PROGRAM BIO

Equally at home with a classical score or a fiddle tune, violinist Liesl Schoenberger Doty has built a career that moves fluidly between the concert hall and the jam session. Praised for her “magnetic presence,” she has performed throughout North America and Europe in venues including Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, and the Kennedy Center.

Originally from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Liesl has appeared as a soloist with orchestras across the United States and as a chamber musician at festivals including Yellow Barn, the Skaneateles Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Norfolk, Sarasota, Orford, and the Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Salzburg. She currently serves as Concertmaster of the Orchestra of Northern New York.

As a fiddler and crossover artist, Liesl has released three commercial albums in collaboration with Nashville musicians Buddy Spicher and David Grier, appeared as a guest artist at the Grand Ole Opry, and since 2009 has toured nationally as a featured soloist with composer and pianist Eric Genuis.

In 2012, Liesl became a “Crier” with Boston’s Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra A Far Cry. During nearly a decade with the ensemble, she toured and recorded extensively while sharing responsibility for the artistic and organizational life of the conductorless orchestra. She is now a Crier Emeritus.

With her husband, bassist and founding A Far Cry member Karl Doty, she performs as The Dotys, a classical and crossover duo bringing together chamber music, fiddle traditions, original tunes, and their own arrangements. Their music reflects a shared belief that the boundaries between musical traditions can be considerably more porous—and that the possibilities are much more joyful that way.

Liesl is Associate Professor of Violin at The Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, where her teaching centers on helping students learn well and become independent, curious musicians. She holds degrees from Indiana University and the Yale School of Music and performs on a 1919 Carl Becker violin.