ISABEL TRAUTWEIN, VIOLIN

Isabel Trautwein has been a member of the first violin section in The Cleveland Orchestra since September 2002. She had previously been a member of the St. Louis Symphony where, in her four-year tenure, she served as Principal Second violin, section first violin and Resident Musician, a unique experimental position that combined orchestral playing with extensive outreach activity in diverse community settings. She was also Concertmaster of the New World Symphony in Miami, a member of the Houston Symphony, and for one year, of the Naumburg Award-winning Pacifica String Quartet.  She was also a founding member of the Artemis Quartet. 

Isabel has appeared as soloist with the orchestras of the Musikhochschule Luebeck, the Cleveland Institute of Music and with the St. Louis Symphony. She performs chamber music annually at the MIMIR Festival in Texas with members of the Chicago Symphony and at the Innsbrook Institute in Missouri with the members of the St. Louis Symphony.

During her student years she toured extensively throughout Europe, Africa and India with Claudio Abbado’s European Youth Orchestra. She performed chamber music at the Salzburger Festspiele, the Schleswig Holstein Festival, the Taos School of Music, the Grand Teton Festival, and at the Aspen Festival quartet program. For two summers she served as Concertmaster of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Upon receiving her degrees from the Musikhochschule Luebeck where she studied with Christian Tetzlaff and with members of the LaSalle quartet, Isabel was awarded German government grants to continue studies at the Cleveland Institute with Donald Weilerstein.

In addition to her love for The Cleveland Orchestra, Isabel is passionate both about teaching children and about playing chamber music.  She started a series of chamber concerts in Cleveland Heights called HeightsArtsHouseConcerts, now in its 3rd season, that seeks to perform chamber music in beautiful homes for a wide range of audiences.  She has also started a chamber orchestra called TACO - The Awesome Children’s Orchestra - which recently debuted at Severance Hall.  Half of the players are professional musicians and the other half are children ages 6-12.  

Since moving here, Isabel has performed numerous Concerti, including the Beethoven Concerto and several Mozart Concerti with Cleveland area orchestras. Most recently she and Tanya Ell performed the Brahms Double Concerto with the Cleveland State University Orchestra.

Currently she resides in Cleveland Heights and has become fascinated with tofu-making.