School of Music

B.M., B.A. St. Olaf College, M.M. University of Illinois, D.M.A. University of Illinois

Lisa Nelson  is Associate Professor of Viola, Violin, and String Pedagogy, Director of the String Preparatory Department, and Executive Director of the Illinois Chamber Music Festival. As an active chamber musician, she regularly appears in recitals throughout the U.S., Canada, Bulgaria, Italy, Israel, and the Czech Republic.

Lisa Nelson holds her doctorate in Viola Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois. She also earned a Bachelor of Music in violin performance and Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from St. Olaf College, Minnesota, where she graduated summa cum laude with departmental distinction in music.  Her teachers have included Masumi Per Rostad, Sherban Lupu, Charles Gray, and Mihai Craioveanu.

Dr. Nelson is a member of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and serves as artistic advisor and faculty of the International Chamber Music Academy in Kyustendil, Bulgaria for young talented musicians. She has given presentations on viola literature, pedagogy, and chamber music at American String Teachers Association (ASTA) National Conferences, American Viola Society (AVS) Festival, and College Music Society (CMS), and violin/viola masterclasses in Illinois, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Indiana, and Washington. Her newly-release Albany Records CD “Dancing on Glass” with violinist Anna Cromwell and cellist Mira Frisch features works for strings by leading women composers.