Concertmaster

MSO First Season: 1997-1998

Susanna Perry Gilmore joined the Memphis Symphony Orchestra as Concertmaster in1997.  Since then she has frequently been featured as a soloist, including performances of the W. A. Mozart Violin Concerto no. 5 in A Major, Alban Berg Violin Concerto, Max Bruch Scottish Fantasy, J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concerti, Karl Amadeus Hartmann Concerto Funebre, W.A. Mozart Sinfonia Concertante, and Antonio Vivaldi Four Seasons.  Ms. Gilmore maintains an active schedule of solo recitals and chamber performances and was nationally broadcast twice on NPR’s Performance Today in August 2009.  She currently holds the position of Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Violin at the University of Memphis and is the Valade Violin Fellow at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp in Michigan.

During her tenure in Memphis, Ms. Gilmore’s performance abilities have contributed to a wide variety of musical programs.  In October 2008 she and her husband collaborated with the Tennessee Shakespeare Company to compose, arrange and perform Celtic music for the production of As You Like It and she  also arranged and adapted the music of Bela Bartok for the October 2009 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  She will appear in both dramatic and musical roles in the upcoming film, Narcissus, filmed on location in Lithuania.  Ms. Gilmore has twice been named Premier String Player in the region by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; she has appeared on recordings by Kallen Esperian, Shelby Lynne, Ruby Wilson, and the Naxos and Dorian record labels.  She has also served as a faculty member and guest artist at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts, Hot Springs Music Festival, and the Grand Canyon Music Festival.

Ms. Gilmore received her Bachelor’s in Music at Oxford University, England and spent a year of post-graduate study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she studied with violinist Yfrah Neaman.  She then received her Master’s degree in Violin Performance at New England Conservatory in Boston under the instruction of James Buswell.  Prior to her studies in England, Ms. Gilmore studied with Christian Teal at the Blair School of Music and with Mimi Zweig at Indiana University. 

Before joining the Memphis Symphony, Ms. Gilmore spent two years as a member of the Rackham String Quartet, a nationally touring ensemble based in California.  She was also a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Norfolk Music Festival, and the Sarasota Chamber Music Festival.     

When not working as a classical violinist, Ms. Gilmore plays the Irish fiddle with her husband Barry in the band Planet Reel and spends time with her two daughters Katy and Zoe.  She performs on a 1776 Joseph Odoardi violin.