Michaela will be attending the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles in the fall.
Michaela Wellems, 18, is a Rachel Barton Pine Scholarship recipient and member of the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy program for gifted pre-college musicians where she studies violin with artist faculty members Almita and Roland Vamos. She began playing at the age of four and has won prizes in several competitions including the SAM, Sejong, Confucius, Walgreens, MTNA, and Depaul Concerto Competitions. Michaela has been featured on 98.7fm WFMT “Introductions” with David Polk, Vermont Public Radio, and performed with the Oistrach Symphony Orchestra. Recently, Michaela had the opportunity to perform in Chicago Philharmonic under the baton of Larry Rachleff.
For the past seven summers, Michaela has received numerous scholarships to attend the Chautauqua Music Festival in New York, Astona International Summer Festival in Switzerland, and Okemo Young Artists Program in Vermont to study with several nationally renowned teachers. Michaela also has had the honor to collaborate with several artists in masterclasses: Pamela Frank, Vadim Gluzman, Rachel Barton-Pine, Ilya Kaler, Paul Kantor, Zvi Zetlin, David Bowlin, Pacifica String Quartet, and the Orion String Quartet.
In addition to the violin, Michaela took up the viola at the age of 10 and was a flutist in the McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band, invited to perform in the national Midwest Clinic. She enjoys playing chamber music with her mother, Debbie Masloski (piano), and younger sister, Annamarie (cello). When Michaela is not practicing, she enjoys studying French, Astronomy, playing soccer and running cross country. Michaela is currently a senior at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL and will be attending The Colburn School in Los Angeles this Fall to study with violin professor Robert Lipsett.