Described as an exceptional musician by Maestro Lorin Maazel, violinist Michael Jorgensen is the Professor of Practice in Orchestral Strings at Lehigh University, where he serves as the concertmaster of the Lehigh University Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also taught violin at Middle Tennessee State University, Covenant College, and the Wyoming Center for the Arts in their Touchstone program for at-risk youth. He has given masterclasses across the country at colleges including Austin Peay State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, University of South Dakota, and the College of Wooster.
As a soloist, Michael has performed with organizations including the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Sun City Chamber Players, the Florida State University Festival of New Music, the Gateways Music Festival, and the London School of Contemporary Dance. Michael is a featured artist on Paul Osterfield’s Sound and Fury disc released by Navona Records. This season, he will be a guest artist performing a recital and two concertos at The Colour of Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.
A member of the IRIS Orchestra in Memphis, Michael has also served as the concertmaster for the 75th-anniversary national tour of Porgy and Bess, the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Belle Meade Baroque, Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival Orchestra (as one of the co-concertmasters), and the Cityside Symphony Orchestra in London. He has performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, the Gateway Chamber Orchestra, the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, and others.
A dedicated recitalist and chamber musician, Michael has performed recitals at the London School of Contemporary Dance, the Taft Museum of Art Chamber Music Series, Gettysburg College, and has been a returning guest artist to Middle Tennessee State University. As a string quartet performer, he has been the first violin of the Eppes String Quartet in residence at Florida State University and founded the Frequency String Quartet, a new music group with an education and community-building mission that was described as “a gifted and stimulating foursome” by Cincinnati classical music reviewer Mary Ellyn Hutton.
Michael holds a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, a master’s from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and a doctorate from Florida State University.