Originally from Albuquerque, Megan Holland began studying
the violin at age four with Susan Kempter, nationally renowned
pedagogue, author and Suzuki teacher trainer. She later studied
privately with Leonard Felberg, former Professor of Violin at the
University of New Mexico, concertmaster of the Santa Fe Symphony and
violinist of the Seraphin Trio. She played in the Albuquerque
Junior Symphony, the Albuquerque Youth Symphony and the New Mexico
All-State Symphony, serving as concertmaster for all three orchestras. She
won first prize at the Las Cruces Concerto Competition in 1993 and
performed Saint-Saens' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso with the Las
Cruces Symphony that same year. She also won the Albuquerque Youth
Symphony Concerto Competition and performed the first movement of the
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto on their tour of Canada. She has received
Suzuki teacher training from Susan Kempter. 
Megan has performed throughout the United States, Mexico,
Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. Reviewers have
characterized her performances as "poised" and
"powerful". She has held the position of Principal
Second Violin in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and member of
the CSO String Quartet since 2001. In addition to her duties
as Principal Second Violin, she also performed as soloist with the CSO on
several occasions. In 2004, award-winning composer
Fernando Rivas of Sesame Street fame composed a duo for her and her
husband James which was premiered on the Charleston Symphony Orchestra's
Chamber Music Series. She has given critically acclaimed
solo and chamber music performances in the Piccolo Spoleto Chamber
Music Spotlight Series. She also has been a member of the
Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra, a summer orchestral and chamber
music festival under the baton of Gerhardt Zimmermann, since 2002. In
2003 she performed as soloist with that orchestra. She
has performed in the Breckenridge Music Festival's Winter Concert Series
since it's inception in 2002. She has also appeared as
soloist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and the Albuquerque
Philharmonic.She has been a faculty member at the Charleston Academy of Music for four years. She has been a guest faculty member at the Tennessee Valley Music Festival and The Strings Summit in Cullman, Alabama. She has coached the violin section of the Front Range Youth Orchestra for three years. She taught violin in a classroom setting in the inner city public schools of Los Angeles as part of the Young Musicians Foundation outreach program. She has also been a frequent guest clinician in the public school system of Fort Worth, Texas. She has maintained a small private studio in Charleston. Her students have been accepted at major national summer festivals and have played in the Harvard University Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the College of Charleston Orchestra, the University of South Carolina Symphony, and the Piccolo Spoleto Conservatory Orchestra. She has also been a highly sought-after orchestral excerpt coach in Charleston, with people traveling from as far away as Atlanta to study with her. She received a Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with David Updegraff, head of the Violin Department. She received a Master of Music degree and an Advanced Studies diploma in the prestigious studio of Robert Lipsett at the University of Southern California, where she was selected as Concertmaster of their Chamber Orchestra. She attended the ENCORE School for Strings, exclusive summer music program, from 1992 to 1999. She attended the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany in 2000 and the National Repertory Orchestra in 2001. She recently relocated to the West side of Albuquerque, NM with her husband James Holland and is currently a finalist for the Concertmaster position in the Santa Fe Symphony. Click here to visit their studio website. |