M I C H A E L   S U T T O N, violin (U.S.A.)

MICHAEL SUTTON has been a member of the Minnesota Orchestra since 1997. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he started playing the violin at the age of 4 at the MacPhail Center for the Arts under Mark Bjork. After winning three competitions in the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Mr. Sutton studied at the Manhattan School of Music, where he received both his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Violin Performance. He was the recipient of the Hugo Kortschak Award for Chamber Music and the only violinist to be given the Harold Bauer Award for Outstanding Accomplishment. Mr. Sutton’s major teachers were Raphael Bronstein and Ariana Bronne. He studied orchestral repertoire with Enrico DiCecco of the New York Philharmonic. After being concertmaster at the Manhattan School of Music for three years, Mr. Sutton went on to become concertmaster at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival under such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Kurt Masur, Mstislav Rostropovich, George Manahan, Lawrence Leighton-Smith, Sixten Ehrling, Lorin Maazel, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Valerie Ghergiev, Semion Bychkov, Marin Alsop, and Christoph Eschenbach. Because of this reputation, Mr. Sutton was called to be concertmaster for the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. for four years. He returned there for his most recent solo engagement under the direction of artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas. After three years of intensive orchestral study there, Mr. Sutton won his section position in the Minnesota Orchestra, now considered to be to be among the Top Ten American orchestras. In the summer of 1995, Mr. Sutton led the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Mr. Sutton is now the violinist for the longest running chamber music group in the Twin Cities called the Musical Offering Chamber Ensemble, and is on the Board of Directors for the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies.