~ by Bob Gustin
Maria Sanderson has lost count of her violin concerts, but two years ago they surpassed 300.
She has appeared as a soloist and with philharmonic orchestras from Fresno to Miami. She has played with the Russian Ballet, and was part of a three-week tour of the best concert venues in Argentina. She’ s a member of a prestigious orchestra at Indiana University and just returned after being a featured artist on the“ From the Top” National Public Radio show from Hawaii. Yes, she has played Carnegie Hall. Maria is 17 years old. She has been playing violin since she was eight, and has been a member of the renowned Indiana University Pre-College String Academy since then, following the footsteps of her two older brothers and older sister, all of whom also received scholarships for the program. Maria was first taught by her brother John, and has been a student of IU music professor Mimi Zwieg for seven years.
Listening to her older siblings practice violin stirred her interest.
courtesy photo
Maria Sanderson
courtesy photo from a recent Fresno, California performance
“ I wanted to be able to express myself in the same way they expressed themselves,” she said.“ It was something that I deeply yearned for.
“ Music is a language of itself. It’ s really the only language every nation can speak fluently and really understand.”
She has played pop music, folk music, bluegrass, gospel, and other genres. Pop music, she admits, makes her happy and makes her want to dance. But she always returns.
“ Classical music tells a story I can relate to,” she said.“ It has such a purity. I can tune in and focus on the music to really appreciate it. It has such a depth to it, a pure sense of joy.”
Her father, Jerome, is a priest for the Orthodox Church, a painter, a woodcarver, and a musician. He and his wife, Anna, have lived in northern Brown County for about 20 years. Their children are John, 27, Misha, 25, Molly, 21,
14 Our Brown County Jan./ Feb. 2017