Putnam, Wendy

Violinist from Wisconsin who came from a musical family—her parents were private tutors—and began playing at three years of age. At age nine, she made her solo debut with the Green Bay Symphony.

She attended Louisiana State University at the tender age of sixteen, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree and staying on to complete her Master’s. After graduation, she became the concertmaster of the New World Symphony and also worked with the symphony’s chamber players.

She joined the New Orleans Symphony as their concertmaster in 1991 and remained with them for five years, by which time they would be known as the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. The New Orleans Times-Picayune deemed her interpretation of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto” as the Best Classical Performance of the Year in 1995.

In 1996, she joined the ranks of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This opened opportunities to perform with the Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart on recordings such as Chris Botti in Boston and Holiday Pops.

In 2000, she founded The Concord Chamber Music Society, which consisted of musicians from the BSO, Julliard, and the New England Conservatory.

She was a guest soloist of The Concord Orchestra in March 2003 for a pair of concerts that culminated with “Violin Concerto No. 4” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

On 20^th September 2009, the CCMS celebrated its tenth anniversary at Concord Academy with a program that comprised “Violin Sonata No. 10, Op. 96” by Ludwig van Beethoven, “Central Park Reel” by Lukas Foss, and “Line Drawings” by Michael Gandolfi. The latter two appeared in CD form in 2011, alongside Chris Brubeck’s “Danza del Soul”.

Sources:

Putnam, Wendy

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