Today I’m talking with Kerstin Tenney, VMC violinist par excellence, as well as my Director of Operations, violist (and VMC alumna par equally excellence) Kate Reddish. We talk about Kerstin’s musical education, her experience in the Virtuoso Master Course, and the new album she’s recorded with Simon Kiln and the English Symphony Orchestra!

Violinist Kerstin Tenney finished recording her first solo violin album in England earlier this year, and is now preparing for its release in the early months of 2023. Her 16-track album, Light, features four newly commissioned pieces, and 8 new arrangements written specifically for this project. Following a lifelong desire to learn, Kerstin has worked with Nathan Cole in every iteration of his Virtuoso Master Course. She plays with the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, does freelance work, and has a private violin studio, teaching in person and online. In her teaching, along with focusing on the musical and technical aspects involved with playing, Kerstin incorporates the mental in addressing thoughts and fears that inhibit progression, the physiological and anatomical components of playing in understanding the structure of the body and how this affects one’s playing, and looks at the role the neurological system has in playing the violin. 

Kerstin can be found on her website at http://www.kerstintenney.com, her newsletter at https://bit.ly/KerstinsNewsletter, and on Instagram at @kerstintenney.

If you’re interested in joining us for the fifth iteration of VMC, starting in 2023, you can find out more information here, and apply here.