Minnesota violinist becomes Houston Symphony concertmaster

by Karl Gehrke, Minnesota Public Radio

When the Minnesota Orchestra plays the last concert of its European tour at the end of the month, it will also be the last concert with the orchestra for violinist Angela Fuller. On September 6th she begins a new job as concertmaster of the Houston Symphony.

St. Paul, Minn. — Angela Fuller was only 22 and the youngest member of the Minnesota Orchestra when she joined the group in 1999. Seven years later she's about to become one of the youngest concertmasters of a major American symphony.

An orchestra's concertmaster leads the string section and is second only to the music director in importance. As the Houston Symphony's new concertmaster, she'll work closely with Music Director Hans Graf in setting musical interpretation. She'll also have several opportunities to solo each season.

A native of Seattle, Fuller says it has been her dream to be a concertmaster since serving in that role in youth symphonies.

She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota and attended graduate school at the Cleveland Institute of Music so she could study with the Cleveland Orchestra's concertmaster William Preucil.

Fuller begins rehearsals with the Houston Symphony less than a week after the Minnesota Orchestra wraps up its European tour in Switzerland. In a conversation with Minnesota Public Radio's Karl Gehrke she talks about the role of concertmaster, the intense audition process and the difficulty of saying good-bye to her friends in the Minnesota Orchestra.