Keith Gates: Music

Shelly Tramposh is the viola professor at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, where she performs in the Potsdam Piano Quartet and as principal violist with the Orchestra of Northern New York. In addition, she performs regularly with the Perron Trio with Johanne Perron and Sheila Jaffé, and the Ariel Chamber Players with Cullan Bryant and Adele O'Dwyer. Dr. Tramposh has performed recitals abroad in Europe and Central America, and in the United States in Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, and New York. The Irish Times said of her recent performance of the Enesco Concertpiece, “Tramposh reveled in its technicalities: her tone production had a distinctive complexity”. She is currently working with the art department at SUNY-Potsdam, soprano Jill Pearon, and composer Paul Siskind to create an interpreted recital of contemporary works for viola and soprano that will debut in January 2009. Her principal teachers include Martha Katz, Steven Tenenbom, Don Ehrlich, and Erika Eckert, and she has been invited to perform in master classes and coachings with Michael Tree, the American String Quartet, Robert McDonald, Lawrence Dutton, and Burton Kaplan.

Dr. Tramposh has participated in such internationally acclaimed festivals as the Taos School of Music, the Spoleto Festival, and the National Repertory Orchestra, and before joining the Crane School was a member of the Colorado Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Central City Opera Orchestra, and was Principal Viola with the Mercury Ensemble and Associate Principal Viola with the Colorado Springs Symphony.

Her students have been accepted as scholarship participants at Bowdoin International Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, and Eastern Music Festival and for study at McGill University and the University of North Carolina. Dr. Tramposh teaches a practicing class at the Crane School based on the teaching of Burton Kaplan and is also an advocate for tension-free playing with good posture. Dr. Tramposh holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Colorado at Boulder.