Amanda Armstrong, Assistant Concertmaster

My official bio:

Violinist Amanda Gates Armstrong was appointed Assistant Concertmaster of the acclaimed Virginia Symphony in 2002.  She is an active chamber musician, and has performed and recorded with the Virginia Chamber Players and the Norfolk Chamber Consort.  A native of Reston, Virginia, she was awarded a National Symphony Orchestra Youth Fellowship for high school students, receiving private lessons, master classes, and opportunities to perform with the NSO.  She also attended ENCORE School for Strings in Ohio where she studied with Kay Stern and Viktor Danchenko.  

She graduated summa cum laude from the Honors Program at Catholic University in 1996, where she was a full scholarship student of Robert Gerle.  While studying at Catholic University, she formed the Shenandoah Quartet, which performed for ambassadors, congressman, and in a private audience for the late John Paul II at the Vatican.  She has performed in orchestras around the world and has worked with the concertmasters of the Vienna Philharmonic, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, National and Montreal Symphonies, and the San Francisco Opera.

As a soloist, she has appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, and with the Catholic University Orchestra on several occasions, including the Washington, DC premiere of Kurt Weill’s violin concerto, the Beethoven concerto, and , filling in for the ailing Jody Gatwood, the Tchaikovsky concerto on one day’s notice.  She has also performed as soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and Vaughn Williams’ The Lark Ascending, both with the Virginia Symphony.  

Awarded a position with the Chautauqua Symphony in upstate New York in 2002, she spends the summers there performing with her husband, Vahn Armstrong, and playing with their two boys, Byron and Blake.

Ms. Armstrong performs on a violin by Pietro Giacomo Rogeri, Brescia, 1699.

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My unofficial manifesto:


Hello and welcome to our new web site!  Simon Lapointe, Tom Reel and I have been working hard to bring this site to the public.  We are excited to share news, views and the like with you, the audience we serve in Hampton Roads.

I thought I would share some personal thoughts about the VSO.  This year marks the end of my 10th season with the Symphony.  It's amazing to me that I have been here that long!  I even have a memorial Jefferson Cup to prove it.  I joined the orchestra in 1996 when I had just graduated from college. At that time, I had also auditioned in Savannah and been offered a position there.  I had to make a decision then between Savannah and the VSO.  

Though it's true that this orchestra was located closer to my parents and my then-boyfriend, what really convinced me to come here was a phone call from our Music Director, JoAnn Falletta.  The fact that she took the time to personally convince me to join the orchestra, coupled with the amazingly cool idea that I would play in an orchestra under a conductor who was not only one of the finest conductors around, but also a woman- convinced me that Norfolk was the place to be.

I remember my audition here very well.  Though I grew up in Northern Virginia (Reston), I had only been to Norfolk once before, when I was 8!  So when I encountered the beautiful sight of the Elizabeth River after my 4-hour drive from what was then "home", I was enchanted.  I thought to myself, "I HAVE to move here!"
I stayed at what was then the Omni hotel downtown, right by Waterside, and I warmed up while gazing out at the boats.  What a beautiful place!  I also decided to take a trial walk to my audition, so I could make sure I didn't get lost the next morning.  

Well, midway through my foray down Granby Street (remember this was 1996!), after tripping over some broken beer bottles next to derelict buildings, I decided that it was time to turn around.  Just think of that- Granby Street, now the hub of nightlife in Hampton Roads, gone from rags to riches in just 10 years.   It's something I think about often.

I also remember clearly something that happened right before the semi-final round of my audition here.  I was looking over the excerpts (clips from standard repertoire, required of all auditionees, much like "compulsories" used to be in figure skating) and I was excited to see that the 2nd movement of Mozart's 39th symphony was on the list.  "Oh, goody, I love that excerpt!," I exclaimed  (I've always been hopelessly chatty at auditions- nerves, I guess).   At just that moment, the committee was walking down the stairs to the audition hall, returning from lunch.  This guy in a fedora with a Hawaiian shirt and a coffee mug said, "Well, you're in luck, you get to play it in a few minutes!"  I remembered thinking that he seemed pretty cool to me.  That was my husband, Vahn.  Ten years after that first meeting, here we are with two rambunctious boys, a house on 48th street, 4 boats (one for each boy plus a spare) and a dog.  

And the orchestra became like a second family to me- actually, a family very difficult to separate from my own, because they are so intertwined.  As anyone here will tell you, ours is a special orchestra.  Not only are we totally committed to artistic excellence, we are definitely a family.  We play together in rehearsals, and we play together outside of rehearsals.  We meet for parties, for chamber music reading sessions (working just for fun!); we meet at Harbor Park for Tides games; we meet at Fleet Park for Little League Games.
 
We meet at the Y for workouts; we meet to hike mountains, take bike rides,  and run marathons.  We meet at Civic League meetings, and we meet at PTA meetings.  We meet to  go out to eat; to ride the ferry; to play pool; to have Halloween parties and New Year's parties.  Every one of us knows whose home is open on Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter, New Year's, and even Christmas- not one of us is left alone.

We meet at the best restaurants all over Hampton Roads to celebrate after concerts; birthdays, anniversaries and other special events.   We attend each other's weddings (did you know that there are 8 married couples in the VSO?  That makes 16 out of 78 musicians; plus a few more that are not YET married); we visit each other at the hospital (sometimes we TAKE each other to the hospital); we hold baby showers for each other.  We help each other move; we exchange food, maternity clothes, baby essentials, and the like.  When one of us is grieving, we circle round to give support as well.   We meet for playdates for kids and for our dogs.  We are each others' "Emergency Contacts."  We share childcare and swap sitting for nights out.  

I feel truly privileged to be working with my colleagues.  Not only are they first class musicians, they are truly wonderful human beings as well.  This is why I wanted to serve on the Negotiating Committee this year- to help give back to this amazing orchestra the many blessings that have been given to me.  

Please return soon- we hope to have more pictures, information and personal stories in the coming months.  Thanks so much for your interest in YOUR symphony!

Amanda