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Musician Profile - Deborah Greitzer
What is your hometown?
I grew up in New York City; now live in Ridgeway, Ontario
How long have you been with the BPO?
November of 1973, I think.
What is your favorite part of being a member of the BPO?
It used to be my whole life. Now there are musically memorable moments. There's nothing quite like being in the midst of an orchestra that's playing a great piece really well.
What is your favorite piece of music?
There are too many to mention.
What other orchestras have you performed with?
This was my first steady job.
What types of music do you like to listen to?
Silence, I don't usually listen to music.
Do you play any other instruments?
Piano. Not well; accompany my students until they get too good.
What do you like to do in your free time?
Free hours and days, I'm an immigration attorney. Hold the position of Managing Attorney at Vive, a refugee organization. Free weeks, I play and teach in countries where the violin and classical music are hard to come by, most often Haiti, but also have taught in Cuba and Curacao. 2008 will be playing and teaching in Thailand. Play chamber music with friends. Spend time with my family, read, run and, in the winter, cross-country ski.
What is your favorite restaurant?
Home. Really nice ambience, and the food's prepared the way I like it.
What do you like best about Buffalo?
My husband's from Buffalo, and he's a pretty neat guy.
Biography
Deborah Greitzer has been a member of the first violin section of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra for over thirty years. She began studying piano with her mother, Freda Greitzer, and continued with violin, studying with noted violin teacher Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School of Music from the age of 15. She also studied with Miss DeLay at the Meadowmount School of Music and at Sarah Lawrence College, where she
received her undergraduate degree. She later studied with Oscar Shumsky and received a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo where she studied with Don Weilerstein. She has studied baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie and Marilyn McDonald. Her chamber music coaches have included Joseph Gingold, Felix Kroll, and Joseph Silverstein.
Ms. Greitzer has appeared as a soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic and other orchestras and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician not only in the United States and Canada, but also in Italy, Switzerland, England, and Scotland. During the last five years, she has made regular trips to Haiti, where she works in local music schools and performs with her colleagues. She has also performed and taught in Cuba and Curacao. She plays with the Clavio Trio (with Buffalo Philharmonic clarinetist John Fullam) and the Arcadia Piano Trio, which this year has concerts scheduled in Canada, Oklahoma, and Thailand.
Ms. Greitzer also has a degree in law, having been graduated cum laude from SUNY Buffalo School of Law and admitted to the New York State bar in 1995, with additional legal studies at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. She practices immigration and refugee law, holding the position of managing attorney at Vive, an organization in Buffalo that assists refugee claimants.
Ms. Greitzer is married to rowing legend Dick Kendall and has two daughters, both of whom play violin. Her older daughter, Rebecca Willie, is a member of the Nashville Symphony. Her younger daughter, Esther Kendall, attends Bates College, where she is a double major in psychology and art history and competes for the varsity cross-country (running), cross-country (skiing), and track teams.
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