First Violin

Violinist Dawn Marlowe Gingrich joined the Nashville Symphony as a member of the first violin section in May 2024. Ms. Gingrich's versatile career as soloist, concertmaster, orchestral musician and chamber artist has taken her throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Prior to her appointment to the Nashville Symphony, Ms. Gingrich served as a member of the first violin section of the Münchner Symphoniker (Munich Symphony) from 2019-2022, performing at such venues as the Concertgebouw, the Gasteig, Herkulessaal, Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts, and Harbin Grand Theatre. During her tenure as Concertmaster of Orchestra Iowa from 2015-2019, Gingrich's performances of iconic concertmaster solos Ein Heldenleben, Scheherazade, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, J.S. Bach Laudamus te, and Tchaikovsky Sleeping Beauty, among others, were praised as "sublime" for their "passion and fervor" as well as their "calm confidence" (Diana Nollen, The Gazette). Ms. Gingrich also appeared as concerto soloist with the orchestra in performances of Barber Violin Concerto and Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, and spearheaded the orchestra's chamber music series, with a mindful emphasis on programming works composed by women. Gingrich has served as Guest Concertmaster of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia (United Kingdom), Louisville Orchestra, Chicago Opera Theater, Dubuque Symphony, and Northwest Indiana Symphony. She has also performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and Augsburger Philharmoniker.

A fervent advocate of new music, Dawn performed as solo violinist for Lyric Opera of Chicago's premieres of Gregory Spears's Jason and the Argonauts and Matthew Aucoin's Second Nature, her performance of the latter noted by the Chicago Tribune as "crisp and engaged." A devoted chamber musician and bronze medalist at the 2001 Fishcoff Chamber Music Competition, she has had the privilege of performing chamber music with distinguished artists such as Emanuel Ax, Matthew Lipman, Louisa Tuck, Brian Manker, Daniel Gingrich, Jasmine Lin, and Howard Levy of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Ms. Gingrich has been a frequent commentator for Iowa Public Radio, has performed solo recitals on Chicago's "Live from WFMT," has been a featured performer and guest on WTTW's Chicago Tonight, and has appeared in live performances broadcast on PBS and BBC Four. In 2008 she released a recording of Brahms Horn Trio with her father, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Associate Principal Horn Daniel Gingrich, and Boston Trio pianist Heng-Jin Park.

As a conductor, Gingrich was awarded a place in the Jette Parker Young Artist Women Conductors International Masterclass of July 2021, where she conducted the City of London Sinfonia at the Royal Opera House in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. Ms. Gingrich also performed in a conducting course with Paul Murphy, studying Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps at University of Oxford, as well as at the Panula Academy masterclasses with Jorma Panula in Finland in the fall of 2021. She has received generous conducting guidance from Matthew Aucoin, Jessica Cottis, and Larry Rachleff.

A native of the Chicago area, Ms. Gingrich's violin studies began at the age of three with Barbara Bredemeier and continued with Blair Milton of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Eric Rosenblith at New England Conservatory, and Zvi Zeitlin at Music Academy of the West. Additionally, she has received invaluable guidance and instruction from Audrey Wright of the New York Philharmonic and Samantha George, former Associate Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony. Dawn performs on the 1995 Samuel Zygmuntowicz copy of the "Plowden" Guarneri "del Gesu" made for and originally owned by Ruggiero Ricci.