Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio
Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio joined the Argenta Trio in the fall of 2007 as she began her new position as Assistant Professor of Violin & Viola and Director of the Orchestral Career Studies graduate program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Founder and Artistic Director of Cactus Pear Music Festival (www.cpmf.us), Stephanie was the Concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony for thirteen years, appearing annually as a soloist. Formerly First Assistant Principal Second Violin of The Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnanyi, she recorded and toured internationally with this acclaimed ensemble for eight seasons. Ms. Sant’Ambrogio has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and in the countries of Canada, Estonia, Sweden, Ghana, Italy, Peru, Chile and Mexico. In addition to her active performing career over two decades, she is devoted to teaching serious young violinists, many of whom have successfully chosen careers in music.
With her passion for chamber music, in 1996 Ms. Sant’Ambrogio founded Cactus Pear Music Festival, which presents chamber music performances, Young People’s Concerts, Kinder Konzerts, a Young Artist Fellowship Program, American composer commissions and master classes in the South Texas region. In the fall of 2009 she created L-Cubed, a lunchtime art and music collaborative concert series that takes place in the Rotunda of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center and showcases the students and faculty of the University of Nevada, Reno. Ms. Sant’Ambrogio has performed and taught at various festivals including: Semanas Musicales de Frutillar (Chile); Bach, Dancing and Dynamite Society (WI); Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival (WA); Nevada Chamber Music Festival (NV); Music in the Vineyards (CA); Round Top Festival Institute (TX) and Tuckamore Festival (Newfoundland, Canada). Ms. Sant’Ambrogio studied with and was the graduate assistant to Donald Weilerstein at The Eastman School of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree. Previously she received her Bachelor of Music degree with distinction from Indiana University as a scholarship student of Laurence Shapiro and James Buswell.
Ms. Sant’Ambrogio plays a violin crafted in 1757 by J.B. Guadagnini of Milan, Italy and a viola by William Whedbee of Chicago, 1986. In the moments when one of these instruments is not nestled under her chin, she and her husband Gary Albright enjoy life with their daughters, ten-year-old Isabel and eight-year-old Gabrielle, who have started taking music lessons themselves.
