Judy Gatwood

Called by Yehudi Menuhin "an extraordinarily fine violinist and musician", Jody Gatwood has received critical acclaim in North America and Europe. He has soloed with such conductors as Andre Previn and Leonard Slatkin and with orchestras of Pittsburgh, Montreal, Phoenix, Houston, and Juilliard. During the Vietnam War he served for 4 years in the White House Orchestra of the U. S. Marine Band ("The President's Own"). Since then he has performed at the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Neue Gewandhaus in Leipzig, and in many other venues.

Mr. Gatwood has recorded 5 CD's for Sony Classical, EMI, and Deutsche Harmonia Mundi as a member of the Smithsonian Chamber Players. He has also recorded for Musical Heritage Society in two Concerti by Tartini. As concertmaster of the National Philharmonic (formerly the National Chamber Orchestra), he has performed with
Conductor Piotr Gajewski concertos by Mendelssohn, Mozart, Prokofiev, Bernstein, Beethoven and world premieres of concerti by Andreas Makris and Joel Hoffman.

Mr. Gatwood, born in Richmond, Kentucky, studied with Ivan Galamian and Paul Makanowitzky at both the Juilliard School where he received the Fritz Kreisler Scholarship, and at the Meadowmount School of Music where he was awarded a teaching apprenticeship under Ivan Galamian. His other teachers included Josef Gingold, Wilfred Biel, and Robert Oppelt. He has won prizes in the Montreal International Competition, the Houston Young Artists Competition, the Kosciuszko Foundation competition (the Wieniawski Prize), and the MTNA National Student Auditions in Chicago. The Washington Area Music Association awarded him "best classical instrumentalist."

Describing Mr. Gatwood's playing in The Washington Post, Paul Hume, former Chief Music Critic, wrote "He is unfailingly musical in every impulse. His tone is constantly a thing of beauty.... He fills phrases with nuances while always being sure to make music in everything he touches. These are unusual gifts." Other critics have praised his "amazing virtuoso technique... and refined musicianship." (Nashville Banner), and his "truly beautiful, sweet and lyrical tone..." (Richmond Post-Gazette).

During the 1980's Mr. Gatwood served as President of Artists to End Hunger in the Washington, DC area, performing scores of benefit concerts to help awaken a public commitment to the eradication of chronic hunger and poverty in the world. He was joined in this effort by many musicians including Brian Ganz, Leon Fleisher, Phylis Bryn-Julson and Peter Serkin. The concerts have benefited numerous local and global organizations working in hunger relief, development, advocacy and lobbying.

A gifted teacher, he serves on the faculty of The Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C. His students have won scholarships for study at The Curtis Institute, The Juilliard School, The Paris Conservatory, and have held Concertmaster or Assistant Concertmaster positions with the Detroit Symphony, Concertgebouw of Amsterdam and the Baltimore Symphony. In 1996 he received "Teacher of the Year" award from the American String Teachers Association, Maryland/DC Chapter.