Rochelle McGhee

Rochelle McGhee received her M.M. in Music Performance and graduated (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Akron where she received a full scholarship to study with Andrew Jennings (violin), Alan Bodman (viola), and Stephen Majeske (violin) of the Cleveland Orchestra. She has been a violin/viola teacher for over 30 years. She was a violist in America’s Orchestral Academy, The New World Symphony, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, which traveled extensively throughout Europe, Israel, and South America. She received private viola lessons and master classes from Robert Vernon, Ellen Rose, and Lisa Boyko, and Yitzhak Schotten. Rochelle is a former adjunct Suzuki Violin faculty member of Miami Dade Community College. She also studied at the Meadowmount School of Music, and participated in the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. In her youth, she played in the Portland Youth Philharmonic, which played a joint anniversary concert with the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, then went on to be the first American orchestra to tour the former Yugoslavia. Rochelle was formerly the assistant principal violist with the Central Wisconsin Symphony, and taught violin and viola at the Wausau Conservatory. She was also formerly a member of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra. She now resides in New York with her husband Jeff, a professor of voice.