Originally from Minnesota, Ms. Michelle Laliberte started her career as a professional musician at the age of 16 with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra.  She began her college studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with Gerald Fischbach, former president of the American String Teachers Association and author of Viva Vibrato and Artistry in Strings.  In Milwaukee she also studied with members of the Fine Arts String Quartet. Michelle graduated as a Dean's Scholar with a bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts in New York at the Purchase Conservatory of Music where she studied with Yuval Waldman and then with Daniel Phillips, member of the Orion String Quartet.  She also was coached by Robert Levin, Yehudi Wyner, and members of the Julliard String Quartet.  Ms. Laliberte continued her studies with Carolyn Plummer at the University of Notre Dame where she earned a Master’s degree in music.  She then spent a year studying with Eduard Melkus at the Vienna Academy of Music and then went on to pursue post grad studies with Charles Treger at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.  She received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in violin performance at the University of Colorado in Boulder as a teaching assistant for Oswald Lehnert, founding member of the Pablo Casals Piano Trio and she also worked with members of the Takacs String Quartet.

Ms. Laliberte has performed as a freelance soloist and chamber musician for many years.  She has held Concertmaster positions with several orchestras including the Southwest Minnesota Symphony Orchestra and the Bemidji Symphony Orchestra.  Ms. Laliberte was a member of the Boulder Philharmonic for seven years and has held principal positions with the Symphonia of Colorado, the Waterbury Symphony, the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra, the South Bend Symphony, the North Shore Philharmonic, the Manhattanville Orchestra, and the Boston Civic Symphony.  She also performed regularly with the Rochester Philharmonic and the New Britain and Meridan Symphony Orchestras.
 

While maintaining a private studio for the past 25 years Michelle has also taught violin for the performing art divisions and continuing education departments at the University of Colorado-Boulder, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the University of Notre Dame, the Boulder Arts Academy, the Northampton Community Music Center, the Williston Northampton Preparatory School, and the Lexington Art Center in Massachusetts.  Ms. Laliberte taught violin and viola at Southwest Minnesota State University, the University of Minnesota in Morris and Bemidji State University.

 

In 2011 Ms. Laliberte pursued long term training in Suzuki pedagogy with the renowned William Starr and received certification through Level 4.  Subsequently, she joined the Hyde Park Suzuki Institute in Chicago during the summer of 2012 before continuing on to start up a violin program for beginners at a performing art charter school in Goodyear, AZ.  She then went on to start a privately funded violin program for 2nd and 3rd graders.