Stepanie Sant'Ambrogio
Praised as an “expressive and passionate chamber musician” by the San Antonio Express-News, and described as the “violinist who most often takes your breath away” by Gramophone Magazine, Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio enjoys a varied performing and recording career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral leader.
She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. as well as in Canada, Estonia, Sweden, Ghana, Italy, Peru, Chile and Mexico. In addition to her active performing career, Stephanie is devoted to teaching serious young violinists, many whom have successfully chosen careers in music. Currently Associate Professor of Violin and Viola at the University of Nevada, Reno (www.unr.edu) she is also Artistic Director of Cactus Pear Music Festival (www.cpmf.us), which she founded in 1997 while serving as Concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony. Former First Assistant Principal Second Violin of The Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnany, she toured and recorded internationally with this ensemble for eight seasons.
Currently Concertmaster of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra (CA) and the Lancaster Festival Orchestra (OH), Ms. Sant’Ambrogio has a discography of over seventy-five orchestral and chamber music CDs. Her recent releases include Late Dates with Mozart and Going Solo: Unaccompanied Works for Violin & Viola on the MSR Classics label, and Argenta Trio: The Piano Trios of Felix Mendelssohn on Bridge Records. Her newest CD, Johannes Brahms: The Violin Sonatas, is due to be released in 2013. Ms. Sant’Ambrogio studied with and was the graduate assistant to Donald Weilerstein at The Eastman School of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree. Previously she received her Bachelor of Music degree with distinction from Indiana University as a scholarship student of Laurence Shapiro and James Oliver Buswell. Ms. Sant’Ambrogio plays a violin crafted in 1757 by J.B. Guadagnini of Milan and a 2008 viola by Jacek Zadlo of Chicago. In the moments when one of these instruments is not nestled under her chin, she and her husband Gary Albright enjoy life with their daughters, fourteen-year-old Isabel and twelve-year-old Gabrielle.
