Dr. Michelle Laliberte, violin
A native Minnesotan, Dr. Michelle Laliberte started her career as a professional musician at the age of 16 with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. She was awarded the Whiteside Scholarship and a music scholarship to study at the University of Wisconsin-Milwauke with Gerald Fischbach, former president of the American String Teacher's Asssociation and author of Viva Vibrato and Artistry in Strings. In Wilwaukee she also studied with members of the Fine Arts String Quartet. In 1989 Dr. Laliberte graduated as a Dean's Scholar with a bachelor's degree of Fine Arts in New York at the Purchase Conservatory of Music where she studied with Yuval Waldman, former principal of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and Daniel Phillips of the Bach Aria Ensemble and the Orion String Quartet. She was a recipient of both the Friar's Foundation Scholarship and the Dean's Merit Award and worked with Robert Levin, Yehudi Wyner, and members of the Julliard String Quartet. Dr. Laliberte was awarded a full tuition teaching assistantship with Carolyn Plummer at the University of Notre Dame where she earned a Master's degree in music in 1992. She then spent a year abroad studying with Eduard Melkus at the Vienna Academy of Music where she was principal 2nd violin of the Pro Arte Academy Orchestra and in 1994 she was awarded a full tuition teaching assistantship to Charles Treger at the University of Massachessuets in Amherst. In august 2002 she received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in violin performance at the University of Colorado in Boulder as a teaching assistant for Oswald Lehnert, founding member of the Pablo Casals Piano Trio. She worked with members of Takacs String Quartet and was invited to play for violist Denes Koromzay, founding member of the Hungarian String Quartet.

Dr. Laliberte has performed as a freelance soloist and chamber musician around the country. In 1991 she recorded for Jasper National Park Tourist Bureau which granted her honorary status as an employee of the park service. She has also recorded for a soon to be released CD with classical guitarist Felicity Munch of Boulder, Colorado and most recently she recorded for the Massachusett's state teaching certification examinations. Dr. Laliberte was a member of the Boulder Philharmonic for seven years and has held principal postions with the the Symphonia of Colorado, the Waterbury Symphony, the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, the South Bend Symphony, the North Shore Philharmonic, the Manhattanville Orchestra, and the Boston Civic Symphony. She has also performed regularly with the Rochester Philharmonic, and the New Britain and Meridan Symphony Orchestras. She was awarded fellowships to participate in the Garth Newall Summer String Quartet program and the Grand Tetons Orchestral Training Seminar, and she also received scholarships to attend the ASTA National String Workshop in Madison, Wisconsin, the International String Workshop in Bolzano, Italy, and the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Dr. Laliberte has held faculty positions for the performing art divisions and continuing education departments at the University of Colorado-Boulder, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the University of Notre Dame, the Boulder Arts Academy, the Northampton Community Music Center, the Williston Northampton Preparatory School, and the Lexington Art Center in Massachusetts. While maintaining a private studio for the past 12 years she has also taught violin, coached string ensembles and directed string orchestras at the Lexington Music Festival, Buck's Rock Art and Music Camp, the Boulder Arts Academy Summer String Camp and the SMSU Summer Chamber Music Academy as well as in several public school systems around the country. Most recently Dr. Laliberte taught violin and viola at Southwest Minnesota State University and the University of Minnesota in Morris. Currently she teaches as an adjunct instructor at Bemidji State University and at the Headwaters School of Music.

CRITICAL STATEMENTS
"Her performance of the slow movement from Mozart's Symphonie Concertante brought tears to my eyes"
Bill Holm-Author/Poet