The program at Lawrence for Violin is designed to provide a comprehensive education in performance and pedagogy. Students pursuing a degree in violin may major in performance, music education, or theory/composition. Many students elect to pursue a double-degree program, combining a music degree with a degree from another area of interest. Non-music majors and music minors are welcome to study the violin. Violin students participate in weekly technique and studio classes in addition to their private lessons. Orchestral excerpt courses are also available.
Lawrence University owns several special violins that may be loaned out to students for important competitions and performances, including two violins made by contemporary luthier Douglas Cox, and an Andrea Guarneri violin dating from the 1680s.
Faculty
- Samantha George, violin
Associate Professor of Music
Currently Associate Professor of Violin at Lawrence University, Samantha George served as Associate Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from 1999-2008 and as Acting Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for the 2002-2003 season. Her previous posts have included Assistant Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony, Core Concertmaster of the Hartford Symphony, and Guest Concertmaster appointments with the Charleston Symphony and the Oregon Symphony. She has performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Heidelberg Castle Festival, and the Washington Island Music Festival. Dr. George is also a faculty member at the Green Lake Chamber Music Workshop and Wisconsin Lutheran College. She received a high-school diploma from the Interlochen Arts Academy and Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Performer’s Certificate degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she was a graduate teaching assistant for Charles Castleman. She also holds a doctorate in violin performance and music theory from the University of Connecticut.
As a soloist, Dr. George has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, Raleigh Symphony, Idaho State Civic Symphony, Hartford Symphony, and the United States Coast Guard Band. Recent appearances include solo performances with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, Beloit/Janesville Symphony, and Waukesha Symphony. In 2002, she performed the Bach Concerto for Two Violins with world-famous violinist Hilary Hahn and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Active as an advocate for greater understanding and appreciation of classical music, Dr. George has hosted two weekly radio programs: “MSO BackStagePass” (WFMR 106.9 Milwaukee) and “MSO Weekly Update” (WMSE 91.7 Milwaukee). In addition, she is a host of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s “Classical Connections” series, teaches music appreciation courses at the Washington Island Music Festival and hosts a number of pre-concert and post-concert lectures wherever she performs.
Contact by e-mail: samantha.george@lawrence.edu
- Wen-Lei Gu, violin
Associate Professor of Music
Wen-Lei Gu has performed actively throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. A recipient of numerous awards, she was the first prize winner of the Heida Hermanns International String Competition and China’s Fourth National Violin Competition, the silver medalist in the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition and the Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition, and a prize winner in the California International Young Artist Competition. Dr. Gu has performed in such distinguished venues as the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Smetana Hall in Prague, La Sala Verdi in Milan, the Beijing Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Born into a musical family, Dr. Gu started to play the piano and the violin at a young age. She made her international debut at the age of thirteen, performing the Saint–Saëns Violin Concerto in England with Yehudi Menuhin at the baton. Menuhin said of her playing: “sounds like a poem, looks like a painting.” Since coming to America at the same age, Dr. Gu has performed frequently as guest soloist with orchestras and at concert series throughout the world.
In 2000, Dr. Gu performed as soloist with the Bergen Philharmonic in the Opening Concert of the Millennium at the John Harms Center for the Arts in New Jersey. During the same year, she performed at the Bach Festival at Carnegie Hall commemorating the 250th Anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death. In 2003, Dr. Gu performed the Wieniawski Concerto No. 2 with the Houston Symphony to an audience of five thousand; the concert was broadcast live on KUHF 88.7 FM. In 2004, she was the recipient of the prestigious Presser Award from the Theodore Presser Foundation for achievement in music. In 2005, Dr. Gu was the soloist with the China Beijing Philharmonic on its critically acclaimed tour of Europe. Her recent concert engagements have included recital tours in the Far East and Israel, live recital broadcasts on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Live from the Chazen and Chicago WFMT Radio’s Live from Studio One, concerto appearances with the Hong Kong Pan Asia Symphony, the Harper Symphony, the Elkhart Symphony, the Fox Valley Symphony, and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Gu holds the Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School, and the Master of Music from the Mannes College of Music in New York. She received her Doctor of Music in Violin Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she was the concerto competition winner and concertmaster. Her teachers include Yao-Ji Lin, Bin Chao, Dorothy Delay, Sally Thomas, Ida Kavafian, Paul Biss, and Miriam Fried. In addition, she has studied chamber music with Felix Galimir, Menaham Pressler, and Janos Starker. She frequently adjudicates as string judge in regional, state, and national music competitions. Her students have won top prizes in the Neale-Silva Young Artists Competition and the WMTA State Young Artists Competitions. Since 2006, Dr. Gu has teaching at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Contact by e-mail: wen-lei.gu@lawrence.edu
