Elizabeth Pitcairn

Elizabeth Pitcairn (born December 5, 1973) is a renowned American classical violinist who is noted for performing on the 1720 "Red Mendelssohn" Antonio Stradivari violin. In addition to a solo career, Pitcairn is President and Artistic Director of the Luzerne Music Center in Lake Luzerne, New York.

Background

Elizabeth Pitcairn was born into a musical family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Mary Eleanor Pitcairn (née Brace), is a Juilliard trained cellist, and her father, Laren Pitcairn, trained to be an opera singer. Her great grandfather John Pitcairn Jr., a Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist, was the co-founder of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company.

Pitcairn began to play the violin at the age of three, and credits her mother with the roots of her success. “I owe everything I am to my mother, who with extreme perseverance taught me and guided me musically.”

After attending the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Pitcairn graduated from the University of Southern California where she later taught alongside her former teacher, the renowned violin professor Robert Lipsett. She also taught violin at the Colburn School in Los Angeles.

Career

Pitcairn debuted as a solo artist with the Newark Delaware Symphony at the age of 14, later appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music, and was Concertmaster of the American Youth Symphony under Mehli Mehta (father of Zubin Mehta) from 1994-97. She performed at the Marlboro Music Festival in 1997-98 and in 2000 made her New York debut at Alice Tully Hall with the New York String Orchestra. Since that time, she has traveled all over the world performing in such far flung places as China, Brazil, Ukraine, Hungary, Croatia, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Finland, and Sweden, in addition to much of the United States.

Pitcairn performs on the 1720 Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius, said to have inspired the Academy Award–winning film ''The Red Violin'', and is featured on the 10th Anniversary edition of ''The Red Violin'' DVD in a special commentary called “The Auction Block.”

Pitcairn was a senior in high school when her grandfather gave her the instrument as a gift after making the winning bid during a 1990 Christie’s auction in London. At the time, it was the highest price ever paid at auction for a violin.

Luzerne Music Center

In addition to a solo career, Pitcairn is the President and Artistic Director of the Luzerne Music Center located in Lake Luzerne, New York in the foothills of the Adirondack mountains. LMC provides music instruction for young musicians from all over the world in a summer camp environment.

Pitcairn began her long relationship with LMC while attending as a camper during the summers of 1988-89.

Since its inception in 1980, the camp has maintained strong relations with musicians from the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York City Ballet who perform every summer in nearby Saratoga Springs. The professional musicians teach master classes and perform as guest artists at the camp.Times Union, "Offering a musical refuge"
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitcairn, Elizabeth
1973 births
American classical violinists
Living people
People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Pitcairn family
USC Thornton School of Music alumni
University of Southern California faculty
Classical musicians from Pennsylvania
21st-century classical violinists
Women classical violinists