Emma Meinrenken, Violin

Canadian-German violinist Emma Meinrenken is a musician praised for her virtuosity and unique interpretations of both contemporary and standard repertoire, and the newly-appointed Associate 1st Violin at the New York City Ballet. She is the recipient of Yale’s Presser Foundation Award and a Sylva Gelber Foundation Award, and other prizes include 1st place at the Stradivarius International Violin Competition and the Prix Ravel at the Ecole d'Art Américaines de Fontainebleau. 

She has performed in many prestigious music festivals worldwide, including the Verbier Festival Academy, Norfolk Music Festival, NUME Festival, Festival of the Sound, and Four Seasons Workshop. She has recently co-founded a concert series, Music Around the Corner, which focuses on highlighting Canadian music and unique community spaces in Toronto. Meinrenken debuted with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2011, and has since soloed with orchestras across North America and Europe.

Collaborations with composers are a major feature of her career, and she made her Carnegie Hall debut giving the New York premiere of a work by Fred Lerdahl. Recent projects include premiering Maya Miro Johnson’s Violin Concerto, and an upcoming solo feature at Bang on a Can’s ‘Long Play’ Festival in May 2026. 

She recently received her Master of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Augustin Hadelich, and started her doctorate degree in Musical Arts at CUNY in the fall of 2025 with Mark Steinberg. She has a Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ida Kavafian and was awarded the Milka Violin Artist Prize upon graduating. Meinrenken plays on a 2013 Mario Miralles violin and a Nicholas Maline bow.