Melissa J. Tatreau Holtmeier

Melissa Tatreau Holtmeier has a Bachelor’s in Music Education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Master’s in Violin Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Wisconsin-–Milwaukee. She studied pedagogy with Darcy Drexler through the Wisconsin String Academy. She has studied violin with Dr. Paul Todd, Dr. Laura Kobayashi, Anne Nagosky, and Dr. Myron Kartman. Tatreau Holtmeier has registered training in Suzuki books 1-4 with Susan Kempter and has attended Mark O’Connor’s fiddle camps in San Diego and New York City. She was in the very first teacher certification class of the Mark O’Connor Violin Method, books 1 and 2, in 2009 (and again in Omaha: January, 2020). She completed books 3 and 4 training virtually in 2021.

Since 2005, Tatreau Holtmeier has been a full-time artist-faculty member at Omaha Conservatory of Music and currently serves as the String Department Chair. Tatreau Holtmeier has her 200 RYT in yoga, and in addition to teaching at the OCM Summer Institute, she has presented “Yoga for Musicians” at the American String Teachers’ Association national conventions in Louisville (2014), Tampa (2016), and Atlanta (2018). Tatreau Holtmeier is the music specialist at Phoenix Academy in Omaha and is a coach for the Omaha Area Youth Orchestras. She is a member of the Omaha Musicians’ Union and the American String Teachers’ Association (ASTA). In 2019, she was awarded Outstanding Private Teacher of the Year by NE-ASTA and currently serves as state president.

As a performing artist on both violin and viola, Tatreau Holtmeier has played with Mary J. Blige, Bobby Vinton, Frank Sinatra Jr., Rod Stewart, Josh Groban, Pam Tillis, The Lettermen, Michael W. Smith, Johnny Mathis, Michael Buble, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and Mannheim Steamroller (She’s on their PBS special: 30/40). She is a founding member and manager of the Mahr String Quartet. In her years of experience playing with the Omaha and Lincoln Symphonies, Tatreau Holtmeier has had the opportunity to play both great works and accompany violinists Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Philippe Quint, Sarah Chang, and Midori. She has also toured China and the U.S. with the Mantovani Orchestra. She performed the Salute to Vienna New Year’s 2010 concerts in Southern Florida and has been seen in the Orpheum and Lied Center pits as a local with the Broadway shows Little House on the Prairie, Westside Story, The Lion King, The Book of Mormon(3x), Kinky Boots, Newsies, Cinderella, Phantom of the Opera (3x), Something Rotten, The Sound of Music, The Little Mermaid and The King and I.

In her free time, Tatreau Holtmeier likes to hang out with her photographer husband, Chris Holtmeier, their daughter, Ella, and their Siberian cat, Sergei. (Reading, yoga, naps, and coffee are nice, too!)