Canadian-German violinist Emma Meinrenken, 24, is currently pursuing her Master of Music Degree at the Yale School of Music, under the tutelage of Augustin Hadelich. She is the 2023 recipient of Yale’s Presser Foundation Music Award and the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award, as well as a 2024 Yale Alumni Association Award. She has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ida Kavafian and was the Dorothy Richard Starling Annual Fellow. Upon graduating from Curtis, she was awarded the Milka Violin Artist Prize. She is also a former student of Atis Bankas at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where she spent her formative years in the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists.

Meinrenken has won many top awards and prizes internationally, including 1st place at the Stradivarius International Violin Competition, and the Silver Medal award at the Stulberg International String Competition. She was a participant in the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, a semifinalist for the Menuhin Competition, and was recently a finalist for the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. She was the 2019 winner of the Prix Ravel at the Ecole d'Art Américaines de Fontainebleau, and was also awarded the best interpretation of a new composition. She has been selected to participate in many music festivals, including the NUME Festival in Italy, the Norfolk Music Festival, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Verbier Festival Academy, and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Workshop. Meinrenken is often a featured performer at the Music Niagara Festival in Canada, and has been a faculty member for the festival’s young artist academy since 2020. 

Meinrenken debuted with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 10, and has since performed as a soloist with many other orchestras across North America, including the Utah Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Metropolitain Montreal. She also works with orchestras as a section player, and has been on the roster of substitute players for the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2021, and played as concertmaster for the Yale Philharmonia. She has played recitals for WHYY Radio, CBC Radio, and 96.3ClassicalFM. She is passionate about collaborating with composers, and has given the premieres and been the dedicatee of many works for the violin. Recent projects with new music includes the premiere of a violin concerto by Maya Miro Johnson with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in April 2024, and of Arseniy Gusev’s 2023 work for violin and piano, ‘Crossroads’. She made her Carnegie Hall debut playing the New York premiere of a duet for violin and guitar by Fred Lerdahl. Meinrenken currently plays on the 1717 Windsor-Weinstein Stradivarius violin, generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts, and a ca. 1850 Maline bow.

Short biography-

Canadian-German violinist Emma Meinrenken is a Master of Music student at the Yale School of Music, under the tutelage of Augustin Hadelich. She has a B.M. from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ida Kavafian and was awarded the Milka Violin Artist Prize upon graduating. She is the recipient of Yale’s Presser Foundation Award and a Sylva Gelber Foundation Award, and other prizes include 1st place at the Stradivarius International Violin Competition and the Prix Ravel at the Ecole d'Art Américaines de Fontainebleau. She has performed in festivals such as the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Verbier Festival Academy, 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 recent projects include premiering a violin concerto by Maya Miro Johnson with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. She plays on the 1717 Windsor-Weinstein Stradivarius violin, generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Note: References and CV available upon request