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Photos coming soon.  Please contact me for additional bio materials, resume’ or c.v. requests:  rootmusicstudio@gmail.com

REALLY SHORT BIO

Violist Jennifer Clare Paulson is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Green Bay Symphony Orchestra.  In addition to performing in regional orchestral and chamber music settings she is also a member of several new music ensembles based in Chicago including Kyle Bruckmann’s Wrack and Ken Vandermark’s Audio One.  JCP also teaches at The Madison Music Foundry and works as an apprentice at Spruce Tree Music and Repair, learning to repair and restore new and vintage string instruments.

CLASSICAL BIO

Jennifer Clare Paulson is a violist based in Madison, Wisconsin.  She earned her DMA in viola performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a minor in jazz studies.  She earned her MM at Northwestern University and her BA at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois where she studied viola and Japanese koto.  She is a member of the Madison Symphony  Orchestra and has held positions in the  Civic Orchestra of Chicago (playing under the batons of Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez and John Adams among others), Elgin Symphony Orchestra and the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra.  During her doctoral studies she was a member of UW-Madison’s graduate Hunt Quartet, coached by members of the Pro Arte Quartet.  She is currently a member of Sound Ensemble Wisconsin (SEW) an chamber music collective dedicated to performing contemporary chamber music.  She has also worked with John and Rose Mary Harbison at their Token Creek Chamber Music Festival for several years.  In addition to regional work in orchestral and chamber music settings, JCP is also a member of several new music music ensembles based in Chicago including Kyle Bruckmann’s WRACK and Ken Vandermark’s Audio One.  JCP currently teaches at the Madison Music Foundry.

TEACHING BIO

Jen Clare Paulson uses her experience in many genres to meet the needs and interests of each student. She mixes her training in the Suzuki Method with experience gained in over 15 years of teaching to customize lesson content for students of all ages and levels.  She earned her DMA in viola performance with a minor in jazz studies at UW-Madison and her Masters’s degree at Northwestern University while performing with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. She is currently a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra and performs with several improvising ensembles based in Chicago. JCP also has experience playing old-time and bluegrass fiddle as well as working with bands and singer/songwriters in the studio and on stage.  A list of her students’ accomplishments includes: membership in WYSO ensembles, founding members of the Echelon String Quartet, and acceptance to Berklee College of Music in Boston and the Conservatory of Music at the University of Indiana in Bloomington.

FIDDLE BIO

Jen Clare Paulson is no ordinary fiddler, she’s actually a violist who has always had a wandering musical eye.  Originally from Chicagoland, she relocated to Madison to get her doctorate in viola performance with a minor in jazz studies at the University.  In addition to performing in regional orchestral and chamber music settings she is also a member of several new music ensembles based in Chicago – most notably Kyle Bruckmann’s Wrack, who recently toured Europe and won a generous Chamber Music America grant for future projects.  Highlights from JCP’s musical pursuits include: studying Japanese koto in college, playing Bach cello suites on tenor banjo, transcribing tenor sax blues solos for viola and playing in string sections behind artists as diverse as Ray Charles, Olivia Newton John and Ricky Skaggs.

Jen has taken a few lessons on bluegrass fiddle with Jerry Loughney (Above the Town) and old time fiddle with Jim Becker (Caliphone); but mostly she’s listening hard and making it up as she goes.

JCP teaches violin and viola at The Madison Music Foundry and works as an apprentice at Spruce Tree Music and Repair, learning to repair and restore new and vintage string instruments.