Laura Miller, Violin
Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio
Joined Lyric Orchestra in 1982-one year, 1984 permanently
Education: Bachelor of Music, Indiana University
What is your most memorable Lyric performance or experience?
One of the greatest highlights has been performing two complete Ring Cycles with my proud “RingHead” father sitting in the audience sharing the experience, and then seeing him cheering for us when the orchestra took a bow from the stage following Gotterdammerung…it was thrilling!
With which other orchestras have you performed?
One of my first auditions after graduating from college in 1981 resulted in being offered a job as a substitute violinist with the Cincinnati Symphony. I have been fortunate since 1988 to have the best of all possible worlds as the Assistant Principal Second Violin of the Grant Park Orchestra during the summer, performing the symphonic repertoire with another wonderful orchestra and chorus in one of the most dramatic outdoor settings found anywhere—Millennium Park. I played many years with Music of the Baroque and have performed an extensive amount of chamber music, plus enjoyed recording numerous television and radio jingles.
Which teachers inspired you the most? Who were your teacher’s teachers—your “grandteachers”?
My parents! My father was a trumpet player and band/orchestra director who taught at the elementary and HS level, a supervisor who started 150+ instrumental music programs for the Catholic schools in NE Ohio, and the director of a Diocesan orchestra. My mother is a private piano instructor who also taught general music and chorus from grades K-8. They made sure that my sisters and I had the finest musical education available. My first violin teacher was Clemens Faber of the Cleveland Orchestra. I went on to study with Margaret Randall and David Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music, then to Indiana University with Josef Gingold, a former member of the NBC Symphony and Concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra. I guess you could say that my musical “grandparents” are Vladimir Graffman, Eugene Ysaye, Arturo Toscanini and George Szell, but I’m still learning from my colleagues and the singers who perform at the Lyric Opera.