Don’t try to pigeonhole musician Audrey Solomon.

Sure, she’s an award-winning, in-demand classical violinist, with a master’s degree in musical performance and a graduate certificate. But she’s also  a teacher, chamber musician and “fiddler” who plays electric violin in classical crossover and folk fusion groups.

And she’s a beauty pageant winner. She entered the Miss Alaska 2000 pageant on a whim, won, and went on to receive a talent award at the Miss America pageant.

She began violin lessons at age four – using a tiny, tiny violin – under the tutelage of her mother, Beverly Beheim, who taught the Suzuki method. “I was always surrounded by music,” says Solomon, 28, whose family members played violin, cello, piano and clarinet. Often, carrying her violin to school, she says, “I felt like a freak.” Over time, however, she felt sorry for the kids who missed out on music.

Still, it wasn’t all music all the time. She’s a well-rounded Alaskan – “I’ve caught many salmon,” she says with a laugh, and grew up taking “survival-style” camping trips with her family.

When she was 12 – the same year she played with the Anchorage Civic Orchestra – she began study with Russian pianist Svetlana Velichtko, and she later did her high school work at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she also earned her BA. She came to USC’s Thornton School of Music to study with violin professor Robert C. Lipsett, and was a teaching assistant for the string department.

As a teen, Solomon yearned to leave Alaska, but she now enjoys returning home. In February, she flew to an icy Anchorage for a recital with Velichtko, performing De Falla’s “Seven Spanish Folk Songs.” “It’s a gorgeous piece of music,” she says.

She spent her youth winning music contests, not beauty contests, but Solomon says that the public shouldn’t scoff at pageants. Most of the participants are smart women on the dean’s list. And there was the financial plus. “Let’s just say I paid off my student loans,” she says.

As a member of the Blue Rose Trio (Solomon on violin, and USC Thornton School of Music doctoral students Lars Hoefs, cello, and Rose Chen, piano), she’s performed in Israel, China, Brazil and France, in venues as diverse as concert halls, cathedrals, nightclubs, nursing homes and schools. The trio is a grant recipient of the career-launching Thornton Protégé Program, which is supported by the Trojan League of Orange County.

Solomon now lives in Los Angeles because, she says, it’s the place to be if you want to work as a freelance musician. Her recent studio gigs include recording with Lisa Marie Presley, Kanye West and Mary J. Blige, and playing on film scores. She’s worked with the L.A. Philharmonic and the Pasadena Symphony, and performed on The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live.

Music outreach is her passion – from an Anchorage summer music program, to a visit to Thailand with her Outreach Violin program (where she also taught English), to sponsored performances and speaking engagements given by the trio.

All her various musical endeavors are simply vehicles to promote her philosophy that music should be a part of everyday life, Solomon says. 

 – Christine Sinrud Shade