Heather Netz, violinist2005
BIOGRAPHY
Violinist Heather Netz was invited to Athens, Greece to give a series of solo performances with the Greek contemporary company, QuasiStellar Dance Theater. Performing the music of Xenakis, they played for the athletic welcoming ceremonies in the Olympic Village during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. She was invited back in January to perform music by Paganini with QuasiStellar in a promotional concert for Vichy Laboratories.
She recently received a Post-Graduate Diploma of Orchestral Performance with Distinction from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland. Here she worked with Edwin Paling, the concertmaster of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and held an internship with the Orchestra. In addition to her orchestral accomplishments, Heather won the first prize of the Ian D. Watt Award, a competition of the Sonata and Chamber works by Claude Debussy.
Alongside her classical education, she studied Scottish fiddle with Pete Clark and was featured on Clark's album Mackintosh at Murthly- The Music of Robert Mackintosh.
She received her Master of Music and Bachelor's Degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She studied with Oleh Krysa and Lynn Blakeslee, with additional studies from Camilla Wicks. Besides performing regularly with the Eastman Philharmonic and Opera Orchestra she also participated in the baroque ensemble Collegium Musicum, under the direction of Paul O'Dette and Christel Thielmann. Heather also taught violin through the Community Education Division of the Eastman School of Music. While in upstate New York she freelanced with her ensemble Four on the Floor, a string quartet known by their eclectic and stylish repertoire spanning standard classical to jazz favorites. She also appeared on, jazz guitarist Bob Sneider's album, Out of the Darkness.
Heather fiddled with Celtic-American ensemble Woodside, and she can be heard on their children's album, Dances and Dreams. Other fiddle performances have been with the Canadian based Woods Manufacturing Company Brass Band where they performed at the Nova Scotia International Tattoo and the Loon Mountain Highland Games of New Hampshire.
Currently, Heather is a member of the Kairos String Quartet, and teaches violin at Central Washington University.