Elizabeth Vonderheide is a founding member of both the Hampton Roads-based New Commonwealth Quartet, and the Surf and Sounds Chamber Music Festival
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Early life and education
Elizabeth Vonderheide, originally from Lynchburg, VA, began her violin studies at the age of five. She earned her Bachelor of Music from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied under the late Franco Gulli, Distinguished Professor of Violin. Elizabeth later pursued a Master of Music in the Orchestral Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Glenn Dicterow, former Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.
Performance career
During her time in New York, Elizabeth appeared as a soloist with the Claremont Ensemble and performed in a live broadcast on Soundcheck with John Schaeffer on 93.9 WNYC FM. She also performed regularly with Dicappo Opera and the Kalaiope Quartet.
Elizabeth joined the Virginia Symphony in 2003 as Assistant Principal Second Violin and is now Principal Second Violin. Since 2008, she has regularly substituted with the St. Louis Symphony and participated in their Opera Season and 2015 Carnegie Hall tour. She has also soloed with the Virginia Symphony, the Lynchburg Symphony, and the National Repertory Orchestra. Her other orchestral engagements include performing with the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic, the Sarasota Orchestra, and the orchestras of various international festivals such as Spoleto (Italy), the American Institute of Musical Study (Graz, Austria), and the Crested Butte Music Festival. In January 2024, she toured Japan with the Hollywood Concert Orchestra.
Chamber music and collaborations
An enthusiastic chamber musician, Elizabeth Vonderheide regularly performs in Hampton Roads’ Organ Swell Recital Series and Lynchburg’s Midday Music Recital Series. She has given guest artist recitals at Randolph College and Old Dominion University. Elizabeth has appeared with the Ambrosia Quartet on the Feldman Chamber Music Series in Norfolk, with the Virginia Symphony Quartet on NPR’s *Performance Today*, and as part of the Quartet-in-Residence at Quisisana Resort in Center Lovell, Maine.
She is a founding member of Outer Banks Chamber Music and The New Commonwealth Quartet, the latter of which was featured in a contemporary music set at Bruce Hornsby’s Funhouse Fest.