Roland and Almita Vamos

Roland and Almita Vamos are a husband and wife who are among the leading violin and viola instructors in the world. Their pupils have become prominent soloists, members of world-renowned chamber groups and orchestras, and laureates of prestigious international competitions. The Vamoses have been recognized at the White House seven times and were named Distinguished Teachers by the National Endowment for the Arts. They have been honored by the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) with the Distinguished Service Award, and showcased on CBS' Sunday Morning News.

Roland Vamos was born in January 1924. He studied with Oscar Shumsky and William Lincer at the Juilliard School. Almita Vamos was born September 16, 1938, and studied with Mischa Mischakoff and Louis Persinger at the Juilliard School. A performing artist of the highest caliber, she won the prestigious Concert Artist Guild award in New York City along with many other prizes.

The Vamoses are members of the faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago and the Chicago College of Performing Arts. Prior to their positions at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, they were on faculty at Northwestern University, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the University of Minnesota, and Western Illinois University.

Students of the Vamoses

Prominent Students

• Rachel Barton Pine (Soloist and recording artist. 1st Prize Johann Sebastien Bach International Music Competition, 2nd Prizes in the József Szigeti Violin Competition, the International Fritz Kreisler Competition and 3rd Prizes in the Paganini Competition and the Montreal International Musical Competition, laureate Queen Elisabeth Music Competition. President of REB Foundation.)
• Jennifer Koh (Soloist, recording artist. 2nd Prize International Tchaikovsky Competition and 1st Prize Irving M. Klein Competition.)
• Benjamin Beilman (Winner of 2010 Montreal International Musical Competition, 3rd Prize 2010 Indianapolis Violin Competition, 1st Prize Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Grand Prize 2009 Corpus Christi International Competition, Astral Artist Competition and Stulberg International String Competition)
• Cathy Basrak (Assistant Principal Violist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and winner of the 1995 Primrose International Viola Competition and winner of Irving M. Klein Competition)
• Joshua Brown Second Place of 2015 Cooper International Violin Competition in Ohio, Multiple rewards in the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, Audience Award, Special Prize, the Academy of Arts Golden Medal, and the Siberian Academy of Arts Talent Award, Top prize of 2016 Stradivarius International Violin Competition in Salt Lake City, Grand Prize of 2016 ENKOR International Music Competition, 2016/2017 American Prize Winner for Instrumental Performance, National YoungArts Winner in both 2016 and 2017, Most recently, First Prize in the 2018 National Federation of Music Club’s Stillman-Kelly Competition (winning both the state and national level), and he was named a 2018 Yamaha Young Performing Artist, Kairos String Quartet, Gold Medal 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Competition, First Prize in the Junior String Division of the 2018 M-Prize International Chamber Arts Competition, Fischoff and M-Prize.
• Christina Castelli (Soloist, recording artist. Laureate, Queen Elisabeth Music Competition. First Prize Winner of 1997 Primrose International Viola Competition. First Prize Winner of 1998 and 2005 Sphinx Competition. Concerts with Cleveland, Atlanta, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Colorado and other U.S. symphonies. Carnegie Hall debut in 2004. Ravinia debut in 2007.)
• Kirsten Johnson (Associate Principal Violist in the Philadelphia Orchestra)
• Benny Kim (Soloist)
• Isabella Lippi, (Soloist)
• Simin Ganatra (Violinist in Grammy Award winning Pacifica Quartet)
• Sibbi Bernhardsson (Violinist in Grammy Award winning Pacifica Quartet)
• Erin Schreiber (Assistant Concertmaster of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra)
• Ying Quartet: Janet Ying, Timothy Ying (violins) and Philip Ying (viola) (Grammy Award winning Ensemble In Residence at The Eastman School of Music and winner of the 1993 Naumburg Chamber Music Award)
• Daniel Ching (Violinist in Miro Quartet and on faculty at the University of Texas at Austin)
• Lydia Hong (Principal 2nd violinist of New York City Ballet, winner of WAMSO)
• Elisa Barston (Principal Second Violin of the Seattle Symphony. Previously the Associate Concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra)
• Stephanie Arado (former Assistant Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra)
• Siow Lee Chin (Soloist and winner of the 1994 Henryk Szeryng International Violin Competition in Mexico City)
• David Bowlin (Violinist and teacher at The Juilliard School from 2002-2005 and currently a professor at Oberlin Conservatory of Music)
• Julia Sakharova (Violinist in critically acclaimed Arianna String Quartet, Violin Professor at the University of Missouri- St. Louis)
• Viacheslav Dinerchtein (Viola Soloist)
• Kuan-Cheng Lu New York Philharmonic since 2004-05 season. 1st Prize Taiwan National Violin Competition, 1st Prize ASTA string competition, the Raphael Bronstein Award, and the Taiwan Chi-Mei Corporation’s Outstanding Young Artist award. Served as concertmaster of the Verbier Orchestra and Pacific Music Festival.
• David Yonan (Violin soloist, chamber musician and teacher, faculty North Park University, Chicago, Midwest Young Artists), 1st Prizes at the International Violin Competition Kloster Schoental, Germany and the International Ruggero Ricci Concerto competition Berlin, 2nd prizes and silver medal at the International "Luis Sigall" Violin Competition, Vina del Mar, Chile and the International "Concours Ruggiero Ricci", Iserlohn, Germany, 3rd prizes, International Queen Sophie Charlotte Violin Competition, Mirow,Germany and at the Guderyahn Strings Competition, University of South Dakota, USA, Brahms Prize of the Carl Flesch Academy Baden-Baden, Germany.

Orchestra Positions

• New York Philharmonic
• Metropolitan Opera
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Philadelphia Orchestra
• San Francisco Symphony
• The Cleveland Orchestra
• Los Angeles Philharmonic
• St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
• Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
• Minnesota Orchestra
• Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
• Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
• Oslo Philharmonic
• Seattle Symphony
• Singapore Symphony Orchestra
• Iceland Symphony
• Colorado Symphony Orchestra
• Copenhagen Symphony Orchestra
• Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
• Kansas City Symphony
• National Symphony Orchestra
• Oregon Symphony Orchestra

Competition Winners

Gold/1st Place

• Montreal International Musical Competition
• Young Concert Artists
• Tchaikovsky Youth Competition
• Henryk Szeryng International Violin Competition
• Primrose International Viola Competition
• Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists
• Irving M. Klein Competition
• Carl Flesch International Violin Competition
• Sebastien Bach International Music Competition
• Corpus Christi International Competition
• Kingsville International Young Performers Competition
• WAMSO
• Stulberg International String Competition

Silver/2nd Place

• International Tchaikovsky Competition
• Michael Hill International Violin Competition
• József Szigeti Violin Competition
• International Fritz Kreisler Competition
• Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition

Bronze/3rd Place

• 2010 Indianapolis Violin Competition
• Paganini Competition
• Montreal International Musical Competition

Laureates

• Queen Elisabeth Music Competition
• Stradivarius International Violin Competition