Elizabeth Coulter Vonderheide, violin
Wintergreen Summer Music Academy, Class of 1997
Elizabeth Coulter Vonderheide, originally from Lynchburg, VA, began violin studies at age 5. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying with the late Franco Gulli, Distinguished Professor of Violin. She received the Master of Music degree from the prestigious Orchestral Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Glenn Dicterow, then Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. While in New York she served as Concertmaster of the MSM orchestras, and had the opportunity to play under renowned conductors Kurt Masur, David Robertson, Pierre Boulez, and Julius Rudel. She also appeared as soloist both with the Claremont Ensemble, and in a live broadcast on Soundcheck with John Schaeffer on 93.9 WNYC FM.
Elizabeth joined the Virginia Symphony as Assistant Principal Second Violin in 2003, and was appointed Principal Second Violin in 2022. Since 2008 she has been a substitute with the Saint Louis Symphony, joining them frequently, including their 7-week Opera Season, Carnegie Hall tours, and a domestic tour with American Ballet Theater. Beginning in the 2022-23 season, Elizabeth has been a regular substitute with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Additionally, she is often called on as a substitute musician by the Atlanta, Baltimore, and North Carolina Symphonies, and the Florida and Sarasota Orchestras.
Elizabeth has soloed four times with the Virginia Symphony, as well as with the Lynchburg Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Wintergreen Music Festival orchestra. She has performed as a guest member of the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic, and with the orchestras of the Spoleto, Italy Festival, the American Institute of Musical Study (Graz, Austria), the Crested Butte Music Festival, The Colorado Music Festival, and the Conducting Institute at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Since 2015 she has held a summer position with Wintergreen Music. Elizabeth has also twice toured Japan with the Hollywood Concert Orchestra.
An enthusiastic chamber musician, Elizabeth is a founding member of both the Hampton Roads-based New Commonwealth Quartet, and the Surf and Sounds Chamber Music Festival in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. With NCQ, she has performed with Feldman Chamber Music, on the Virginia Wesleyan recital series, for Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church “Sacred Music in a Sacred Space”, for the Graif Foundation, and in a chamber music series the quartet created in East Beach, Norfolk. They also recorded a recital for WHRO public media that was live-streamed during the pandemic. The quartet has twice been a featured ensemble at Bruce Hornsby’s Funhouse Fest, and can also be heard on Mr. Hornsby’s album Absolute Zero, on the track “White Noise”. As a solo recitalist, Elizabeth has appeared as a guest artist at Old Dominion University, Randolph College, and Madison (Indiana) Performing Arts.
Elizabeth is on the Instrumental Faculty at the Governor’s School for the Arts and The Academy of Music, and is a regular coach with the Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia, and the Heart Strings Program. She maintains a private teaching studio in Portsmouth, where she lives with her husband, VSO Principal Trumpet David Vonderheide, and their Border Collie Indy.
