Hailed as an exceptional performer and empowering teacher, Susan Waterbury demonstrates a career devoted to passionate artistry and creativity. Her playing is lauded by reviewers as “singularly impressive” (Washington Post) and “especially compelling” (New York Times), with Strad Magazine championing her as part of “a new generation of players recognizing spiritual and colouristic potentialities once practiced by bygone exponents.” Many of her former students maintain active careers in music and praise her as a “creative”, “energetic”, and “inspiring” mentor and teacher. She is sought after for her innovative artistic character and extensive chamber music experience. 2018-2020 performances include playing Weekend of Chamber Music (NY), Washington Island (WI), and Deia International (SPAIN) summer music festivals, performances in San Francisco and Sacramento, (CA) as a member of Camerata Deia, and performances as a member of Trilllium Piano Trio, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble, and Ensemble X, and a performance of Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto with the Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra.
Particularly committed to chamber music, she was a founding member of the award-winning Cavani String Quartet for 11 years, including 7 years as Quartet-in-Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music. With the Cavani Quartet, Ms. Waterbury performed and taught at concert series and festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad, including appearances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Phillips Collection, and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. The Cavani Quartet garnered numerous awards including First Prize in the 1989 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music, Cleveland Quartet, and Carmel Chamber Music competitions as well as the 1989 Ohio Governor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts. As a dedicated advocate for new music, Susan Waterbury has collaborated and performed with numerous composers including Joan Tower, Ellen Zwilich, John Adams, Jennifer Higdon, Christopher Rouse, Marc Mellits, Steven Stucky, Karel Husa, Sally Lamb, Dana Wilson, Jorge Grossman, Kamran Ince, and many others.
Ms. Waterbury has taught at the Ithaca College School of Music since 2000, gaining the title of Professor of Violin in 2010. She has also taught at The University of Memphis and, as a member of the Cavani Quartet, has been the quartet-in-residence at the Cleveland Institue of Music, Oberlin Conservatory (winter term), and the University of California at Riverside. As a speaker and clinician, she has given violin and chamber music master classes and presentations in China, Italy, and across the United States. In 2016, Waterbury launched Sunset Chamber Music and Lunch Music series at Red Newt Cellars Winery and Bistro in Hector, NY (her husband, Dave Whiting, is founder). Both series have featured members of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Tenzin Chopak, Richie Stearns, Judy Hyman, the Trillium Piano Trio, music faculty of the Ithaca College School of Music and Cornell University and many other artists in multiple genres, including jazz, old time, bluegrass, folk, classical, rock, and more.
Ms. Waterbury trained at the Eastman School of Music, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Ohio State University studying with Donald Weilerstein, Walter Levin, and Michael Davis. She received extensive chamber music coaching from the Cleveland, Tokyo, Emerson, and Juilliard String Quartets. She lives near Ithaca, NY with her husband, Dave, and their cat, Lola.