Cookie Segelstein

Cookie Segelstein received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the University of Missouri in 1981 and a Master’s Degree in Viola from Yale University in 1984. Segelstein has studied and played under Raphael Hillyer, the late Jesse Levine, and the great Leonard Bernstein. In 1984, Segelstein joined the New Haven Symphony where she became Assistant Principal Violist in 1991. In 1985, she joined Orchestra New England which was a champber orchestra specializing in the music of Charles Ives. In 2009 the New Haven Symphony recorded William Walton’s Symphony No. 1 (Nimbus Records), seen in the Robert De Niro movie, “Everybody’s Fine”. She became Principal Violist with O.N.E . in 1991, and has performed many solo works with them, including the Brandenburg Concertos #3 and #6, “Elegy” by Gustav Holst. Segelstein performed a piece commissioned for her by the orchestra and written by composer Mark Kuss, “Viola Concertino”. Segelstein has toured the world with her trio Veretski Pass that specializes in the 19th and 20th Century Jewish instrumental folk music of the Carpathian mountains. She also recorded violin music for the Jewish wedding episode of HBO’s “Sex and the City," has recorded many CD’s as an expert on Jewish violin style, and written many music books of  historical transcriptions. Segelstein is on the board of the San Francisco chapter of American String Teachers Association and a member of Music Teacher’s Association of California.