Hailed for her "intensive fire, sleepwalking assuredness, and deeply grounded musical personality," violinist Desirée Ruhstrat is a multi-GRAMMY-nominated artist recognized internationally for the depth and versatility of her musicianship. Her career, spanning solo performance, chamber music, and teaching, has established her as one of the most distinguished string players and pedagogues of her generation.

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One of Ruhstrat's recent solo highlights came in the summer of 2024, when she was invited to perform Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as part of the Ravinia Festival's Tchaikovsky Spectacular. A prodigious talent from an early age, she made her solo debut at seven with Chicago's Orchestra Hall under Leon Stein and her professional debut at twelve with Lukas Foss and the Milwaukee Symphony. She has since built an international solo career, appearing with the Berlin Radio Symphony, Radio Suisse Romande, Göttingen Symphony, Philharmonia Da Camera, Symphonica Aguascalientes in Mexico, Colorado Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, Utah Symphony, Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles, and the National Repertory Orchestra, under the direction of conductors including Eric Kunzel, Max Rudolph, William Smith, Rico Saccani, Brian Priestman, Christoph-Mathias Mueller, JoAnn Falletta, Victoria Bond, Carolyn Kuan, Carl Topilow, and Mats Liljefors.

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Ruhstrat's achievements have been affirmed by top honors on the international competition stage, including first prize at the National Young Musicians Debut Competition in Los Angeles, where she also received a special award for extraordinary talent. She was the youngest prizewinner at Switzerland's Tibor Varga International Competition, where she additionally earned the prize for best interpretation of the commissioned contemporary work, and went on to claim top honors at the Carl Flesch, Julius Stulberg, and Mozart Festival Violin Competitions.

 

Her achievements as a chamber musician are equally distinguished: she was a founding member of the multi GRAMMY-nominated Lincoln Trio, including performances at Carnegie Weill Hall, Lincoln Center, Ravinia Festival, the Indianapolis Symphony Beethoven Series and in 2015 she co-founded the acclaimed, project-based Black Oak Ensemble.

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Her discography reflects this same breadth of accomplishment. With the Lincoln Trio, she has recorded Trios from Our Homelands, a 2017 GRAMMY nominee, and Fantasies of Buenos Aires, nominated for a 2024 Latin GRAMMY. With Black Oak Ensemble, her debut recording Silenced Voices (Cedille Records) was named to the Chicago Tribune's Top 100 Recordings of 2019, FANFARE Magazine's "Want List," and WQXR's Top 100 Best Classical Recordings of 2019, while the ensemble's subsequent release, Avant l'orage, earned a nomination for the 2023 International Classical Music Award and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Charts. Her broader discography includes the Stamitz Duo for Violin and Viola (Centaur Records), the Ravel Duo for Violin and Cello (Albany Records), and the GRAMMY-nominated NAXOS recording Annelies, based on the Diary of Anne Frank and numerous recordings on the CEDILLE record label.

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Throughout her career, Ruhstrat has remained deeply committed to chamber music collaboration and the advancement of music education. As a guest artist, she has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Series, Colorado Symphony, Apollo Chamber Ensemble, Colorado Chamber Players, Rembrandt Chamber Players,  Peninsula, Green Lake and the Sebago–Long Lake Festivals, and at universities and conservatories including the Curtis Institute of Music, the University of Oklahoma, Denver University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Tennessee, and Northwestern University, performing alongside artists such as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ilya Kaler, Ani Kavafian, Roberto Díaz, Roger Chase, Jorge Federico Osorio, the Pacifica Quartet, and members of the Vermeer, Orion, Borromeo, Brentano, and Catalyst Quartets.

 

A committed champion of new music, she has collaborated with leading composers including Carl Orff, George Crumb, William Bolcom, Jennifer Higdon, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, Joan Tower, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Clarice Assad, Stacy Garrop, Conrad Tao and Laura Elise Schwendinger, who dedicated a movement to her in Violinists in My Life.

 

As an educator, Ruhstrat has mentored students who have gone on to win national and international competitions and secure positions in professional orchestras around the world. She has served on the faculty of Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, currently teaches at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music, and serves as summer faculty at the Heifetz Institute and the Ascent International Music Festival. She has also appeared at Aspen, Peninsula, the Laurel Festival of the Arts, Breckenridge, Green Lake, the Utah Music Festival, ARIA International Summer Academy, and the Curtis Institute Young Artist Program.

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A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ruhstrat began her musical training at the Milwaukee Conservatory of Music under Joan Rooney before continuing her studies with Betty Haag, Harold Wippler, Josef Gingold and Dorthy DeLay. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with the legendary violinist Aaron Rosand. Her contributions to music education were recognized in 2014 with the American String Teachers Association's Illinois Outstanding Studio Teacher award. In 2024, she was honored by the Rembrandt Chamber Players at their 35th Anniversary gala for her outstanding performances and contributions to classical music, and in March 2026, during Women's History Month, the State of Illinois honored her with its "Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Humanities" award.

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Desirée Ruhstrat performs on a 1685 Goffredo Cappa violin, generously on loan.

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