About the Music Director

Marisa McLeod, violinist, a native of Newark, New Jersey, began her studies of the violin at the age of three. She received her Bachelor of Music degree at Montclair State University, and her Master of Music degree from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music. She received her Suzuki certification from the School for Strings in New York City and the Eastman School under Anastasia Jempelis.

She was a member of the Anderson String Quartet for ten years. She has studied string quartets with the Cleveland Quartet with Peter Salaff as her private teacher, Juilliard String Quartet, American String Quartet, and Le Quatuor de Deux Monde, in Fontaineblau, France. They were artists in residence and members of the music faculty at California State University, Los Angeles. Their travels took them all over the country where they performed numberous recitals and children's concerts. She has also performed and recorded for artists like Snoop Dog, Smokey Robinson, En Vogue, Moesha, Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind and Fire, and many others.

She presently performs with the California Philharmonic, Santa Barbara, Pasadena Symphony, and various orchestras in Southern California. She is a former violin instructor at the Renaissance Arts Academy. She maintains a home studio.

For Marisa performance is sustenance. She relishes the interdependence between art, the artist and the audience, and as a teacher and coach, she finds herself in the enviable position of being able to pass on to others the how-to of creating this loving relationship.

The Junior Orchestra is open to children who have had a least two years experience with a string instrument.

The Intermezzo Strings is geared with the more advanced musician in mind. Continued experience in group participation, with the goal of future admission into the Youth Symphony.