Philip Setzer

Philip Setzer, a founding member of the Emerson String Quartet, began studying violin at the age of five with his parents, both former violinists in the Cleveland Orchestra. He continued his studies with Josef Gingold and Rafael Druian, and later at the Juilliard School with Oscar Shumsky. In 1967, Mr. Setzer won second prize at the Marjorie Merriweather Post Competition in Washington, DC, and in 1976 received a Bronze Medal at the Queen Elisabeth International Competition in Brussels. He has appeared with the National Symphony, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Memphis Symphony, and on several occasions with the Cleveland Orchestra. Mr. Setzer has been a regular faculty member of the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshops at Carnegie Hall and the Jerusalem Music Center. He also teaches as professor of violin and Chamber Music at SUNY Stony Brook and has given master classes at schools around the world, including The Curtis Institute, London's Royal Academy of Music, The San Francisco Conservatory, and The Mannes School. Mr. Setzer is also the director of the Shouse Institute, the teaching division of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit. Recently, Mr. Setzer has also been touring and recording the piano trios of Schubert, Mendelssohn and Dvorak with David Finckel and Wu Han.