|
A native of New York
City,
ROY SONNE
started playing the violin at the age of five. When he was fifteen he
joined a chamber-music class at the
Mannes College of Music
prep department, which kindled his lifetime passion for string-quartet playing.
He went on to study music at the
New England Conservatory,
the
Mannes College of Music
and
Ohio State University.
His violin teachers include
Raphael Bronstein
and Dorothy DeLay.
He studied piano with Richard
Tetley-Kardos and conducting with
Carl
Bamberger.
In 1969 he became concertmaster of
the National Symphony
Orchestra of Bolivia. He made
his professional conducting debut with that orchestra in 1970 followed by
appearances with the National
Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica.
During that period he also concertized widely as violin soloist throughout South
and Central America.
Returning to the United States he
played in the Columbus String
Quartet for four years and
then joined the faculty of
Wittenberg University where
he taught violin and chamber music and conducted the University Orchestra.
In 1980 Roy joined the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
He played in their first violin section until 2008 when
he took early retirement in order to
devote himself to an ever-increasing number of musical projects and interests.
Combining his interests in
conducting and teaching, with his affinity for working with amateur musicians,
in 1992 he became Music Director of the
Edgewood Symphony Orchestra.
In twelve years he built that orchestra into the leading community orchestra in
the Pittsburgh area.
Roy is deeply involved in
educational activities. He maintains a large private teaching studio in his home
in Mt. Lebanon PA He is on the faculty of the
Carnegie Mellon University
Preparatory Department. He is also on the faculty of the
Music Institute For the Development of Personal Style. He is also a
Pittsburgh Symphony Ambassador,
making frequent visits to many high
schools in the Pittsburgh area, to do workshops and coaching sessions.
In 2003 Roy fulfilled a lifetime
yearning, taking up jazz violin. He studied jazz improvisation with
James Johnson
at the Afro-American Music
Institute and
James Guerra
at
City Music Center.
He attended the
Christian Howes/Yamaha Creative
Strings Camp. He was a
founding member of “Blues on
First” Pittsburgh’s Jazz String Quartet.
He has performed with Daphne Alderson,
John Burgh, Jeff Grubbs, Jeff Mangone, Tom Roberts, Doug Levine.
Through playing jazz, Roy's musical universe became so much
richer that he became determined to share this experience with other string
players. In August 2004, Roy organized Pittsburgh's first
Jazz String Workshop
for classically trained string players. Based on the success of that workshop,
in 2005 he organized the
Pittsburgh Jazz and Fiddling Camp,
now preparing for it's fifth season and recently renamed
Strings Without Boundaries.
Somehow, Roy manages to find time to
keep up his skills as a pianist. He has made a specialty of accompanying
violinists and often appears as accompanist for his PSO colleagues.
|
