Meg Rohrer
Meg (they/them/she/her) centers much of their work around chamber music. Meg is the violinist of Hub New Music, a touring quartet dedicated to commissioning and performing new chamber music repertoire. Meg is also the violinist and violist in Virago, a Southeast Michigan based quartet that melds contemporary chamber music with free improvisation. They are a member of the Kalkaska String Quartet, with whom they frequently perform in the metro Detroit area in a variety of settings. For two years, Meg was a member of the award-winning Converge String Quartet, a group dedicated to premiering new works by University of Michigan composers. Rohrer has recently performed with New Music Detroit, and has been featured the Riot Ensemble Festival in London, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Ann Arbor Summer festival, the University Musical Society’s Parable Path A2Ypsi Series, the Third Place Concert Series, the Midwest Composer Symposium, and Fever’s Detroit Candlelight Concert Series.
As an orchestral musician, Meg has performed with the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, the Mendocino Music Festival Orchestra, and the Ann Arbor Symphony. Meg has made concertmaster appearances with the Michigan Philharmonic and the Campus Philharmonic Orchestra at the University of Michigan. As a soloist, Meg performed a double concerto with violin and erhu with the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan in 2019 and a violin concerto with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra in 2012.
As an educator, Meg has trained in the Suzuki method and is influenced by the pedagogies of Mimi Zweig, Mark Mutter, Marilyn O’Boyle, Blair Milton, Danielle Belen, and Ed Sarath. Meg has a private violin studio and has taught through the Sphinx Organization, Crescendo Detroit, the Crowden Music Center in Berkeley, CA, the Ann Arbor Public Schools camp at Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Àkójọpò Music Festival, The People’s Music School in Chicago, and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra summer workshop. Meg’s pedagogical philosophy focuses on teaching physicality, balance, and expression, challenging students to listen more deeply to each sound they produce and exploring creative processes in conjunction with building technique.
Meg earned their masters degree at the University of Michigan studying with Danielle Belen and Caroline Coade, and holds a bachelors degree from Northwestern University where they studied with Blair Milton. They have had the privilege to work closely with composers Tyshawn Sorey, Nina C. Young, Augusta Read Thomas, Shulamit Ran, and world-class ensembles such as yMusic, the Aizuri Quartet, the Dover Quartet, the Viano String Quartet, and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble.
Meg is a New Mexican who grew up in California and is now embracing life as a Michigander. In their free time, Meg enjoys baking sourdough bread, the ever expanding Star Wars universe, coffee, sunshine, and spending time with their eight younger siblings.