Erin Keefe, violin
American violinist Erin Keefe has been hailed as “an impressive violin soloist” by The New York Times and has established a reputation as a compelling artist who combines exhilarating temperament and fierce integrity. She was recently named Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra and was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2006 as well as the 2009 Pro Musicis International Award. She was also awarded the Grand Prizes in the Valsesia Music International Violin Competition (Italy), the Torun International Violin Competition (Poland), the Schadt Competition and the Corpus Christi International String Competition, and was the Silver Medalist in the Carl Nielsen, Sendai (Japan) and Gyeongnam (Korea) International Violin Competitions, resulting in performances and immediate re-engagements in the US, Europe and Asia.
Ms. Keefe has appeared in recent seasons as soloist with orchestras such as the Minnesota Orchestra, the New Mexico Symphony, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, the Sendai Philharmonic and the Gottingen Symphony Orchestra and has given recitals throughout the United States, Austria, Germany, Korea, Poland, Japan and Denmark.
Among the leading chamber musicians of her generation, Ms. Keefe has been an Artist Member of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2010 after previously being a member of The Chamber Music Society Two program from 2006-2009. She has been featured on “Live from Lincoln Center” three times with the Society, performing works by Brahms, Schoenberg, Bach and Corelli. Ms. Keefe performs regularly with the Brooklyn and Boston Chamber Music Societies.
Ms. Keefe has collaborated with many leading artists of today including the Emerson String Quartet, Roberto and Andres Diaz, Edgar Meyer, Gary Graffman, Richard Goode, David Shifrin, David Soyer, Colin Carr, Leon Fleisher and William Preucil. She also performed on a program with Michael Tilson Thomas premiering his own chamber music at Carnegie's Zankel Hall. Her recording credits include Schoenberg's Second String Quartet with Ida Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, Fred Sherry, and Jennifer Welch-Babidge for Robert Craft and the Naxos Label, recordings of the Dvorak Terzetto and the Dvorak Piano Quartet in E-flat with David Finckel and Wu Han for the CMS Studio Recordings label as well as live performances of the Bartok Contrasts, Dvorak Piano Quintet, Mozart E-flat Piano Quartet, Respighi’s Il Tramonto and Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos recorded for Deutsche Grammophon with Menahem Pressler, Gary Hoffman, Ani Kavafian and Ewa Podles. In January of 2010, Ms. Keefe released her first solo cd including works by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Ravel, Sibelius, Lutoslawski and Hindemith recorded with pianist Anna Polonsky. Ms. Keefe’s festival appearances have included the Marlboro Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Mainly Mozart, Music Academy of the West, Music from Angel Fire, Ravinia and the Seattle, OK Mozart, Mimir, Bravo! Vail Valley, Colorado College, Skaneateles, Salt Bay, Music in the Vineyards and Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festivals.
Ms. Keefe earned a Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music Degree from The Curtis Institute of Music. Her teachers included Ronald Copes, Ida Kavafian, Arnold Steinhardt, Philip Setzer, Philipp Naegele and Teri Einfeldt. She performs on a Nicolo Gagliano violin from 1732.
