Middle/High School Strings

Village offers a long-running and accomplished Middle and High School Strings program, where players of every experience level are given the chance to learn and strengthen their ensemble playing skills as they master the violin, viola, cello, or double bass. From time to time, our ensembles combine, giving students valuable experience in playing in larger symphonic and choral settings.

Meet the Instructor: Michelina Wright

Michelina Wright hails from Chicago. She received her Bachelor's degree in music performance from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville in 2000. That same year her string quartet went to South Bend, Indiana, where they were semi-finalists in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. The summer of 2000 she studied at Roundtop International Music Festival in Texas where her quintet was one of the ensembles chosen for Best of Chamber Music. Ms. Wright received her Master’s degree in music performance at the California Institute of the Arts, where she was active in various ensembles including the New Millennium Players. She has played with the St. Louis Philharmonic, the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the El Paso Opera, has sat Principal Second with the Culver City Chamber Orchestra, and was Concertmaster for the Santa Clara Chamber Orchestra, where she was a featured soloist in 2005. She plays regularly with the Riverside Philharmonic, the Santa Barbara Symphony, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the LA Virtuoso Chamber Orchestra, and has had the honor of performing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on numerous occasions, once under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Michelina has appeared on episodes of Boston Public, has recorded for Sony Classical artist Mario Frangoulis, and is the featured violinist on the IMAX soundtrack Mystery of the Nile. She also performed on Dave Matthews’ ‘You and Me’ music video and had the privilege of performing with Carmen Lundy and is featured on her CD and DVD “Jazz and the New Songbook.”

Along with performing, Ms. Wright also has a passion for teaching, having taught with various organizations for the past twenty years. She started out teaching with the Santa Clarita Youth Orchestra in 2000, taught with the non-profit youth organization Harmony Project, and has been the Strings Director at Laurel Hall School since 2002 and at Village Christian since 2018.