“Canadian violinist Emma Meinrenken [is] pushing all physical limits of her instrument”- The Violin Channel

About

Praised for her effortless technique and virtuosity, as well as her skill in interpreting contemporary music, Canadian-German violinist Emma Meinrenken is a recipient of the 2023 Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award, the 2023 Yale Presser Foundation Music Award, and a 2024 Yale Alumni Association Award. Upon graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with renowned pedagogue Ida Kavafian, Meinrenken received the Milka Violin Artist Prize. Originally from Toronto, Canada, she spent her formative years in the studio of Atis Bankas as a student in the Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music, under the tutelage of the violin luminary Augustin Hadelich.

She received 1st place at the Stradivarius International Violin Competition, the Prix Ravel at the Ecole d'Art Américaines de Fontainebleau, and has participated in festivals such as the NUME Festival in Italy, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Verbier Festival Academy, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Four Seasons Winter Workshop. Meinrenken debuted with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2011, and has since performed with orchestras across North America and Europe. She often collaborates with composers, and has been the dedicatee of several new compositions for solo violin. She made her Carnegie Hall debut giving the New York premiere of a piece for violin and guitar by Fred Lerdahl, and most recently premiered a violin concerto by Maya Miro Johnson with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. She currently plays on the 1717 Windsor-Weinstein Stradivarius violin, generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.