Elizabeth Gex

Born in New York City, Elizabeth Gex began violin studies at the age of five. It wasn’t until four years later however, in her first string quartet, that she started to play the viola. While enrolled in the Bachelor’s program in violin at Indiana University, she studied viola with Kim Kashkashian who encouraged her to devote herself to the deeper instrument. Ms. Gex subsequently returned to New York to complete a Master of Music degree in viola at the Juilliard School. After briefly freelancing in New York, Ms. Gex left to pursue an international music career. Following a semester in residence as member of the Atlantic String Quartet at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, she studied for a year in Prague at the Prague Mozart Academy, were, under the musical direction of Sándor Végh, she further expanded her knowledge of the chamber music repertoire and of central European style. The next two seasons were spent freelancing, most notably in Germany with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, and the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt. During her time abroad, Elizabeth Gex has participated in master classes given by Thomas Riebl and Gerard Caussé, and performed in music festivals such as Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, Great Britain and the Internationale Ferien Kurse in Darmstadt, Germany. In addition, she has performed chamber music with such distinguished artists as Colin Carr, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Thomas Brandis and Maurice Bourgue. Her performances have been broadcast live Australia, Camada, France, Germany and Spain. Ms. Gex has been Principal Violist in the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Co-Principal Violist in the Real Filharmónia de Galicia, under the musical direction of Helmuth Rilling, and member of the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio y Televisión Española. Since 1999, when Artists International presented Ms. Gex in her New York Recital Debut at Weill Recital Hall, Ms. Gex has returned to free-lancing in order to dedicate more of her time to performing chamber music, solo recitals and contemporary music. She is a founding member of the Quartet Albada (period instruments), the Virus String Quartet (original modern music fusions: jazz, country, funk on amplified instruments) and performs flamenco regularly with the guitarist Juan Ignacio Gomez, “Chicuelo”.