Ronald Knudsen Violin, Boston Symphony Orchestra Shirley and J. Richard Fennell chair, fully funded in perpetuity
Ronald Knudsen has been a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra violin section since 1965 and sits in the Shirley and J. Richard Fennellchair. Before coming to Boston, he was a member of the Baltimore and Detroit symphony orchestras. He received his early musical training in Minneapolis and from 1952 to 1959 he studied with violinist William Kroll at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. He was a Tanglewood Music Center fellowship student in 1958, where he served as the orchestra’s concertmaster and as a soloist. Since coming to Boston, Mr. Knudsen has been heard frequently as a soloist and in chamber music programs. He has been a soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Brockton, Newton, Wellesley, and Worcester. Original violinist of Collage New Music, Mr. Knudsen also helped to found the Curtisville Consortium in 1970 and presently serves as its music director.
Mr. Knudsen is a former faculty member of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and of All Newton Music School, where he presently is a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Knudsen has also been active working with community orchestras in the Boston area. From 1970 until 1988 he was active both as concertmaster and conductor of the Brockton Symphony and from 1982 until 1995 he served as music director of the Newton Symphony. In the summer of 1995 he was invited by the newly formed New Philharmonia Orchestra to be their music director and has received public acclaim for his work with this group. In June 1990 Maestro Knudsen made his conducting debut with the Boston Pops Orchestra in a concert featuring his son, Boston Symphony cellist Sato, as soloist. Since that time he has served as a regular guest conductor with the Boston Pops and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra.
![[Ronald Knudsen]](/images/musicians/ronaldknudsen95.jpg)