Playing the violin can be so much more than scales, arpeggios, etudes, and excerpts. Mastering any field at a high level needs critical thinking, the scientific method, and creativity. Albert Einstein played the violin. The original Sherlock Holmes character played the violin! Scales are theories, etudes experiments, orchestra excerpts puzzles! A sonata can be a five course meal, and concertos are marathon journeys. Daily practice can be a mystery episode to solve
PERFORMING CREDITS
Stacy Lesartre performs as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player throughout the Rocky Mountain region. She is currently Concertmaster of the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra, the Larimer Chorale Orchestra, and the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra. She is an extra with the Colorado Symphony. As a tenured member, she was a repeat soloist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. She has recorded at Skywalker Ranch for Warner Brothers Records and has been featured on Colorado Public Radio. In 2015, she was the 1st place winner of the New York Audition Challenge. Stacy has premiered numerous solo, chamber and orchestral works by 21st century composers. Along with fellow musicians from the Front Range area, she is a member of the Ambel String Quartet. The Ambel Quartet premiered in September of 2020.
EDUCATION
Stacy began playing the violin as a 4th grader in a Philadelphia public school music program, then studied violin at the Settlement School of Music with Lynn Mather. A Summa cum Laude graduate of the Philadelphia High School for Girls, she was the recipient of several music and academic scholarships, including the Louis G. Wersen Award and the Temple University Outstanding Achievement Scholarship.
After earning a degree in Music Performance at Temple University, where she studied solo repertoire and chamber music with Helen Kwalwasser and orchestral repertoire with Luis Biava, she joined the Colorado Philharmonic (now the National Repertory Orchestra) . During a season as a member of the Puerto Rico Symphony, she studied with Saul Ovcharov and was accepted to the Blossom Festival.
While a member of the Houston Symphony, she received coaching from Raphael Fliegel and studied solo repertoire with Fredell Lack. She has studied with Harold Wippler in Denver, Burton Kaplan at Magic Mountain Music Farm, and received coaching from concertmasters of the Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, LA Phil, and Minnesota Orchestra. She currently studies with Nathan Cole, Associate Concertmaster of the LA Philharmonic.
STUDIO
Stacy teaches violin students, chamber music and orchestral excerpts. Many of her students have become professional musicians, teachers, and competition winners. They have been accepted as music majors at the Eastman School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Peabody Conservatory, Cleveland Institute, The University of Texas, the University of Houston, Lamont School of Music, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. A lifelong admirer of the Talent Education system, she is certified with the Suzuki Association of America.
Stacy Lesartre lives in Colorado with her husband, Gregg, a technical contributor for Hewlett-Packard,. They garden organically in the summer and cross country ski in the winter. Both of their grown children are Colorado School of Mines graduates and software engineers.