Anna Cromwell
Dr. Anna Cromwell is Assistant Professor of violin and viola at Eastern Illinois University. Dr. Cromwell is a dedicated teacher, performer, and chamber musician, and has performed and taught in over a dozen states and Bermuda. Most recently she served as Professional-in-Residence for violin/viola at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY. She has been on faculty at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Bravo! Summer String and Keyboard Institute in Minnesota, Tennessee Valley Music Festival in Alabama, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. She has served as a guest clinician at Fiddler’s Fair in Houston, Texas, and has recently given master classes at Valdosta State University, Truman State University, Southeast Missouri State University, and at the Bermuda School of Music in Hamilton, Bermuda. In addition, Dr. Cromwell performs regularly in Duo XXI with cellist Dr. Mira Frisch. They have performed on the chamber music series Sundays at Three in Missouri, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, at the National Gallery of Bermuda, and at Bravo! Summer String and Keyboard Institute. Their current project includes the commission, performance, and recording of six new duos by five different American composers. In addition, Dr. Cromwell has presented at MTNA National and CMS Super-Regional Conferences. She served as the concertmaster of the Bowling Green Western Symphony Orchestra for two years and was featured as a soloist with the orchestra.
Dr. Cromwell earned both her M.M. and D.M.A. under Sally O'Reilly at the University of Minnesota where she was a Dahl Fellowship recipient. She taught two summers at Meadowmount School of Music as Christian Teal's teaching assistant and served six years as a teaching assistant to Sally O'Reilly's private studio. In high school the Oklahoma native soloed with the Tulsa Philharmonic and graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts. She continued her studies at Rice University under Kathleen Winkler, and graduated summa cum laude from the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University where she won the Concerto Competition and received the Jean Keller Heard Prize. She has studied string pedagogy with Sally O'Reilly and completed Suzuki pedagogy training with Mark Bjork. Her former teachers include Elaine Richey, Kathleen Winkler, Christian Teal, and Sally O’Reilly.
Dr. Cromwell’s passion is teaching, and her students are her first priority. As a string teacher she is dedicated to helping each of her students play musically, beautifully, and with confidence. She values her students as people first, and sets high standards within a supportive environment.
