Fritz Gearhart

Violinist Fritz Gearhart has performed for audiences from coast to coast. He has appeared in major halls around the country including the Kennedy Center, the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie. He is frequently heard on National Public Radio including live broadcasts on WFMT Chicago, WQXR in New York and KQAC in Portland, Oregon—as well as Public Radio’s nationally syndicated program Performance Today. 

Gearhart has enjoyed a rich career in chamber music performing, including membership in the Chester Quartet and the Oregon String Quartet which recorded CDs for Albany, Koch Entertainment and Centaur Records. His 2014 release on Centaur Records—“Music of a Lifetime”—features the music of his father, Livingston Gearhart. Additionally, Gearhart has performed complete cycles of the Beethoven string quartets and violin sonatas.

Gearhart has taught at the university level for most of his career, including previous appointments at the University of Oregon, East Carolina University and Indiana University at South Bend. He has been a featured clinician at music conventions and workshops for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Conference, American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and National School Orchestra Association (NSOA), and has presented master classes at music schools all around the country including Texas Christian University, Boise State University, Ithaca College, UNC Greensboro, University of Oklahoma, Eastman School of Music and the Hartt School, among many others. Additionally, Gearhart was a judge for the National Fischoff Competition in 2008 and has been a featured clinician at several national conventions including ASTA in Detroit, Kansas City and Santa Clara, California, where he was also the featured chamber music coach. 

Further to his many performing and teaching activities, Gearhart has appeared as a guest conductor at several string festivals around the country, including the South Carolina All-State String Orchestra, Northern Virginia Honors Orchestra, Wyoming String Clinic and All-City Strings in Salem, Oregon. As well, Gearhart recently started a new nonprofit—the Redfish Music Festival—which presents a summer festival on the southern coast of Oregon and special events throughout the year.

Gearhart earned a master’s degree and a prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Donald Weilerstein. Earlier studies at the Hartt School included work with Charles Treger and members of the Emerson Quartet.