Eugenia Frith Meltzer
Violin Faculty
Eugenia Frith Meltzer grew up in Champaign, IL. She was the daughter of two artists, a U of I professor of ceramics and a painter. “My folks never encouraged me to be an artist, they wanted me to practice to become a musician. And practice I did!”
Her violin teachers included Paul Rolland and Endre Granat and her summers were spent at Illinois Summer Youth Music, and later, Meadowmount where she studied with David Cerone from Oberlin. She remembers at her audition for Meadowmount, Galamian asked her for a 48-note scale in one bow instead of his standard 24-note. Galamian also expected a minimum daily practice of 8 hours.
Eugenia decided to explore her art background and came to Minnesota to get a Masters in Museology at the U of M. While in grad school she played with the Mpls Civic and joined the musicians’ union. “Those were fun times. I played backup to Dave Brubeck, Barry Manilow, and Stevie Wonder!”
She then decided to get another Masters, this one in Violin Performance when she heard Sidney Harth, the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, was coming to the U of W in Madison. She auditioned and was given a full scholarship. “This is where I really fell in love with chamber music.”
Life and jobbing brought her to the Chicago area. She was hired by the Avoca School District to develop its string program. Her Suzuki program was popular and grew so large they had to hire 3 more teachers. Children could start in first grade and by 4th grade they could be part of two orchestras. By the time they got to New Trier H.S. there were four high-level orchestras. In this environment, Eugenia and her husband raised three kids, all of whom began with Suzuki and were involved in music until they graduated.
Today Eugenia enjoys an active retirement. She enjoys her art, biking, tennis, swimming, dancing, and playing with her grandsons. She plays violin with East Metro Symphony Orchestra and string jobs, but her favorite performance outlet is chamber music. “Chamber music is so much more challenging; you have to be both a soloist and a musician. I want my students to feel that, too”.