Michaela Wellems, Violin
Michaela Wellems, 20, is a Bachelor of Music candidate at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she studies under the tutelage of violin professor Robert Lipsett. Recently, Wellems was the principal second violinist of the New York String Orchestra Seminar (2014) where she performed at Carnegie Hall. She was also just awarded a Teaching Fellow position for the Spring of 2015 at The Colburn School. Currently the first violinist of the Calla String Quartet, the group is coached by Martin Beaver, Clive Greensmith, and Arnold Steinhardt.
Wellems was formerly a twoÂtime Rachel Barton Pine Scholarship Award recipient and member of the Music Institute of Chicago's Academy program in 2012 and 2013. In the Chicago area she has had the opportunity to perform in the Chicago Philharmonic under the baton of Larry Rachleff, featured multiple times live on 98.7fm WFMT "Introductions" with David Polk, soloed with the Oistrach Symphony Orchestra, and was selected to perform in the Young Steinway Concert Series with her mother, Debbie Masloski (pianist).
Wellems has won prizes in several competitions including the Society of American Musicians, Sejong, and Confucius Competitions, as well as the DePaul Concerto Festival. An avid chamber musician, Wellems was a twoÂyear semifinalist in the Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition Junior Division with her string quartets.
For the past several summers, Wellems has received numerous scholarships to attend the Aspen Music Festival, Chautauqua Music Festival, Astona International Summer Festival in Switzerland, and Okemo Young Artists' Programl. Wellems has also performed in master classes for Rachel BartonÂPine, Ilya Kaler, Pamela Frank, Paul Kantor, and the Pacifica, Orion, and Audubon String Quartets among many others.
Wellems is the Colburn student council president, loves playing soccer, and reading. She is originally from Lincolnshire, IL where her previous violin teachers include Almita and Roland Vamos.