Jenny Cullen (1890–1957) was a violinist and the first female member of the

Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Th ...

. She was a member of Verbrugghen String Quartet founded by

Henri Verbrugghen Henri Adrien Marie Verbrugghen (1 August 187312 November 1934) was a Belgian musician, who directed orchestras in England, Scotland, Australia and the United States. Born in Brussels, Verbrugghen made his first appearance as a violinist when o ...

. She began violin studies at the age of 8.Souvenir program of ''Beethoven Festival 1920''
/ref> At the age of 13 she came under direction of Verbrugghen. She attended the Scottish Academy of Music, studied with Verbrugghen in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and played in the Scottish Symphony Orchestra. At the age of 18 she was appointed Senior Professor at the Athenaeum School of Music, Glasgow. A year later she became the second violin in the Verbrugghen Quartet. In 1911 Cullen went to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

to play at the Summer Symphony Concerts in

Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg Pavlovsk ( "

he town He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

of Pavel" after Emperor Pavel (Paul) of Russia) is a administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, municipal town in Pushkinsky District, Saint Petersburg, Pushkinsky District in the suburban part of the federal cities of ...

. In 1915 she gave recitals at the ''Three B's Festival'' in London under Verbrugghen as conductor. When Verbrugghen moved to Australia with his quartet (1915), she became concertmaster of the State Symphony Orchestra of Sydney and principal violin instructor. Again together with Verbrugghen she went to Minneapolis. Cullen played in the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1932. She was then head of the violin department at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1866, the main campus is between Northfield and the approximately Carleton ...

and on the faculty of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

and

Hamline University Hamline University ( ) is a private university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1854, Hamline is the oldest university in Minnesota, the first coeducational university in the state, and is one of five Associated Colleges of th ...

. In 1942 she was again engaged by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra by

Dimitri Mitropoulos Dimitri Mitropoulos (; – 2 November 1960) was a Greek and American conductor, pianist, and composer. Life and career Mitropoulos was born in Athens, the son of Yannis and Angelikē (Angeliki) Mitropoulos. His father owned a leather goods s ...

. She left it in 1949, when

Antal Doráti Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest to a Jewish family. His father Alexander Do ...

became director. The rest of her life she spent teaching and playing chamber music. She always wore blue, unless she was dressed in black for a performance.

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American women classical violinists American classical violinists 1890 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American women musicians 20th-century American violinists {{violinist-stub

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