raja Kumari, Christian rapper Lecrae, Christina Perri, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. Her collaboration with the latter, “Something Wild,” was chosen as the theme song to the Disney reboot of Pete’s Dragon, which was released in 2016. At the end of the year and into 2017, Stirling embarked on a mammoth world tour in support of the album, taking in dates in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and into South America. In May, she was awarded the Top Dance/Electronic Album at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards for Brave Enough. The single “Love’s Just a Feeling” appeared at the same time and featured guest vocals from Irish singer/songwriter Rooty.

In October 2017, Stirling released her fourth studio album, the holiday-themed Warmer in the Winter, which featured guest spots from Trombone Shorty, Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low, and Sabrina Carpenter. That same year, she competed on the 25th season of Dancing with the Stars. She returned to music in 2019, releasing the single “Underground” and announcing her fifth studio album, Artemis. The record, which used the eponymous goddess as a framework for exploring perseverance, was released in September of the same year. Artemis featured guests Amy Lee of Evanescence (“Life Goes On and On”) and Elle King (“The Upside”). Lee returned the favor, including Stirling on Evanescence‘s 2020 song “Use My Voice.” The violinist was also featured that same year on singer Avril Lavigne‘s song “We Are Warriors.”

In 2021, she released the stand-alone single “Lose You Now” featuring Mako. Building upon the Artemis instrumental “Guardian,” Stirling tasked Mako with penning the lyrics for the track, which was created as a tribute to her late father. The following year, Stirling returned to holiday standards with her second themed set, Snow Waltz, which featured the rock-tinged “Ice Storm.” By 2024, she had readied her seventh full-length Duality. Exploring themes of inner conflict, Stirling delivered another reliably charged set of pop-violin anthems, this time featuring guests Royal & the Serpent (“Inner Gold”) and Walk off the Earth‘s Sarah Blackwood (the Gloria Gaynor-interpolating “Survive”).

Blending atmospheric electronic textures with dark alternative rock, PVRIS evolved from a post-hardcore underground favorite to a pop-savvy international headliner within a decade. Helmed by singer/songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and LGBTQ+ icon Lyndsey Gunnulfsen, the project (pronounced “Paris”) made its 2014 debut with White Noise, an alternative chart hit in the U.S. and U.K. Three years later, PVRIS returned with the pulsing sophomore effort All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell. At the turn of the decade, the band’s sound had matured into an urgent, melodic hybrid of beat-driven synth rock, which could be heard on their third set, Use Me. At this time, Gunnulfsen revealed that she had been the main architect behind PVRIS all along, handling songwriting, production, and instrumentation from the start. She returned in 2023 with the empowering fourth LP Evergreen.

Formed in 2012 in Lowell, Massachusetts, the group’s earliest incarnation was as a local metalcore outfit before vocalist Gunnulfsen branched off to start PVRIS with the help of bassist Brian MacDonald, drummer Brad Griffin, and guitarist Alex Babinski. At this initial stage, the project echoed contemporaries such as , , and , a sound heard on the self-titled debut EP released in early 2013. Meanwhile, Gunn and her bandmates built a devoted following as a live act with summer dates on the Vans Warped Tour and the Rise Up Tour with , , and . In late 2013, Griffin parted ways with the group, leaving a core trio led by Gunn. Teaming up with producer Blake Harnage (), they entered the studio to work on their first official album.

In June 2014, PVRIS announced that they had signed with , becoming the first female-fronted act on the famed metalcore label’s roster. Their debut LP, White Noise, arrived in November of that year. Peaking within the Top Ten on the U.S. Alternative chart, the album was also a hit in the U.K. After a year of consistent touring, PVRIS announced their first headlining trek, which coincided with the re-release of White Noise, featuring the previously unreleased single “You and I.” In 2017, they joined  and  on the road, just before the release of their sophomore set, All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell. The album featured the singles “Heaven” and “What’s Wrong.” A remix by  of the album track “Same Soul” appeared in 2018 featuring singer .

In 2019, Gunnulfsen returned with a new label () and a new sound heard on the single “Death of Me,” a pulsing synth-washed dance tune co-written with ‘s Daniel Armbruster. Another electronic-influenced track, the -assisted “Hallucinations,” followed a month later. Both songs were included on the five-track Hallucinations, a stopgap EP issued to sate fans before the next release cycle. While awaiting that album, Gunnulfsen shared the singles “Dead Weight” and “Gimme a Minute,” which pushed the project even further into electronic territory. After months of waiting and delays, the cathartic Use Me finally arrived that August. Collaborating with JT Daly (), Gunnulfsen dove deep for the LP, touching upon everything from relationship woes to her struggles with autoimmune disease. The week of the album’s release, it was announced that Babinski had parted ways with the project.

Over the next few years, Gunnulfsen collaborated with the likes of , , , , , , , , and more. She also released the stand-alone PVRIS single “Monster.” In 2022, she issued the tracks “Anywhere But Here” and “Animal,” which were accompanied by a short film directed by friend and tourmate Jax Anderson. In addition to 2023’s rousing anthem “Goddess,” they were the first tastes of the next PVRIS era, which arrived that July in the form of Evergreen. Centered on themes of empowerment, the album further refined the project’s melodic, alt-rock hybrid sound, as heard on songs such as the -assisted “Take My Nirvana.” ~ Neil Z. Yeung

ARKAI is a GRAMMY® award-winning electroacoustic duo that has captivated audiences around the world with their creative imagination and cutting-edge string music.

Graduates of the famed Juilliard School, ARKAI’s signature sound has led them to hundreds of shows around the world that include esteemed performances at GRAMMYs On The Hill and Carnegie Hall, opening for GRAMMY and Oscar-winning musician , and joint recording projects like  with piano sensation  and Decca Records. They recently opened and performed with Ann at the legendary Troubadour club in LA for back to back sold out shows.

As songwriters & performers, their creative versatility has led to collaborations with GRAMMY-award winning music producers, Hollywood trailer houses, Cirque du Soleil acrobats and olympic gymnasts, contemporary dance companies, chart-topping musicians, and full-scale symphony orchestras.

ARKAI’s sophomore album, Brightside, was released in 2025, created in collaboration with producers Jonas W. Karlsson, Donny Bravo, and Charlie Heat. ARKAI is a voting member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs).