Born and raised in Colorado, violinist Joanna Maurer has performed as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, as well as in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. After initial studies with her parents, she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Dorothy DeLay and Robert Mann. She has won first prizes in a number of competitions, including the Aspen Music Festival’s E. Nakamichi Violin Competition, and the National MTNA Selmer Competition.

Ms. Maurer is the violinist of the American Chamber Players (www.acplayers.com), a highly acclaimed group of six, performing extensively around the country. She has been hailed by the Washington Post as an “incisive, sweet-toned” violinist with “flawless phrasing,” leading “extraordinary… stunning…(and) …utterly committed” performances with the American Chamber Players. Ms. Maurer has been featured with the American Chamber Players countless times on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on local radio stations throughout the United States.

Ms. Maurer has performed with the first violin section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2003. She also performs as concertmaster on numerous film scores, television scores, and pop albums. She has collaborated with various artists such as Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Natalie Merchant, Carrie Underwood, David Byrne, Laurie Berkner, and fiddler/violinist Mark O’Connor in, among other projects, performances of his Double Violin Concerto.

In addition to her performing career, Ms. Maurer serves as the co-chair of the Associate Musicians of the Metropolitan Opera, on the trial board of Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, and as a trustee of the Local 802 Musicians’ Health Fund. Ms. Maurer lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with her husband, Demian Austin (principal trombonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), and her two children.