Violinist ELIZABETH FAYETTE, praised by The New York Times for her “alluring, lustrous sound and seasoned virtuosity,” has a multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader. Prior to joining the Cleveland Orchestra as First Associate Concertmaster, she spent significant time in Brazil as Concertmaster of the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais.
Fayette served as first violinist of the Vega Quartet, quartet-in-residence at Emory University, from 2016 to 2020. Alongside an active concert life with the Quartet, including a recital debut at Amsterdam’s renowned Concertgebouw, she was involved in the ensemble’s mission to cultivate the next generation of music lovers. As part of their Emory residency, the Quartet collaborated with faculty across Emory’s curriculum to present interdisciplnary seminars that used music as a point of connection to a wide range of subjects. Prior to joining the Vega Quartet, Fayette was a founding member of the Sheridan Piano Trio, performing extensively throughout Denmark, Germany, and Austria.
Fayette made her Carnegie Hall solo debut with conductor Alan Gilbert and the Juilliard Orchestra. Of this performance, The New York Times wrote that “she produced a ravishing sweet sound … and played with great poise, turning slightly toward the orchestra with a chamber musician’s attention to the interplay of melodic lines and the expressive color of each harmony.” Fayette has also appeared as a soloist with the Houston Symphony as a prizewinner in the Ima Hogg Competition, won Second Prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and was awarded a Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia Career Grant. She has given recitals at The Rockefeller University, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. In a review of her Philadelphia recital, Broad Street Review commented that “every piece proved she possesses one of the indispensable virtues of a true artist: she places her technical virtuosity at the service of her ability to grasp the essence of a composer’s vision.”
As guest concertmaster, Fayette has performed with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. She also regularly appeared with several dynamic collaborative music-making organizations, including NOVUS NY, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Knights, and the New York Classical Players.
Fayette’s festival appearances include the Steans Institute, Kneisel Hall, and Music from Angel Fire, and she has performed as both a soloist and chamber musician at the Aspen Music Festival and School. She was a participant at the Marlboro Music School and Festival from 2014 to 2016, and again in 2021 and 2025. Of her Marlboro performance of the Suite from Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat, The Boston Globe wrote that “the playfully sinister tale centers in large part around a soldier’s violin, and Elizabeth Fayette’s incisive playing bristled with character.” Fayette has collaborated with pianists Mitsuko Uchida, Jonathan Biss, and Bruno Canino; violists Samuel Rhodes and Michael Tree; cellists Peter Stumpf and Peter Wiley; and the innovative contemporary ensemble eighth blackbird.
Born into a family of musicians, all string players, Fayette received her bachelor’s from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Pamela Frank, Shmuel Ashkenasi, and Arnold Steinhardt, and her master’s from The Juilliard School as a student of Sylvia Rosenberg. She completed additional studies with Rosenberg in Juilliard’s Artist Diploma program. From 2014 to 2016, Fayette was a fellow with Ensemble Connect, a program administered by Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School that supports young professional musicians in building careers as performers, innovative programmers, and dedicated teachers fully engaged with their communities.