Biography
Originally from Oakland, California, Madeline Stewart is an active violist, violinist, and educator in the Boston area. Currently, she serves as Violin/Viola Faculty at the Boston String Academy, and frequently performs as an orchestral and chamber music artist throughout the US and abroad.
A founding orchestra member, Ms. Stewart has sat as Principal Second Violin and guest Principal Viola for Opera Neo for over ten seasons. Ms. Stewart performed with the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra in Budapest as Principal Second Violin, in collaboration with Opera Neo’s 2022 season. In 2021, she was the violist with the resident Neo String Quartet, and featured in concert during the festival that season.
Locally in New England, Ms. Stewart has performed with the Unitas Ensemble, Phoenix Ensemble, New Bedford Symphony, Lowell Chamber Orchestra, and Boston Modern Orchestra Project. In addition to her accomplishments as a modern performer, Ms. Stewart frequents in period performance, and has appeared with various early music ensembles including Opera Neo’s Baroque Ensemble, San Diego Bach Soloists, Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, Baroque Cello Bootcamp’s Cello Choir, Roslindale’s Pop-Up Baroque Orchestra, and most recently, Crescendo Music.
Other unforgettable performances by Ms. Stewart include collaborations with well-known artists/groups Johnny Mathis, Time for Three, the Berklee Indian Ensemble, and various Silk Road Ensemble Musicians. She has also performed in Europe, and with orchestras in China, New Zealand, and in Australia at the renowned Sydney Opera House. A true devotee of the theater, she has also performed in more than 40 opera productions, and over one hundred ballet performances (both on stage and in the orchestra pit).
As an educator, Ms. Stewart has assisted and taught at the San Diego State University String Academy, coached strings at the Palomar Symphony Orchestra, and served on faculty as Violin and Viola Instructor for California State University San Marcos. She has spent her professional career traveling coast to coast to learn directly from world-renowned string pedagogues, and she continues her lifelong venture of researching pedagogy to enhance her own teaching methods. To extend this passion, she is writing a book documenting her observations of her teacher, pedagogue Rictor Noren, after reaching over one hundred hours of observing his unique pedagogy.
Ms. Stewart plays on an Otto A. Erdesz viola, and a Paul Knorr violin dated 1927. She also plays on a contemporary baroque violin and viola, on generous loan, crafted by Connecticut-based luthier Timothy Johnson.