Bio

Comfortable playing a broad spectrum of music from baroque, classical, jazz and contemporary, Emily Sunderman plays with emotional, lyrical, and refined technical command.  She seeks to find common ground, expand her artistic boundaries and build community through the process of making music through collaborations with audiences and musicians of all ages and backgrounds.

Emily began her music studies at the Hartford Conservatory at age three with Suzuki Violin visionary Barbara Embser. Pre-professional violin technique and orchestra studies were at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT, and chamber music at Point CounterPoint, Lucerne, and Apple Hill. After earning her Bachelor’s Degree at Hampshire College, in Amherst, MA, she started what was to become a 25-year professional career as a business and technology analyst, project manager, and technology trainer for corporations, including Citibank, Investors Bank and Trust and United Business Media. Throughout her corporate career, she maintained her study and practice of violin and chamber music. Her primary teacher was Arturo Delmoni, concertmaster of the New York City Ballet. She also studied privately with Katherine Winterstein, Dieuwke Davydov, Sebu Sirinian (Turtle Bay School of Music), Nickoli Sikorsky, Laura Bossert (LyricaFest), and Gillian Rogell (New England Conservatory). Emily has been a full-time musician since 2014 and is committed to lifelong learning and continues to take lessons, participate in master classes, and study pedagogy.

Emily has completed training in Suzuki violin pedagogy for violin books 1-8 at Ithaca College and Hartt School of Music. The Suzuki Method combines a music teaching method with a philosophy, embracing the total development of the person, which follows Dr. Shinichi Suzuki’s guiding principle, “character first, ability second.” The Suzuki Violin Method involves a combination of weekly private lessons and regular group classes. In the Suzuki approach, students learn to play music in the same way they learn their native language – through listening, repetition, motivation, encouragement, and love.
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Emily has performed in professional collaboration with Sadie Brightman, Arturo Delmoni, Cynthia Huard, George Matthew, Elizabeth Reid, Peter Sanders, Jon Weber, Miho Weber, and Robert Wyatt and with ensembles including The Addison, Middlebury Community Chorus, and Hinesburg Artists Series Orchestra. Recent performances include the Middlebury College Bach Festival, the Middlebury College – Town Hall Theater production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, Hinesburg Artists Series Spring and Holiday Concerts, The Vermont Theater Lab’s production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide at the Rutland Paramount, the SONAD Mozart Festival, and the Middlebury Chamber Music Festival. She also frequently plays for wedding ceremonies and cocktail receptions.

Emily Sunderman teaches violin and viola private lessons for beginning-advanced players, cello lessons for beginning-intermediate players, and Suzuki Violin Group Class. In the summers she directs Camp Adagio Chamber Music Camp for youth and teens, and the Middlebury Chamber Music Festival, and conducts the all-ages Summer String Orchestra for intermediate and advanced players.