Judith Ingolfsson, Violin

Since winning the Gold Medal of the prestigious International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1998, JUDITH INGOLFSSON has established herself world-wide as an artist of uncompromising musical maturity, extraordinary technical command and charismatic performance style.

A native of Iceland, Judith Ingolfsson made her debut as orchestral soloist in Germany at the age of eight. In the United States, she has been heard with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, as well as the symphony orchestras of Austin, Bakersfield, Binghamton, Boulder, Bozeman, Dayton, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Kenosha, Lexington, Louisville, Memphis, New Haven, Omaha, Pacific, Roswell, San Diego, San Juan, South Carolina, Vermont, Victoria, West Virginia and Wichita. She has collaborated with many of the acclaimed maestri of our time, including Jesus López-Cobos, Raymond Leppard, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Gerard Schwarz, Bramwell Tovey and Leonard Slatkin. Ms. Ingolfsson was also heard as soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on its 2000 15-city North American tour, highlighted by a performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, while, abroad, her engagements have included Germany’s Neubrandenburg Philharmonie, the Czech Republic’s Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Russia’s Saratov Philharmonic, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Tokyo and Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra.

Highlights of Judith Ingolfsson’s current season includes performances with the Midland, Mid-Atlantic and Pine Bluff symphony orchestras and a recital on the University of Utah Virtuoso Series. Abroad, she is soloist with England’s Bollington Festival Orchestra, Germany’s Brandenburgisches Staatorchester Frankfurt and Jenaer Philharmonie, as well as Romania’s Filarmonica de Stat Sibiu. With her partner, pianist Vladimir Stoupel, she also tours throughout Europe with The Ingolfsson-Stoupel Duo.

Judith Ingolfsson’s recital performances have taken her throughout the United States and around the world: National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Cleveland Museum of Art, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Reykjavík Arts Festival, Pro Arte Musicale of Puerto Rico, La Asociación Nacional de Conciertos de Panamá, Macao Cultural Center, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Center, Brooklyn’s famed Bargemusic series and Konzerthaus Berlin. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with the Avalon and Miami String Quartets and the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble, and has appeared as a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two on tour and at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Her festival appearances include the Appalachian Summer Festival, Boulder Bach Festival, Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Strings in the Mountains Music Festival, Finland’s Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Germany’s Bodensee Festival, Poland's "New Faces, New Music" Festival and the Spoleto Festival USA.

Judith Ingolfsson has frequently appeared on radio and television broadcasts, beginning with a performance on Icelandic TV at the age of five. Since then, she has been seen on PBS, "CBS Sunday Morning" and Japan’s National Broadcasting Company (NHK). In 1999, National Public Radio’s "Performance Today" named her "Debut Artist of the Year" for her "remarkable intelligence, musicality, and sense of insight." She is also the recipient of the 2001 Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award for her debut CD for Catalpa Classics, featuring a varied program ranging from Bach to Ned Rorem. Spring 2008 saw the release of her recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, available on the orchestra’s BPO Live label.

At the age of 14, Judith Ingolfsson was admitted to The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she pursued studies with the legendary violinist and pedagogue Jascha Brodsky. She went on to earn her Master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of David Cerone, and continued her graduate studies at the same institution while working with Donald Weilerstein. Prior to her triumph at the Indianapolis Competition, Ms. Ingolfsson, who began violin studies at the age of three, was a prize-winner at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City and the Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa, Italy. In 2008, she concluded two years of service on the faculty of the College of Music of the University of Colorado at Boulder. In the Fall of 2008, she was appointed Professor on the distinguished faculty of the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart. She performs on a Lorenzo Guadagnini violin, crafted in 1750.