Violinist Jeff Thayer is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and the Julliard School's Pre-College division. His teachers include William Preucil, Zvi Zeitlin, and Dorothy DeLay. In the fall he will pursue an Artist Diploma with William Preucil and Donald Weilerstein at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
A native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Mr. Thayer began violin lessons with his mother at the age of three. At fourteen, he went to study with Jose Antonio Campos at the Conservatorio Superior in Cordoba, Spain. He has appeared as soloist with the Conservatory Orchestra of Cordoba, the Jupiter Symphony, the Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra, the Nittany Valley Symphony, the Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra, among others. He attended Ernen Musikdorf in Switzerland, the Music Academy of the West (Aspen), the New York String Orchestra Seminar, and the Interlochen Arts Camp as the 1992 Pennsylvania Governor Scholar. This summer he will be participating in the Mainly Mozart Festival (San Diego), the Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara), Ernen Musikdorf, and the Tibor Varga Festival (both in Switzerland).
His awards include the Stephen Hahn/Lillybelle Foundation Award in Violin from the Music Academy of the West, the Starling Foundation Award, the George Eastman Scholarship, and the Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Mr. Thayer was a winner of the Tuesday Musical Club Scholarship Auditions in Akron, Ohio (2000), the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition (1999), the first place winner in the Fort Collins Symphony Young Artist Competition (1999), the American String Teacher's Association Competition in Pennsylvania and Delaware (1997), the Gwladys Comstock Summer Scholarship Competition (1993), the Ithaca College Solo Competition, and the Phyllis Tiolo Competition (1992).
Mr. Thayer will perform with the Nittany Valley Symphony in their TIME AND AGAIN concert on Tuesday, May 2, 2000 at 8:00 p.m..