A native of Orlando, FL, Amy B. has been a member and performed with many orchestras in the southeast, including the Tallahassee Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, and Mobile, AL orchestras. In 1997 she won the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra’s concerto competition and was invited to solo with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1999 she joined the esteemed Eastern Music Festival’s faculty orchestra for performances throughout their summer program.
In addition to the classical realm, Amy also enjoys performing in a variety of genres. She has performed in sold-out arena shows with popular artists, such as Kanye West, Marco Antonio Solis, and the Three Mo Tenors. She has been recording and performing with noted composer and pianist Tim Janis, and has appeared annually in Carnegie Hall with his ensemble for the past 4 years. Beginning in August 2008, Amy went on a national PBS tour for three months with the composer, covering 90 cities all across the United States.
Currently, Amy resides in Brooklyn, NY, and leads the Eliot String Quartet (formerly the Amherst String Quartet), which has been performing in many chamber music concert series throughout the Northeast since 2008. She also performs and tours with the critically acclaimed jazz group, Iron City, which has performed at such notable venues as the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City, the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA, Trumpet’s in Montclair, NJ, and Columbia Greene College in Hudson, NY. Amy is a guest artist on Iron City’s new album, “Sparks,” hitting the top 20 on the jazz radio charts in May 2010. This cd has been reviewed in 5 countries and in “Jazz Times” magazine, and the band has been featured in “Jazz Inside,” and “Vintage Guitar” magazines. Amy has shared the stage with jazz legends such as Dave Stryker, John Blake Jr., Avery Sharpe, Steven Riley, and Larry Coryell.
Amy is also an active free-lance classical musician and maintains a substantial private teaching studio in Brooklyn and at Greenfield Community College in Massachusetts. She frequently serves as concertmaster or principal 2nd violin in several musical groups in Massachusetts, most notably Novi Cantori and the Hampshire Chorale Society. In the past, she has served as orchestra director in Gadsden County, FL public schools and at the Hartsbrook School in Hadley, MA. Amy received her B.M. from Florida State University, under the tutelage of Elliot Chapo and Karen Clarke, and her M.M. from the University of Massachusetts with Marylou Churchill. Amy has also studied with James Buswell, Oleh Krysa, Lucie Robert, and the jazz violinists John Blake Jr. and Regina Carter.