Jerilyn Jorgensen is a member of the performance faculty of Colorado College and has been adjunct faculty in violin and chamber music at the Lamont School of Music of the University of Denver. From 1980-2004 she was first violinist of the Da Vinci Quartet, and as a member of that ensemble she has performed throughout the United States, been a prizewinner in the Shostakovich International String Quartet Competition, a finalist in the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition, and she hasappeared on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Her performances with the quartet have been praised as “…abundant in feeling and fire” (Milwaukee Journal), “...taut, confident playing, brimming with thrust and color” (Los Angeles Times), and as exhibiting “...ease, authority, and thoroughgoing excellence” (San Francisco Chronicle).

The 2014-2015 season includes concerts in Denver, Colorado Springs, Gunnison, Boston, and at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, playing Beethoven sonatas using a classical-era historic piano.   The summer 2014 debut of her latest project, the Manitou Chamber Music Festival, met with critical acclaim.  “The Shostkovich Piano Trio No. 2…performance was a revelation.  Festival founder, director, and violinist Jeri Jorgensen gave one of her finest performances.” (Colorado Springs Gazette).  In October of 2011 she was soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, Thomas Wilson conducting, in Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Violin and Strings.

Ms. Jorgensen has given master classes in violin and chamber music at the University of California at Davis, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Sam Houston State University, Kansas State University, Simon’s Rock College, the University of Northern Colorado, and Colorado State University.  She is in demand as a pre-college teacher, counting among her present and past students several winners of regional competitions, including the MTNA senior string competition.  She is on the faculty of the Lamont Pre-College Academy summer program and is the Artistic Development Coordinator for the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony Association, where her responsibilities have included curriculum design and teacher training for the Mozart Strings Project and sectional coaching and coaching oversight for four orchestras.  She is currently director of chamber music for the organization, managing coaching and community performances throughout the year for five student chamber ensembles.

Ms. Jorgensen holds bachelor of music degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School, and a master of music degree from Juilliard.  Her major teachers have included Zvi Zeitlin, Joseph Fuchs, and Leonard Sorkinand she has also worked with Burton Kaplan.

Her recordings appear on the Naxos label.

We welcome Jeri Jorgensen to her first appearance in the Historical Piano Concerts series.