Biography

Serving as concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 1998, Margaret Batjer made her first solo appearance at the age of fifteen with the Chicago Symphony. Since then, she has re-appeared with the Chicago Symphony as well as a succession of other major orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Seattle Symphony, the New York String Orchestra, the San Jose Symphony and the Dallas Symphony. Ms. Batjer has also appeared as a soloist throughout Europe with orchestras including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Halle Symphony Orchestra at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Claus Peter Flor. Equally respected as a chamber musician, Ms. Batjer has performed regularly at the Marlboro Music Festival and on tour with "Music from Marlboro." She has appeared at the Minnesota Orchestra Sommerfest, the La Jolla Summerfest, the Vancouver Chamber Music Festival and the Naples and Cremona festivals in Italy. Maurizio Pollini invited the Accardo Quartet, of which Ms. Batjer was a member, to perform at the Salzburg Festival in 1995 and 1999, at Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2001, and in Tokyo during the 2002 season. She has recorded the Bach Concerto for Two violins in D Minor with Salvatore Accardo and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe for Philips and more recently with Hilary Hahn and LACO, directed by Jeffrey Kahane, for Deutsche Grammophon. She has also made numerous chamber music recordings on the EMI, Nuova Era, and BMG labels.

In 2003 and 2005, Ms. Batjer performed the complete Beethoven and Brahms Violin Sonata cycles with Jeffrey Kahane at Zipper Hall in Los Angeles. In 2001, she performed the Beethoven "Triple" Concerto with Mr. Kahane, Yo-Yo Ma and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Batjer graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Ivan Galamian and David Cerone.

Professional Experience

Current Professional Affiliation(s):
Concertmaster, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Career Highlights:

• Made professional debut at 15 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra >European tour performing Brahms Concerto and Prokofiev Concerto
• Performed the Beethoven "Triple" Concerto with Yo-Yo Ma and Jeffrey Kahane with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
• Performances at La Scala, Carnegie Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall with the Quartetto Accardo

Honors, Awards & Competitions:

• Gold Medal winner G.B. Dealey Awards in Dallas, Texas
• Winner of the Philadelphia Orchestra Young Artist Auditions

Music Festivals:

• Marlboro Music Festival
• La Jolla Chamber Music Festival
• Vancouver Chamber Music Festival
• Sonoma Music Festival
• Cremona Festival

Recordings:

• Bach Concerto for Two Violins with Salvatore Accardo and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Philips
  
• Water Music for Violin and Clarinet by Ned Rorem with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, BMG
• Numerous Chamber Music works for Dynamic and Nuova Era labels
  
• Mozart Concertone for Two Violins with Salvatore Accardo and the Prague Chamber Orchestra, Nuova Era
  
• Bach Concerto for Two Violins with Hilary Hahn and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Duetsche Grammophon

Other Academic Experience:

• High school Diploma, Curtis Institute of Music, 1977
• Performance Certificate, Curtis Institute of Music, 1981

Studied with Ivan Galamian, David Cerone, Felix Galimir