Instructor Biography

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Biography

Jennifer Wade was born and raised in Arlington, Virginia, and began playing the violin at the age of eleven.  Although Jennifer began her instruction as an older student, she advanced quickly and began participating in many of the best opportunities available to students in the region.  By the time Jennifer was a freshman in high school, she was performing professional programs with the Arlington Symphony as part of the organization's Apprentice Program. By the completion of her sophomore year in high school, Jennifer had built a small private teaching studio of her own, working with both violinists and violists.

Jennifer received her formal education in Violin Performance at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, studying with Cornelia Heard and Christian Teal. In 1997, Jennifer was the winner of the school's prestigious Branscomb Award for overall excellence. While at Vanderbilt, Jennifer was hired as an Adjunct Professor of Violin at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky, working with the Pre-Collegiate Program. When home during the summer months, Jennifer served as a faculty member for Chamber Music of Arlington, a summer program geared toward advanced middle and high school musicians.

Since returning to the Washington, DC area in 2001, Jennifer has served on the faculty of the Levine School's summer String Camp, as well as a judge for the Northern Virginia Music Teacher's Association Violin Concerto Competition, the District XII Orchestra Festival, the Fine Arts Apprentice Program, and the Reflections Contest. Jennifer's students have consistently won acceptance into and leadership roles within the area's most competitive youth organizations and schools including the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras and the Duke Ellington School for the Arts. Some of Jennifer’s former students have gone on to pursue careers in music by way of Juilliard, Brigham Young University, and George Mason University. 

In 2009, Jennifer co-founded Prelude: The Arlington Youth Orchestral Program, an Arlington based orchestral ensemble for advancing young musicians. The program expanded two years later adding an intense chamber music program for advanced students. Serving as the organization's conductor and Music Director, Jennifer designed the program to offer a unique focus on developing the subtle, more intuitive skills required of making music with others. Prelude hosted events and collaborations with the highest caliber musicians including world-renowned violinist Midori, the IBIS Chamber Music Society, cellist rock ensemble Primitivity, Cuarteto Rustico, and Encore Stage and Studio. As a direct result of her work with Prelude, Jennifer was awarded the American String Teacher's Association title of 2012-2013 Orchestra Director of the Year for the State of Virginia. Further, in 2014, she was a chosen as a nominee for Leadership Arlington's Top 40 Under 40, a selective group of individuals recognized as being outstanding young leaders in their field throughout the DC region.

More recently in 2017, seeing an opportunity to combine her love of chamber music with teaching, Jennifer became a founding member and the second violinist of the 9th Street Quartet. 9SQ is an actively performing string quartet that also serves as the faculty quartet in residence for Crescendo, the expanded version of the chamber music program begun under the Prelude banner.

As a performing musician in the Washington, DC area, Jennifer performs regularly with notable groups such as the National Philharmonic, The Washington Concert Opera, The Cathedral Arts Society, The Baltimore Ballet, The Amadeus Orchestra, The Maryland and Alexandria Symphonies, The Virginia Consort, and others.  Internationally, Jennifer has performed numerous chamber music concerts in Assisi, Italy as part of the annual Assisi Performing Arts Festival. 

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