Martin Riseley (born 10 February 1969 in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand) is a violinist and Head of Strings (violin) at the

New Zealand School of Music The New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī (NZSM) at Victoria University of Wellington is located in Wellington, New Zealand. It provides a tertiary teaching faculty with programmes in classical and jazz performance, music studies, composition, ...

. Formerly, he was

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

of the

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Edmonton, Alberta. As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city it presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to co ...

. Riseley began violin studies at age 6, and gave his first solo concert at age 10. He studied with Carl Pini,

Dorothy DeLay Dorothy DeLay (March 31, 1917 – March 24, 2002) was an American violin teacher, instructor, primarily at the Juilliard School, Sarah Lawrence College, and the University of Cincinnati. Life Dorothy DeLay was born on March 31, 1917, in Medic ...

, and

Felix Galimir Felix Galimir (May 20, 1910, Vienna – November 10, 1999, New York) was an Austrian-born American violinist and music teacher. Born in a Sephardic Jewish family Vienna; his first language was Ladino. Allan Kozinn,"Felix Galimir, 89, a Violin ...

. He graduated from the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

in 1996 with a Doctorate of Musical Arts. In August 1994, Riseley was appointed concertmaster of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, a position he held until August 2010. He has performed the North American premieres of the

violin concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

''The Bulls of Bashan'' by

Gavin Bryars Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, Musical historicism, historicism, Avant-garde music, avant-garde, and experimental music. Early lif ...

, and the ''Violin Concerto'' (2002) by Allan Gilliland. He performed regularly as soloist with the ESO, in a variety of major concerti. In 2010 he returned to New Zealand, taking a teaching position at the

, the same year he was also appointed Concertmaster of the

Christchurch Symphony Orchestra The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is the largest professional orchestra in the South Island of New Zealand, based in the city of Christchurch. It was established in 1958 as the John Ritchie String Orchestra, due to the vision and encoura ...

. He served as Interim Associate Concertmaster of the

National Arts Centre Orchestra The National Arts Centre Orchestra (NAC Orchestra) is a Canadian orchestra based in Ottawa, Ontario. The NAC Orchestra's primary concert venue is Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Since its inception, the Orchestra has commissioned more ...

(2002–2003), and was guest concertmaster of the

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the New Zealand Government, per the New Zealand Symphony ...

in 2003. He has two daughters, Emma (2000), and Izzie (2004). They both played violin for many years.

References

External links

Martin Riseley's biography on the New Zealand School of Music's website
Canadian classical violinists Male classical violinists 1969 births Living people Concertmasters 21st-century classical violinists 21st-century Canadian male musicians 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers 21st-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers Canadian male violinists and fiddlers New Zealand Symphony Orchestra people {{violinist-stub