Walter Verdehr

ABOUT

Walter Verdehr retired as Professor of Violin in 2019. He joined the MSU faculty in 1968. He received MSU’s Teacher-Scholar Award in 1973 and the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2004. Born in Gottschee, Yugoslavia, Verdehr received his first violin instruction at the Conservatory of Music in Graz, Austria. After studying with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School, he became the first violinist to receive a doctorate there. As a Fulbright Scholar, he graduated with distinction from the Hochschule fuer Musik. He has made numerous appearances as a soloist with orchestras in Houston, Honolulu, Taipei, Ulsan (Korea), and Izmir (Turkey); with the Teton Festival symphonies; and with many orchestras in Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, California, Czechoslovakia, China, and Australia. He has also performed in numerous solo and chamber music recitals in the United States and Europe. Together with his wife, Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, he founded the Verdehr Trio in 1972, for which they have commissioned more than 200 works from international composers. Professor Verdehr has taught at the International Congress of Strings, and his students teach in universities and perform in orchestras throughout the United States and abroad. He performs on the ex “Stephens-Verdehr” Stradivarius of 1690.