Katarzyna Cieślik
Polish-born violinist Katarzyna Cieslik began her musical training at the age of 7 at the State Music School in Bialystok. Later she graduated from the Frederic Chopin University of Music with a Masters degree in Violin Performance and Pedagogy. She was a member of the award-winning Podlaska Philharmonic Orchestra for over 20 years in which she played an average of 80 performances annually and toured throughout Europe, the former Soviet Union, China, and the U.S. (including Carnegie Hall). She was able to perform not only symphonic music, but also take part in many operatic productions and popular musicals. In 2012 and 2016, the orchestra was awarded best album of the year by the Polish Phonographic Academy and acclaimed by critics from the BBC Music Magazine and American Record Guide.
During her years as an orchestral musician, she was often involved in educational outreach programs at local schools. She was also an active member of the Sotto Voce String Quartet until moving to Florida in 2015 where her attention focused more intensively on teaching children. She has worked as a violin teacher for the Miami Fine Arts Academy, the Gulliver School, and the Superior Academy of Music. Since joining the faculty of the Preparatory Department of the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, she not only offers private instruction, but also coaches various chamber ensembles and offers group classes. She also works with children in local schools for Miami Music Project. As a certified teacher of Music Mind Games, she teaches basic musical principles through specially constructed games which prove highly effective in engaging younger students of music. It is her belief that learning to play the violin can be fun while instilling in her students the values of discipline, consistency and excellence. She regularly enrolls her students in the examinations of the Royal Conservatory of Music Certificate Program.
