Jenny Cullen (1890–1957) was a violinist and the first female member of the

Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Em ...

. She was a member of

Verbrugghen String Quartet Verbrugghen String Quartet was a string quartet founded by Henri Verbrugghen. In 1903 Verbrugghen founded in Scotland a string quartet. When in 1916 he went to Australia, he took its members with him. All of them were engaged as professors at the ...

founded by

Henri Verbrugghen Henri Adrien Marie Verbrugghen (1 August 187312 November 1934) was a Belgian musician, who directed orchestras in England, Scotland, Australia and the United States. Born in Brussels, Verbrugghen made his first appearance as a violinist when o ...

. She began violin studies at the age of 8.Souvenir program of ''Beethoven Festival 1920''
/ref> At the age of 13 she came under direction of Verbrugghen. She attended the Scottish Academy of Music, studied with Verbrugghen in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and played in the Scottish Symphony Orchestra. At the age of 18 she was appointed Senior Professor at the Athenaeum School of Music, Glasgow. A year later she became the second violin in the Verbrugghen Quartet. In 1911 Cullen went to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

to play at the Summer Symphony Concerts in

Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg Pavlovsk (russian: Па́вловск "he townof Pavel" after Emperor Pavel (Paul) of Russia) is a municipal town in Pushkinsky District in the suburban part of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located south from St. Peter ...

. In 1915 she gave recitals at the ''Three B's Festival'' in London under Verbrugghen as conductor. When Verbrugghen moved to Australia with his quartet (1915), she became concertmaster of the State Symphony Orchestra of Sydney and principal violin instructor. Again together with Verbrugghen she went to Minneapolis. Cullen played in the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1932. She was then head of the violin department at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

and on the faculty of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

and

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline o ...

. In 1942 she was again engaged by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra by

Dimitri Mitropoulos Dimitri Mitropoulos ( el, Δημήτρης Μητρόπουλος; The dates 18 February 1896 and 1 March 1896 both appear in the literature. Many of Mitropoulos's early interviews and program notes gave 18 February. In his later interviews, howe ...

. She left it in 1949, when

Antal Doráti Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest, where his father Alexander Doráti was a vi ...

became director. The rest of her life she spent teaching and playing chamber music. She always wore blue, unless she was dressed in black for a performance.

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Women classical violinists 1890 births 1957 deaths 20th-century women musicians 20th-century violinists {{violinist-stub

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