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Ann Fontanella is the last protégé of the "Old Russian School" style of violin play and pedagogy that has been passed down from virtuosos for over 150 years. The Old Russian style emphasizes a warm and rich romantic tone with exacting precision. The most famous Old Russian violinist is Jascha Heifetz, widely-viewed as the greatest instrumentalist of all-time.
At age seven, Ann was selected to begin studying under Sherry Kloss, Jascha Heifetz's teaching assistant. Ann debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 10. For the next five years, Ann was the protégé and final student of Erick Friedman, Heifetz's own protégé. Erick Friedman was the only violinist with whom Heifetz ever recorded on equal footing.
At the age of 14, Ann was one of the youngest artists ever accepted to Yale University's School of Music. Later that year she appeared on NPR's From the Top to critical acclaim. Ann released her debut album Bach, Schubert, Bruch in 2005.
In addition to being a violinist, Ann is also a commissioned composer. In 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2005 she was an award recipient in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Competition. The song "Rondo" was one of the award-winning compositions.
Ann plays on a 320-year-old Grancino violin with Heifetz's own custom-engineered mute that he used for four decades. Ann is supported by Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour (PennPAT), which pays for half of costs in: DE, DC, MD, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VA and WV.
Ann is currently writing and developing a new album and studies with Elmar Oliveira, another student of the Old Russian School. Elmar is the only American to have ever won the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. He has been nominated for several grammys and won the Avery Fisher Prize.
23-year old Ann is married and lives in Philadelphia, PA.
QUOTES
"(It is) extraordinary that you play so fantastically well...to have the ability to play on the violin and to be a composer as well is quite an amazing thing."
Christopher O'Riley,
Concert Pianist, NPR host
"She is probably the only working violinist who could be mistaken for Heifetz."
Dr. John Birchall
London Independent
"Having the same natural ability of Heifetz... Very few people in the world play the violin as well as she."
Erick Friedman, Yale School of Music
Philadelphia Inquirer
"I was most impressed. Her left hand is fantastic...great flair...bright future."
Lawrence Leighton Smith
Music Director
Colorado Springs Symphony
"One of our stars of the future."
Robert dePasquale,
Fmr. Principal Second Violin
Philadelphia Orchestra
"...music has chosen them. It inhabits (her) soul. It is who (she) is."
Symphony Magazine, May 2003
"I wish I played like that when I was 10 years old. I could have retired already!"
David Zinman,
Conductor, Philadelphia Orchestra
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