Elgin Symphony Orchestra principal viola Amanda Grimm enjoys a versatile career as a freelance violist and violinist in the greater Chicago area. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and Carnegie Mellon University she has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and concertmaster in both the United States and abroad. Making her concerto debut at age fifteen with the Parma Symphony Orchestra, she has also soloed with the Baldwin Wallace Youth Orchestra, the Blue Lake European Orchestra, the Carnegie Mellon Baroque Ensemble, and the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic as the winner of its concerto competition. Also an active chamber musician, she has been a member of the Cerberus Piano Trio, the Logan Piano Quartet, the Logan Square Chamber Players, and the Silberman award winning Faure Piano Quintet. In 2013, she became the violist of the Petar Jankovic Ensemble, a group featuring guitar and string quartet that toured the US and overseas.
The former concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Opera Theater Orchestra, Ms. Grimm has performed as a violinist and violist with the Milwaukee, Northwest Indiana, and Wheeling Symphonies, as well as the Illinois Philharmonic, Chicago Philharmonic, and Chicago Chamber Orchestras. From 2009-2011, she held a position as a violinist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. In 2012, she was appointed a member of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic viola section as well as selected as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center where she also served as p rincipal v iola. In 2016, she was featured as the solo violist in Lyric Unlimited’s production of Gregory Spears’ opera “Jason and the Argonauts.” She is currently the Principal Violist of Orchestra Iowa.
Ms. Grimm was featured on WQED Pittsburgh as the first violin soloist in a performance of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins, on WBEZ Chicago in a live broadcast from Roosevelt University, and is frequently heard on Iowa Public Radio as a performer in Orchestra Iowa’s Chamber Music Series. She was also heard live on WCLV Cleveland as concertmaster of the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra in a performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony under Sir Simon Rattle. Ms. Grimm can be heard on the soundtrack for the documentary film In My Hands, which was an official entry at the Toronto Film Festival and seen on the PBS special “Ethan Bortnick: The Power of Music.”
As an instructor, Ms. Grimm has maintained a private studio for fifteen years and has been on the faculty at the Merit School of Music, Chicago Opera Theater Education Division, Chicago School of Music, and Lincoln Park Performing Arts High School (PA). Dedicated to music education, she also regularly performs outreach concerts and programs in the Chicago Public Schools and at various schools, colleges, and universities throughout the country.
