Violin Faculty

Praised for his “sweet, luxurious sound,” (Fanfare) and the “seriousness and thoughtfulness” (Nashville Scene) of his interpretations, Stephen Miahky is the Joseph Joachim Chair in Violin and the First Violin of the Blair String Quartet at Vanderbilt University.  He has garnered acclaim for his performances as a recitalist and a chamber musician throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia in concert halls and music festivals. His most recent engagements include performances New York City's Symphony Space, Merkin Hall, and Bargemusic, Atlanta's Pro Mozart Society, the Princeton Chamber Music Society, the Southwest Virginia Festival of the Arts, Vancouver's Sonic Boom Festival, the American Academies in Rome and Berlin, the Netherlands' De Lakenhal, NPR's Performance Today, and for the Dalai Lama.  Miahky has performed with such distinguished musicians as Lynn Harrell, Joseph Silverstein, Glenn Dicterow, Cho-Liang Lin, Nicholas Eanet, Martin Beaver, Norman Fischer, Steven Doane, members of the Arianna, Chester, Concord, Tokyo, and Los Angeles Piano Quartets, as well as members of the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  In addition to the standard repertoire, Miahky is a noted performer and interpreter of contemporary music, having performed with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Brave New Works, Alarm Will Sound, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble.  He can be heard on the AMP, New Dynamic, Edition Modern, Albany, MSR and Naxos record labels, and his live performances have been rebroadcast across the country on national and regional public radio affiliates.  Miahky studied chamber music with Andrew Jennings, Martin Katz, and members of the Cleveland, Juilliard, American and Tokyo String Quartets, and received additional training at the Aspen Music Festival, the Meadowmount School, the Perlman Music Program, Canada's National Arts Centre, and the Blossom Festival. His major teachers include Arnold Steinhardt, Paul Kantor, and Alan Bodman.  An alum of the ENCORE School for Strings, Miahky is very happy to serve on the faculty of ENCORE Chamber Music.