In a perfect world, your love of the violin would be enough.
You could spend your day playing your favorite pieces, without a worry about what other people liked or thought.
However, if you want to make a living playing your instrument, you’ll likely need much more than your passion.
You’ll need connections and a chance to study under a master. And you’ll find those at a music school.
Excellent music schools can be found across the United States, many of which offer great violin programs.
These schools can include conservatories, which focus almost exclusively on mastery of your instrument, or traditional liberal arts schools, in which you’ll earn a BFA as you learn your craft.
Whichever you choose, you’ll be sure to benefit from the opportunity to learn under experienced performers, who have played on the most respected stages in the world, and to study alongside other passionate violinists.
Here are our picks for 10 of the best violin performance schools in the US.
Remember that these 10 schools are a starting point, and the most important thing is to find the “right fit” college for you.
Plenty of schools beyond these 10 could find themselves on a list like this one.
Juilliard School
As one of the greatest and most famous music schools in the country, it’s no surprise that The Julliard School has a great violin program.
The School enjoys affiliations with the New York Philharmonic, making it an ideal destination for anyone who wants a career in classical music.
One such teacher is Joel Smirnoff, who has taught at Juilliard for almost four decades. Smirnoff was a member of the Juilliard String Quartet for over 20 years and has taught many of the world’s great performers today.
Joining Smirnoff are greats such as Itzhak Perman and Kyung-Wha Chung, legends from whom any performer would be happy to learn.
But with such talent comes a great deal of demand, making Juilliard one of the most exclusive schools on this list, with an extremely low 10% acceptance rate.
New England Conservatory of Music
Founded in 1867, the New England Conservatory of Music is the country’s oldest private independent conservatory.
Thanks to its association with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, NEC boasts an excellent faculty of professional musicians, many of which hold dual appointments with both the college and the ensemble.
In the violin department, those professionals include Donald Weilerstein.
Winner of the 1968 Munich International Competition for violin and piano duo, Weilerstein trains the next generation of award winners.
As a teacher at both NEC and Juilliard, Weilerstein served as a violinist for the Cleveland Quartet for twenty years and has recorded numerous Grammy-nominated albums.
Violinist Miriam Fried has played with orchestras around the world, including the Vienna Symphony and the London Symphony.
In addition to teaching at NEC, Fried has been faculty chair at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival, training future musicians.
University of Miami Frost School of Music
Although the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music has one of the country’s best contemporary music programs, the school also has excellent options for violinists.
Faculty members include Charles Castleman, a distinguished violin teacher who founded a prominent summer music program for high school students, the Castleman Quartet program.
Castleman earned this reputation not only because of his performances with orchestras around the world, including those of Hong King and Mexico City, but also because he recorded numerous solo CD albums.
However, perhaps the greatest evidence of Castleman’s success as a teacher is the achievements of his students, who have gone on to careers in solo, chamber, and orchestral performance.
Cleveland Institute of Music
Founded in 1920 by legendary Swiss composer Ernest Bloch, the Cleveland Institute of Music has become one of the most competitive conservatories in the country.
Because it maintains a student body of just 325 students, only a small fraction of hopefuls get accepted each year.
Those who do make it in have the opportunity to study under Jaime Laredo, winner of the American String Teacher Association’s Artist Teacher Award for 2017.
Laredo debuted with the San Francisco Symphony when he was only 11, and since then, he has continued to play on the most respected stages in the world.
Beyond his performances, Laredo also has a reputation as an excellent teacher, sharing his decades of knowledge and experience with future concert violinists.
Among the more recent additions to the faculty is Ilya Kaler, who came to CIM in 2018.
Kaler has won numerous awards and enjoys the distinction of being the only violinist to earn gold medals at the Helsinki Sibelius Competition, the Genoa Paganini Competition, and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition.
Colburn School
Because it accepts only enough musicians to maintain an orchestra (along with a few spots for conductors and pianists), Colburn tends to have a student body of just 115 students.
As a result, the school has an acceptance rate of just 10%. Everyone accepted receives a full tuition scholarship, allowing them to study without worrying about going into debt.
For violinists, the appeal of Colburn includes studying under Jascha Heifetz Distinguished Violin Chair Robert Lipsett.
Before coming to Colburn, Lipsett taught at the University of Southern California and California State University at Northbridge and played on the world’s greatest stages.
In addition to winning the White Commission for Presidential Scholars’ Distinguished Teacher Award, Lipsett took top place at the Irvine M. Klein International Violin Competition, Hannover International Violin Competition, and others.
Rice University Shepherd School of Music
Formed in 1974, the Shepherd School of Music is one of the younger schools on its list. But in that short time, Shepherd has put together a faculty that would attract the attention of any violinist.
Instructor Cho-Liang Lin has been performing as a concert violinist since 1980 when he debuted with the New York Philharmonic. Since then, he has not only played with major orchestras across the globe but also taught at the Juilliard School.
Winner of the Julia Mile Chance Award for excellence in teaching, Kathleen Winkler has taught incredibly talented students and musicians.
Winkler has been performing since she was 17 when she debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since then, she has played on world stages and at all major music festivals as a chamber musician.
Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia, PA)
Future concert violinists would be honored to study under any of the instructors at the Curtis Institute of Music. But even among that rarified company, Dorothy Richard Starling Chair in Violin Studies Midori stands out.
Midori has performed with nearly every major orchestra in the world. Midori counts among her collaborators Yo-Yo Ma and Leonard Bernstein, and she has been honored by the Kennedy Center. She has been an instructor at Curtis since 2018.
But even the most talented violinist will have a challenge applying to Curtis. To keep a body of only 150 students, Curtis accepts only 7% of those who apply.
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Although no violinists studied at the school in its original incarnation as the Ada Clement Piano School in 1917, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music of today is an excellent choice for first-class string musicians.
Thanks to its connection to the San Francisco Symphony, SFCM has a top-level faculty of professional musicians.
One such faculty member, Cordula Merks, is the concertmaster of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. She is also a member of the Seattle Symphony.
Another respected violin teacher, Simon James brings to his students knowledge he gained while playing with the Melbourne Symphonia Orchestra and the Mostly Mozart Orchestra at the Lincoln Center.
James has played alongside not only these respected groups but also pop stars such as Pearl Jam and Billy Joel.
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
For those who want a conservatory-style education while also pursuing a liberal arts degree, there’s the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati College.
The program provides its students with all the benefits of a research institution, allowing them to earn a well-rounded education while also becoming masters of their instruments.
They gain that mastery while studying under teachers such as Kurt Sassmannshaus, the distinguished Dorothy Richard Starling Chair for Classical Violin.
Sassmannshaus honed his pedagogical skills while teaching all over the world, hosting masterclasses on nearly every continent.
Before coming to CCM, he founded the Starling Preparatory String Project and taught students who went on to be members of the London Philharmonic, North German State Radio, and to hold other respected positions.
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is among the best music programs on the east coast.
It earns this distinction thanks in part to the fact that it provides its students with a high-level liberal arts education, thanks to its partnership with Barnard College at Columbia.
It also learns that distinction by bringing excellent teachers, such as legendary violinist Sylvia Rosenberg, to its faculty.
Before coming to MSM, Rosenberg taught violin at various high-level schools, including Eastman and Peabody.
In addition to teaching at MSM and at Juilliard, Rosenberg has led master classes at the Royal Academy of Music in London and has given eleven concerts at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
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