MEET THE SOLOIST: Jennifer Frautschi, violin

Violinist Jennifer Frautschi performs Sibelius' Violin Concerto
October 16, 2021 at 8PM

Background: Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient Jennifer Frautschi has garnered worldwide acclaim as a musically adventurous violinist with a wide-ranging repertoire. Born in Pasadena, California, Ms. Frautschi began studying violin at age three. She was a student of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. She also attended Harvard, New England Conservatory of Music, and The Juilliard School, where she studied with Robert Mann. She currently teaches violin in the graduate program at Stony Brook University. She performs on a 1722 Antonio Stradivarius violin known as the “ex-Cadiz,” on generous loan to her from a private American foundation with support from Rare Violins In Consortium.

Highlights:

• Selected by Carnegie Hall for its Distinctive Debuts series, she made her New York recital debut in Weill Hall; and as part of the European Concert Hall Organization’s Rising Stars series, debuted at ten of Europe’s most celebrated concert venues, including the Salzburg Mozarteum, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, La Cité de la Musique in Paris, and Brussels’ Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie.
• Ms. Frautschi performs regularly at Caramoor Center for the Arts, where she was first invited by André Previn as a “Rising Star” at the age of 18, during her freshman year at Harvard. Internationally, she has performed at Chanel’s Pygmalion Series in Tokyo, the Cartagena International Music Festival in Columbia, the Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds and Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy, Pharo’s Trust in Cyprus, Kutna Hora Festival in the Czech Republic, Toronto Summer Music in Canada, St. Barth’s Music Festival in the French West Indies, and toured England with musicians from Prussia Cove, culminating in a concert in London’s Wigmore Hall. She has also premiered important new works by Barbara White, Mason Bates, Oliver Knussen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Michael Hersch and others, and has appeared at New York’s George Crumb Festival and Stefan Wolpe Centenary Concerts. 



Her extensive discography includes several discs for Naxos: the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with Philharmonia Orchestra of London, conducted by the legendary Robert Craft, and two GRAMMY-nominated recordings with the Fred Sherry Quartet, of Schoenberg’s Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra [nominated for ‘Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra)’ in 2006] and the Schoenberg Third String Quartet [nominated for ‘Best Chamber Music Performance’ in 2011].

Critical Praise:

• "...And speaking of “star,” where do we begin with Jennifer Frautschi? She glowed in sleeveless fuchsia, and her 1722 Stradivarius violin glowed a burnished amber in her hands. Her beautiful face yearning and imperious by turns, this Pasadena native commanded the stage with a treatment of Beethoven’s violin concerto that left this listener hoping that she makes San Luis Obispo a regular stop."

       San Luis Obispo New Times

• "The West Coast premiere of James Stephenson’s riveting violin concerto “Tributes” gave guest soloist Jennifer Frautschi an electric score through which to showcase her elegant and effortless playing, even in the most breathtakingly fast and intense passages." Santa Cruz Sentinel
• "Frautschi, a Brookline resident, made the piece personal with an incisive tone and subtle phrasing. She was impassioned in the opening Allegro molto appassionato and tender in the Andante without turning it into an Adagio; her articulation of the scurrying Allegro molto vivace finale was exceptionally lucid." The Boston Globe

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