Michelle Barzel Ross is an Iraqi(Mizrahi)-American violinist, composer, and improviser. A protégé of Itzhak Perlman, Michelle is known for her debut album, pop-up project and blog Discovering Bach: Complete Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach. A gifted improviser across genres, Michelle is featured on Movement 11’ of the GRAMMY winning Best Album of the Year: We Are, by Jon Batiste. This season, Michelle has the honor of performing with the Juilliard String Quartet as guest first violinist for their winter International and US tours, while Areta Zhulla is on maternity leave.
Passionate about expanding the bounds of contemporary music as both a performer and creator, recent premieres include both a chamber work and electronic installation at Lucerne Festival and Lucerne Festival Forward 2022. Michelle was recently the soloist in Arvo Pärt’s Fratres at the Metropolitan Museum’s Temple of Dendur with the Experiential Orchestra and James Blachly. Collaboration highlights include performing Bach Double Concerto with Itzhak Perlman, Michael Tilson Thomas and San Francisco Symphony, and her Zankel Hall Debut with Harry Bicket.
A passionate chamber musician, Michelle will be performing as guest first violinist with the Juilliard String Quartet for their winter US and International 2023 tours, has been an artist at Marlboro Music Festival and tours frequently with Musicians from Marlboro. Michelle has curated chamber music series’ in venues spanning from art galleries to mountaintops. Guest concertmaster appearances include with Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de la Radio France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. Michelle is a member of Ensemble Échappé, a guest with International Contemporary Ensemble, co-curator of Lucerne Festival Forward and faculty at Lucerne Festival Contemporary. Recent album releases include her solo cello composition The Whale Song for Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, and her featured performances on Samuel Adler: Chamber and Instrumental Music. Michelle is the recipient of the 2012 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund, and was recently Artist-in-Residence at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. Michelle holds degrees from the Juilliard School and a BA in Literature from Columbia University.
Michelle is the recipient of the 2012 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund, and was recently Artist-in-Residence at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. Michelle holds a M.M. from the Juilliard School and a B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University. Teachers include Dorothy DeLay, Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho and Ronald Copes. Michelle studied composition with Dr. Samuel Adler, Dr. Kendall Briggs, and Dr. Andrew Thomas.
