Johannes Brahms / Artist

Mela Tenenbaum, an internationally acclaimed soloist, became concertmaster of Philharmonia Virtuosi shortly after she emigrated to the United States from Kiev, Ukraine. Equally at home as a violinist, violist and player of the rarely heard viola d'amore, she has appeared regularly with the orchestra as both soloist and chamber musician.

Born in Chernivitsi in the Ukraine (birthplace of Emmanuel Feuermann, Stefan Wolpe and a long list of other artistic and intellectual luminaries), Ms. Tenenbaum received her master's degree in music from the Kiev State Conservatory and performed as resident soloist with the Kiev Chamber Orchestra and Kiev State Philharmonic from 1979 to 1989, when she and her family left the country to emigrate to the U.S. shortly after the disaster at Chernobyl. Before leaving the Soviet Union, she had premiered numerous works written for her by a host of Russian and Ukrainian composers.

In addition to her work with Philharmonia Virtuosi, she has been a featured soloist with the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Arcady Music Festival in Bar Harbor, ME, and the Indian River Festival in Canada, among others. She is a highly respected teacher of both young students and professional musicians who come from around the world to seek her tutelage.

Her recording activity has been extensive, including the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, Locatelli's Art of the Violin, the complete Mozart Violin Concertos, Bach's Sonatas for violin and keyboard (in two versions, one with piano and one with harpsichord), the complete works for violin and orchestra of Schubert, the Brahms Violin Sonatas, Beethoven Violin Sonatas, works by Sibelius, Ghedini, Klebanov and much more. In addition, she has recorded four cds of "lollipops" - short, appealing pieces for violin or viola and keyboard. All of her recordings are available on ESS.A.Y Recordings.