A sought-after artist who has performed with most of the world's greatest
conductors and orchestras, and at major international festivals,
Salerno-Sonnenberg is also in great demand as a recitalist. Among her
numerous recital credits is a recent performance at the White House for the
Arts & Humanities Awards. Her 1999-2000 engagements are highlighted by
recitals nationwide, including a performance at Washington's Kennedy Center,
and concerts with orchestras such as those of Saint Louis, Houston and
Montreal.
In the recording arena, with 15 albums to her credit, Salerno-Sonnenberg is
a groundbreaker as well. She currently records for the Nonesuch and
Angel/EMI labels. Humoresque, her first recording for Nonesuch, is a
CD of the music from the classic 1947 film, demonstrating
Salerno-Sonnenberg's versatility and vast range of interpretive skills in a
combination of classical works and pop standards. The recording has
received critical acclaim, with The New York Times commenting that
she "achieves what is, for most instrumentalists, a near-impossibility:
a crossover disk that is...stylish from first note to last...this album is
both a personal triumph and a valuable historical document." Her second
album for Nonesuch, being released in January 2000, is a recording of gypsy
music from Eastern Europe with duo guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad. Her
most recent Angel/Emi recordings are Speaking in Strings, music from
Counterpoint Films' documentary of the same title about Salerno-Sonnenberg;
and Night and Day, Bella Italia, and It Ain't Necessarily So,
each collections of works by various composers. Among her other Angel/EMI
recordings are: the Sibelius Violin Concerto, Chausson's Poeme for
Violin and Orchestra, Shostakovich's Concerto No. 1, Brahms' Concerto; and
Vivaldi's Four Seasons. And admirer of all music genres, she has
collaborated on recordings with such artists as Mandy Patinkin, Joe Jackson
and Judy Blazer.
An engaging communicator, Salerno-Sonnenberg has been featured on CBS's
60 Minutes, 60 Minutes II, Nightwatch, and Sunday
Morning; NBC's Nightly News and The Tonight Show with Johnny
Carson (the latter numerous times); A&E's Breakfast with the Arts
with Elliot Forrest (as Artist of the Week); Bravo's Arts &
Minds; and PBS's Live from Lincoln Center, Backstage Lincoln Center;
Charlie Rose; and City Arts; as well as on the PBS/BBC Series
The Mind and on the Children's Television Workshop's award-winning
Sesame Street (PBS). In 1989, Crown Books published Nadja: On My
Way, and autobiography for children in which she shares her experiences
as a young musician building a career. A documentary on Salerno-Sonnenberg,
Speaking in Strings, was premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film
Festival, where it was one of only 16 documentaries chosen for screening.
It was released nationwide during the summer of 1999. Salerno-Sonnenberg is
also one of the celebrities featured in a book entitled The Virtuoso,
published in 1999.
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's professional career began in 1981 when she won
the Walter W. Naumberg International Violin Competition. In 1983 she was
recognized with an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and in 1988 was Ovation's
Debut Recording Artist of the Year. She is also the recipient of an
honorary Master of Musical Arts degree from the New Mexico State University
(May 1999), the first honorary degree awarded by the University. An
American citizen, Salerno-Sonnenberg was born in Rome and emigrated to the
United States at the age of eight to study at The Curtis Institute of Music.
She later studied with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School.
