Violin, Viola

Education

MM, Cleveland Institute of Music
BM, Peabody Institute of Music

Elizabeth Keckeisen​

Award-winning violist Elizabeth Keckeisen concertizes across the eastern and midwestern United States and in her home state of Texas. Whether performing as a chamber and orchestral musician or as a soloist, her repertoire ranges from classical masterworks to contemporary compositions.
 
As an orchestral musician, Ms. Keckeisen has served as Guest Principal Violist for the Amarillo Symphony. Previously, she was a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and has also performed with the New World Symphony in Miami, FL, and the Akron and Firelands Symphony Orchestras in Ohio. During her time in school, she held Principal and Assistant Principal positions in both the Peabody Symphony and Peabody Concert Orchestras and has also led the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra viola section.
 
Praised for her “cohesive ensemble playing” (Cleveland Classical), her extensive chamber music experience includes performances broadcast on National Public Radio and WQXR that included collaborations with Aaron Boyd, Michael Kannen, Courtney Orlando, Brian Lewis and Hagai Shaham. As a founding member of the Adorno String Quartet in Baltimore, she has performed recitals at Mannes College of Music in New York City and in Charleston, South Carolina at the invitation of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra League.
 
Ms. Keckeisen has premiered numerous pieces by living composers, ranging from string quartets to pieces for viola and electronics. Highlights of her 2016-2017 season included collaborations with composer Oscar Bettison and the Dutch group Ensemble Klang on the world premier of Bettison’s Presence of Absence (rev. 2017), Julia Wolfe on her string Quartet Dig Deep, Georg Friedrich Haas on his piece in vain with Peabody’s contemporary ensemble, and Donnacha Dennehy on his piece Cead Slan for string quartet and soundtrack.
 
Ms. Keckeisen has spent the past four summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School as a fellowship student. For the past two summers, she was one of ten string players to receive the Center for Orchestral Leadership Fellowship, funded by the Talented Students in the Arts Initiative and the Doris Duke Foundation. She has also studied at the Heifetz International Music Institute, the Beethoven Institute at Mannes College, Le Domaine Forget Music Academy in Quebec, and The Castleman Quartet Program. She has performed in masterclasses for leading viola pedagogues such as Kim Kashkashian, James Dunham, Ivo van der Werff, and Lawrence Dutton and renowned chamber groups including the Emerson, Borromeo, Brentano, and Takacs string quartets.
 
In addition to concert halls, she regularly performs in community venues. Ms. Keckeisen has worked as a site coordinator for Creative Access, which brought concerts to places from elementary schools to nursing homes in the greater Baltimore area. Ms. Keckeisen was also a founding member of the Peabody String Sinfonia led by violist Maria Lambros that brought performances to prisons, caner treatment centers, and homeless shelters. Additionally, while living in Baltimore she frequently volunteered at the Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids program, where she taught young violinists and violists in some of Baltimore’s inner-city schools.
 
Ms. Keckeisen completed her Bachelor’s degree in Viola Performance at the Peabody Institute in May of 2017 where she studied with Victoria Chiang and orchestral repertoire with Choong-Jin Chang. In addition to her performance degree, she earned a business minor. Ms. Keckeisen recently finished a Master’s degree in Viola Performance under the tutelage of Cleveland Orchestra violist Mark Jackobs.
The Dallas School of Music
Best music education in North Texas by CBS DFW, D Magazine and Dallas Child Magazine