Lauded for her “gleaming artistry, bravura and sensitivity” (Cleveland Plain Dealer), violinist, Annie Fullard joyfully celebrates a life devoted to chamber music playing and is grateful for the deep collaborative bonds developed with students and colleagues throughout her multi- faceted career.  A passionate leader in the field of chamber music advocacy and education,  Annie views the empathy and connectivity of chamber music as a metaphor for the kind of communication that we should strive for between cultures and nations. Ms. Fullard is honored to embark on her new position as Director of Chamber Music, Professor and Sidney M. Friedberg Chair at The  Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University and also currently serves as Distinguished Artist and Charles and Mary Jean Yates Chair in Chamber Music at The Robert Mc Duffie Center for Strings, Mercer University.  On the horizon is a much anticipated book The Art of Collaboration: Chamber Music Rehearsal  Techniques & Teambuilding co-authored with Dorianne Cotter-Lockard, PhD to be published by Oxford University Press. A founding member of the Cavani String Quartet, Annie has toured extensively throughout the US and abroad, including a residency with Juilliard Summer Arts in Shanghai. She and her colleagues are recipients  of The Naumburg Chamber Music Award, The Cleveland Quartet Award (Eastman) and prize winning laureates of the Banff International, Fischoff, Coleman, and Carmel Chamber Music competitions. Described by the Washington Post as “completely engrossing, powerful and elegant” the Cavani Quartet’s artistic excellence, generous spirit, and their fervent ambassadorship for great music has placed them among America’s greatest string quartets. Quartet accolades include The Guarneri String Quartet Award for Artistic Excellence from Chamber Music America,  Ohio Governors Award for The Arts, ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, and Musical America Magazine’s Young Artists of the Year.  Summer program affiliations have included Kneisel  Hall, The Perlman Music Program, Center Stage Strings, Encore String Quartet Intensive, Interlochen Center for the Arts Advanced Quartet Seminar and The Aspen Music Festival. She and her colleagues have been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and  “Says You” and the short documentary film TOGETHER! Beyond Beethoven with The Cavani Quartet  ( https://youtu.be/BNesD1FBgAM ) .

Formerly Coordinator of String Chamber Music at The University of Michigan, Annie has served as a juror for the Washington International Competition, as well as  St. Paul String Quartet, Fischoff, and Chicago Young Artist Chamber Music Competitions. From 1988-2018, Ms Fullard served as faculty and as a member of Quartet- in- Residence at The Cleveland Institute of Music where she and her Cavani colleagues lovingly directed,  in collaboration with Peter Salaff, one of the country’s most well known and respected programs devoted to the serious study of chamber music. Program initiatives included the Apprentice Quartet Program, Intensive Quartet Seminar, New Quartet Project, The Art of Engagement,  M.A.P. (Music, Art & Poetry) Program, and Chamberfest Workshop for adult amateur musicians. Ms. Fullard and her Cavani colleagues are delighted to have coached and mentored members (former and present) of the many of the country’s most acclaimed ensembles, including the  Aeolus, Afiara, Attaca, Azuri, Biava, Catalyst, Daedalus, Dali, Ehnes, Fry Street, Harlem, Isidore, Ivalas, Jupiter, Linden, Maia, Miro, Omer, Telegraph, Thalea, and Verona String Quartets, as well as members of the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, ECCO,  A Far Cry, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, KINETIC and DeCoda. Recognizing the natural ability of chamber music playing to inspire cognitive and emotional development in children through empathy and interaction, Annie has curated chamber music residencies in communities and neighborhoods around the country and founded  Friday Night Chamber Music for pre-college age music students. At the collegiate level, Ms Fullard and her Cavani colleagues have presented  The Art of Collaboration Seminar: Coaching Strategies and Techniques-Building Empowered and Collaborative Teams by Applying Principles of Chamber Music Pedagogy at universities,  conservatories and business schools around the country including the renowned Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.  Ms. Fullard and her colleagues are former Artists-in-Residence at Cleveland State University, University of California, Riverside, University of Texas,  Austin and Northern Illinois University. Ms Fullard has the honor of collaborating with some of todays most distinguished and innovative artists including Alisa Weilerstein, Kim Kashkashian, Tessa Lark, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Josh Henderson, Itzhak Perlman, Stephanie Blythe, Sergei Babayan, and poet Mwatabu Okantah, as well as members of the Cleveland, Juilliard, Takàcs, Ying, Emerson, Borodin, Ehnes, Amadeus, and St. Lawrence String Quartets.  A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, she pursued additional studies at Yale University, and Indiana University. Teachers and mentors include Donald Weilerstein, Josef Gingold, Franco Gulli, Earl Carlyss and Peter Salaff.  She plays an 1846 Vuillaume violin copied from Paganini’s Guarneri del Gesu “Il Canone” and is an avid Ella Fitzgerald and Beethoven fan.  She promotes silliness as often as possible.

For more information, please visit cavanistringquartet.com.