Eleanor Bartsch, violin
Christopher Ramaekers, conductor
Eleanor Bartsch, violin
Christopher Ramaekers, conductor
Wagner: Lohengrin - Prelude to Act 3
Franck: Symphony in D minor
Bruch: Scottish Fantasy in E-flat Major, Op. 46, featuring Eleanor Bartsch
Chicago-based violinist Eleanor Bartsch is Associate Concertmaster of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Concertmaster of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, and first violinist of the critically acclaimed Kontras Quartet. She has served as Concertmaster of the Chicago Philharmonic, Joffrey Ballet, and Chicago Opera Theater Orchestras, and is Co-Founder of Madison, Wisconsin’s Willy Street Chamber Players, through with she maintains a passion for chamber music and community. Bartsch is a frequent extra musician in the pit and on stage at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
An ardent collaborator at home in many styles, Bartsch has performed with an extensive list of ensembles and artists with highlights including the multiple Grammy award-winning sextet Eighth Blackbird, the Spektral Quartet, the Knights, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, The Chicago Ensemble, Midsummer Music, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Tributosaurus, Josh Groban, Seth McFarlane, Andrea Bocelli, and Ben Folds. Along with the rest of the Kontras Quartet, she performs and records frequently with the bluegrass trio, Kruger Brothers.
Bartsch received her Masters’ degree with a certificate in Business Entrepreneurship as a Paul Collins Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellow from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the tutelage of David Perry and Felicia Moye. Bartsch also holds a bachelor’s degree from UW-Madison during which time she spent her summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School studying with Paul Kantor. She began her violin studies at the age of 4 in her hometown of St. Paul, MN at the Northern Lights School for Strings.
Passionate about music education, Bartsch is on the faculty of the Barrington Music Academy and is an artist in residence and chamber music instructor at Western Michigan University. She enjoys teaching and coaching young musicians at the annual Kontras Quartet Clinic at the Virginia Suzuki Institute, and is a frequent guest clinician at learning institutions throughout the United States.