Ross Snyder, violin

An avid chamber musician, Ross Snyder is the founding first violinist of the Tesla Quartet, which formed at the Juilliard School in 2008 and recently completed its tenure as the Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Recent prizes of the Tesla Quartet include the Gold Medal at the 2012 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Third Prize at the 2012 Wigmore Hall London International String Quartet Competition. A fellow of the 2007 and 2011 Norfolk Chamber Music Festivals, he began studying chamber music with members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at age twelve, and at age sixteen he and three of his colleagues formed the Callisto String Quartet. For three years the CSQ performed outreach concerts at various venues in Pittsburgh.  Ross has also studied with members of such world-renowned ensembles as the Borromeo, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miró, St. Lawrence, Takács, Tokyo and Vermeer string quartets.

A versatile performer, Ross has served as principal violinist with the Boulder Bach Festival and recently performed the Brahms Violin Concerto with the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra.  In March, 2008, Ross won Second Prize in the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition. He is also a first prize winner of the Dorothy J. Bales ’41 Violin Competition at the New England Conservatory and was awarded the use of a violin by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume. Other competitions include participation in the 2005 Concours International de Violon Jacques Thibaud in Paris, France.

Ross’s extensive orchestral experience began age ten, when he joined various youth orchestras in the Pittsburgh area. Later orchestral projects include performances at Heinz Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He spent the summer of 2008 serving as an assistant concertmaster of the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland and also participated in the VFO’s 2008 European tour to Milan, Luzern, Berlin, and Madrid. During his studies at Juilliard he served as one of the leaders of the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, and he toured China with the Juilliard Orchestra in 2008.

Having recently received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, Ross received his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Joel Smirnoff.  He received his undergraduate degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he studied with Malcolm Lowe.