Music professor wins American Prize in String Performance
St. Olaf College Associate Professor of Music Francesca Anderegg won second place in the 2023 American Prize in String Performance Professional Division competition.
Founded in 2010, the American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts are “the nation’s most comprehensive series of contests in the performing arts.” These contests recognize and reward talent across a wide range of disciplines, including anything from opera companies to instrumental soloists. The American Prize competitions are hosted at every level of experience and organization, with categories for high school, collegiate, and professional contestants.
Anderegg won second place in the Instrumental Soloists Professional division for her performance of works by Amy Beach, Joan Tower, and Reinaldo Moya, which she had recorded and posted to her YouTube channel. She discovered the American Prize when the St. Olaf Orchestra won soon after she started teaching at the College.
Anderegg leads an accomplished and renowned professional career as a violinist. Since her Carnegie Hall debut in 2008, she has given recitals in national and international venues, and has released three acclaimed solo albums. She is a laureate of the Corpus Christi Competition and winner of fellowships from both the McKnight Foundation and the Leonore Annenberg Fund.
“When I was young, I heard from my teachers that professional violinists have to specialize: you can be a soloist, play chamber music, or play in an orchestra.. But I kind of do all of those things,” she says with a laugh. “I’m pretty busy, but it’s good.”
In addition to her professional career as a violin performer, Anderegg has taught at St. Olaf since 2012, teaching violin, viola, string literature and pedagogy, and a newly created Global Improvisation Ensemble. Her favorite part of teaching, she says, revolves around helping students “make progress that they didn’t even know was possible. That’s really rewarding for me … showing students the potential that I see in their playing.”