Michelle Barzel Ross is a Mizrahi-American violinist and composer of uncommon gifts and deep curiosity, whose artistry defies categorization. A protégée of the legendary Itzhak Perlman, last season Michelle had the honor of touring as guest first violinist with the Juilliard String Quartet, and with Avi Avital and the Between Worlds Ensemble. Michelle’s compositions have had world premieres at the Lucerne Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, and most recently at Oregon Symphony's Open Music hosted by Gabriel Kahane. Michelle has performed as guest concertmaster with a stellar range of ensembles including the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, London Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra. A prolific improviser across genres, Michelle is featured with Jon Batiste on Movement 11’ from the GRAMMY winning “Album of the Year” We Are.
Known for her debut album, pop-up project and blog Discovering Bach: Complete Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach (Albany Records), Michelle recently released Vivaldi: Four Seasons (Epidemic Sound) with conductor Eric Jacobsen and the Odyssey Orchestra. Her compositions have been recorded by some of the greatest chamber musicians across the world, including Where Things Weigh Nothing at All, for the Carr-Petrova Duo, The Whale Song, for cellist Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, Haiku, for cellist Arlen Hlusko, and the upcoming Desenvoyé composed for cellist Christian-Pierre la Marca. Recent collaboration highlights include as the soloist in Arvo Pärt’s Fratres at the Metropolitan Museum’s Celebration of Arvo Pärt at the Temple of Dendur with the Experiential Orchestra and James Blachly, the Bach Double with Itzhak Perlman, Michael Tilson Thomas and San Francisco Symphony, play-leading the Orchestre de Chambre to Paris, and her Carnegie solo debut in Zankel Hall with Harry Bicket. A passionate chamber musician, Michelle performed as guest first violinist with the Juilliard String Quartet for their winter US and International 2023 tours, and is a frequent artist at the Marlboro Music Festival and Musicians from Marlboro tours. Michelle has curated chamber music series’ in venues spanning from art galleries to mountaintops, and is a member of Ensemble Échappé, a guest with International Contemporary Ensemble, co-curator of Lucerne Festival Forward and faculty at Lucerne Festival Contemporary.
Michelle is the recipient of the prestigious Leonore Annenberg Career Grant, 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.
