Ellen Rose

Teacher of Special Programs

Viola

Email: errose@post.harvard.edu
Office phone: 849-3894

Personal statement

Violist Ellen Ruth Rose holds master's degrees in performance from the Juilliard School and the Northwest German Music Academy in Detmold, Germany, as well as a B.A. with honors in English and American history and literature from Harvard University. Her viola teachers have included Heidi Castleman, Nobuko Imai, Marcus Thompson and Karen Tuttle.

Prior to moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1998, she spent several years in Cologne, Germany, where, as a member of the experimental ensembles Musik Fabrik and Thürmchen Ensemble and frequent guest with Frankfurt's Ensemble Modern, she premiered and recorded countless works, touring throughout Europe and appearing at the Cologne Triennial, Berlin Biennial, Salzburg Zeitfluß, Brussels Ars Nova, Venice Biennial and Budapest Autumn festivals.

She is currently a member of Empyrean Ensemble, the professional new music ensemble in residence at the University of California at Davis, and EARPLAY, the San Francisco-based contemporary ensemble, and appears often with other Bay Area ensembles, including Left Coast Ensemble, the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players and Santa Cruz New Music Works.

In addition to her extensive work with the music of our times, Ms. Rose has also interpreted traditional chamber music repertory in several international settings, including the Marlboro Music Festival, the International Musicians Seminar in Cornwall, England, the Banff Center for the Arts, and at chamber music festivals in Italy and Finland. She has appeared on numerous recordings on the Sony Classical, RCA, Arabesque, CPO, Wergo, Capriccio, and Soundspell labels; a Wergo CD of the chamber music of German composer Caspar Johannes Walter, including several pieces written for her, won the German Recording Critics' new music prize in 1998.

Ms. Rose joins the Berkeley faculty in January 2003. She is also an instructor of viola and chamber music at UC Davis, and is on the faculty of the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop and the Humboldt Chamber Music Workshop.