About Kerstin

MEET ME

hello, i’m kerstin

‘Ker’ is pronounced like Care-Bear—Ker-stin! I am named after my great-great-grandmother, Kerstin from Sweden.

Kerstin Tenney is a professional violinist based in Salt Lake City, Utah. As an active freelance musician, Kerstin works frequently on recording projects, does solo work, and performs regularly with the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. She has toured with the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra on stages across the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, and the Vienna Musikverein. Kerstin was the featured violin soloist on the soundtrack for the award-winning documentary, Bears of Durango, currently playing on PBS.

Kerstin has a private violin studio in which she incorporates physical, neurological, and psychological elements that facilitate greater ease in violin practice and performance with her students.

LIGHT is Kerstin’s debut album for which she commissioned four new works and eight new arrangements. The album was produced by award-winning classical producer and sound engineer, Simon Kiln, and British Award winning composer, Donald Fraser.

A native of Arizona, Kerstin enjoys spending time with loved ones, gardening, traveling, and of course playing her violin! She loves to shine light, helping others connect to who they really are.

She performs on a Guy Cole violin from the Avalon Studio 2005, patterned after the “Kochanski Guarneri del Gesu,” and a bow made by John Norwood Lee.

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MORE ABOUT ME

Born Into Music

I grew up in a very musical family in Arizona, the third of eight children. I remember sitting at the piano as a little girl making up songs and singing along. At times I would pull out my mother’s violin and other smaller violins and try to play them.

My Formal Music Training

I began my formal music training on the piano, taking lessons with my mother when I was six years old. My mom sewed my very first recital dress, the first of many! Maybe this is where my love for sewing some of my own performance attire came. I thought I would be a concert pianist when I grew up, and gave my first solo piano concert at eleven, and another at thirteen but it was the violin that won my heart!

Playing the Violin

At age ten I started playing the violin in my school’s orchestra program in rural Arizona. At thirteen I began to study the violin privately with Mr. Clarence Shaw who made a weekly three hour commute to teach in my town. Mr. Shaw also conducted the Silver Creek Symphony, (now the White Mountain Symphony Orchestra) the community orchestra my parent’s played in, and I would later play in, and have my solo debut with an orchestra.

Kerstin with Northern Arizona University

Professional Training

I received a Bachelor’s degree in violin performance from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona graduating summa cum laude, studying violin with Dr. Louise Scott. And a Master’s degree in violin performance from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City where I held a teaching assistantship and studied with Dr. Hasse Borup.

Continued studies took me to ‘Le Domaine Forget‘ in Quebec, and the “Accademia Internazionale di Musica di Cagliari‘ in Sardinia, and to Nathan Cole, Boston Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster.

Along with performing and recording work, I currently have a private violin studio, and teach students online and in person. I love working with students of all ages and experiences!