Ms. Marissa E. Murphy

Marissa Murphy, a native of Buffalo NY and a graduate of Buffalo Suzuki Strings, is the Founder and Director of Washington Suzuki Strings, a Suzuki violin and viola program in Chevy Chase, MD. She serves as Principal Second Violin of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Murphy is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and her major teachers include Martin Beaver, Linda Cerone, David Russell, and Mary Cay Neal. Ms. Murphy’s Advanced Violin Choir has performed at the White House on four occasions, for Vice President Biden at his residence, for the Ambassadors of Italy, Zambia and Norway at their respective embassies, soloed with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and performed at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her students have been prizewinners in the Marlin-Engel Competition and the Maryland Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Ms. Murphy has performed on NPR’s “All Things Considered” as part of a tribute to Mozart, and has also performed at the National Repertory Orchestra, Encore, Spoleto, and Bowdoin festivals. She has soloed on multiple occasions with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and the Clarence Symphony, and has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, New World Symphony, National Philharmonic Orchestra, American Pops Orchestra, and the Annapolis, Clarence, and Alexandria Symphonies. Ms. Murphy is the former Second Violinist of the New Music Associates Quartet that was in residence at Cleveland State University, and has given recitals at the Cleveland Museum of Art, St. Paul’s Cathedral Recital Series and for President Jimmy Carter to honor his Nobel Prize. She has taught at the Greater Washington Suzuki Institute and the Buffalo Suzuki Strings Summer Workshop. Ms. Murphy is the former Associate Chair Suzuki Strings and Violin Faculty at the Levine School of Music, and has been published in the Suzuki Association of the Americas National Journal and the American String Teachers Association Journal. Ms. Murphy served as Board Chair of the Suzuki Association of the Greater Washington Area- SAGWA, and also served on the Board of Directors of the ASTA chapter of MD/DC. Ms. Murphy has done long-term apprenticeships and has completed and registered Books 1-10 in Suzuki teacher training with Mary Cay Neal and Ronda Cole. Ms. Murphy also studied Suzuki piano as a child and completed all books of Suzuki piano study with Claudio and Susan Vasquez. Ms. Murphy has received training in Music Mind Games with Michiko Yurko; and is currently taking long-term training in Dalcroze Eurthymics with Dr. Jeremy Dittus.