Violin
Kathleen Winkler made her solo debut at age 17 with the Philadelphia Orchestra and has since been heard with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh and Phoenix symphonies, the Danish Radio Orchestra, and the Odense Byorkester, among others. Her concert tours have taken her throughout North America and Europe.
Ms. Winkler was awarded first prize in the First International Carl Nielsen Violin Competition, which led to sponsored debuts in Alice Tully Hall, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room, the Kennedy Center, and the Library of Congress, as well as numerous radio broadcast performances on the BBC and the International Voice of America.
Following a national search, Ms. Winkler was selected by the U.S. Information Agency to represent the United States as an artistic ambassador on concert tours of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand, Australia, South America, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, and Kenya.
As a chamber musician, she has appeared at the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy - where she performs and presents masterclasses yearly - the Kent-Blossom Music Festival, Skaneateles, Bear Valley, Music in the Mountains, the Hamden-Sydney Chamber Music Festival, Bay Chamber Concerts, Festival de Musique de Chambre de Montréal, and Da Camera in Houston. As a member of the Amabile Piano Quartet, Ms. Winkler has appeared in concert at the Philips Collection in Washington, D.C., the Columbus Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Society of Chicago, and Houston's Friends of Music.
Formerly on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory, Ms. Winkler is currently a professor of violin at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, where she received the university's prestigious Julia Mile Chance Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She previously served as a visiting professor at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music for two years. Currently a visiting professor at the middle school attached to the Central Conservatory in Beijing, Ms. Winkler will be a distinguished visiting artist at USC's Thornton School of Music beginning this fall. Ms. Winkler's students have been winners in national and international competitions and perform with some of the world's leading orchestras and chamber ensembles. She has served on the juries for the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, American String Teachers Association's National Competition, Concert Artist Guild of New York, Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition, Lennox-Richardson National Young Artist Competition, Corpus Christi International Young Artists Competition, and the Midland-Odessa National Young Artist Competition.
Ms. Winkler received her bachelor of music degree, magna cum laude, as well as a performer's certificate from Indiana University, and received her master of music degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Michigan.
She has been a member of the Music Academy faculty since 1993.