Article – Elizabeth Pitcairn

Celebrated American violin virtuoso Elizabeth Pitcairn has earned a stunning reputation as one of America’s most beloved soloists. Ms. Pitcairn made her New York debut at Lincoln Centre’s Alice Tully Hall in 2000 with the New York String Orchestra and she appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music.

She has recently been named the Artistic Director of the Luzerne Chamber Music Festival, and she is a member of the distinguished faculty at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, where she currently resides. Read more…

At the age of 16, Ms Pitcairn was quietly gifted the Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius of 1720 by her grandfather; an instrument that had previously fetched a record price at London’s Christie’s auction house in 1990 and had inspired the Academy Award-Winning film, The Red Violin.

(Photo courtesy of Joy Strotz)

But even on the finest instruments, artists such as Ms. Pitcairn have historically struggled with pegs that slip or stick during crucial moments in performance. Pegs that are difficult to turn can also exacerbate the wrist and arm strain that eventually plagues many professional musicians. Orchestral musicians are under pressure to get their instruments in tune for both concerts and rehearsals in the short amount of time allotted. Children and their parents especially have great difficulty with ill-fitting pegs on student instruments that create endless frustration for both families and luthiers alike. As director of the renowned Luzerne Music Center (NY) summer program, Ms. Pitcairn sees firsthand how extreme humidity and dryness adversely affect her students’ pegs.