about
photo by Victoria Carll
Susanna Klein is assistant professor of violin and coordinator of strings at her alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University. Originally from Stuttgart, Germany, she has enjoyed a varied career as a violinist, educator and innovator on the East Coast. She has performed in orchestra and chamber music settings in Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and Israel as well as throughout the United States. Currently she serves as violinist with both Trio 826, based in Iowa, and the trailblazer group Atlantic Chamber Ensemble (ACE) in Richmond. ACE has garnered national attention through its novel connections to audiences, recently detailed in Chamber Music Magazine.
As an orchestral musician, Ms. Klein served as principal second violin of the Richmond Symphony for five years. Other full time orchestral appointments have been with the Colorado Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Vermont Symphony (as acting concertmaster) and Rhode Island Philharmonic. Klein has played under the baton of notable conductors such as Marin Alsop, Sejii Ozawa, Yoel Levi, and Lorin Maazel. She participated in the music festivals at Tanglewood, Spoleto Italy, Shira, Kneisel Hall, and Nova Scotia. In 2011 and 2012 performed at the Wintergreen Performing Arts Festival in Virginia and in 2012 at the Lake George Music Festival in New York. In 2013 her chamber group Trio 826 was a featured guest at the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival in Iowa and Musique au Fivales in France.
Ms. Klein can be heard regularly on radio and TV spots including the PBS Series “The Retirement Revolution.” She has been a soloist with Up Close and Musical in Denver, the Richmond Ballet, and Charlottesville Youth Symphony. Ms. Klein can be heard as a guest on the compact discs of One Ring Zero, Modern Groove Syndicate and the Klavier label Chamber Music Series. She released a new cd with Trio 826 in 2016.
Ms Klein is busy as a researcher and she was funded in 2017 by a VCU Presidential Grant, the University's most prestigious grant to research musician's practice habits and develop a practice app for musicians.The App is currently under construction. She recently started a new venture, the YouTube Channel Practice Blitz, dedicated to showing violinists quick and efficient practice routines. Ms. Klein regularly presents workshops on injury prevention and efficient, tech-informed practice at Colleges and High Schools.
A passionate educator, Susanna Klein has taught violinists aged 4 to 74. She has served on the violin faculty at the Governor’s School of Virginia Summer program, the Richmond Symphony Camp, and the Boston Youth Symphony Retreat. In 2010 she founded The Orchestra Project, a VCU/Richmond Symphony camp for talented string players. Every year, she co-directs and serves on the faculty at the Orchestra Project, held on the campus of VCU. Ms.Klein holds a Bachelor of Music degree from VCU and Master of Music degree from Boston University, where she was an assistant to the legendary violinist Roman Totenberg. Ms. Klein lives in Richmond with her two boys and her husband, jazz musician John Winn.
In 2019 Susanna Klein published the Practizma Journal, a guided practice journal for avid practicers and those that have a love/hate relationship with practicing.
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