About

Diane Monroe, a native Philadelphian, is a violinist whose versatility and expressive artistry consistently bring both jazz and classical audiences to their feet. Her visibility as a jazz artist began with her long-standing membership as first violinist of the Uptown String Quartet and the Max Roach Double Quartet. These critically acclaimed groups have appeared on The Cosby Show, CBS News Sunday Morning, and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and have recorded on the Soul Note, Philips/Polygram, and Mesa/ Bluemoon labels. Monroe is more, however, than simply a fine performer. Her original compositions and arrangements are highlighted on the TV shows, recordings, and in performances with the two ensembles in major concert halls and festivals throughout the world. In 2018, Ms. Monroe won both a Pew Fellowship, and a Pew Project grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. The Pew Project grant funded her 2019 project, Violin Woman, African Dreams. Concurrently, Vibes, and her orchestration of Fred Rogers’ You Are Special, will appear on the Sony Classical Records sound track recording for the film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. Recently, Ms. Monroe has performed in ensembles led by Odean Pope (Sounds of the Circle Project funded by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage), Bobby Zankel’s Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, Dave Allen’s residency ensemble at the Kimmel Center, and with Tony Miceli, vibraphonist, (their duo CD, “Alone Together”). Monroe’s jazz quartet with Miceli has performed at the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center, D.C. Other collaborations include performances with Dancer/Choreographers, Germaine Ingram and Leah Stein/Leah Stein Dance Company, scoring Monroe’s original improvisations for violin with movement. 

During her four-year run with the String Trio of New York, she toured in concert with Joe Lovano, Oliver Lake, Anthony Davis, Bang-On-A-Can All Stars, and literary artist, Quincy Troupe. She has also performed with Reggie Workman, Mike Boone, Louis Nash, John Blake Jr., Tom Lawton, Jim Ridl, Regina Carter, Monnette Sudler, Avery Sharpe, Mark O’Connor, Dave Grusin, Uri Caine, and Don Byron. Having won the coveted Pro Musicis Recital Award as a classical artist in 1983, Ms. Monroe performed violin recital debuts at Merkin Hall, NY, Los Angeles’ Schoenberg Hall and County Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, D.C., Pickman Hall, Boston MA. Other awards include the Distinguished Alumni Award from U.Arts (2002), Wendy and Alan Pesky Award (1996), and Pennsylvania Artists on Tour (2002). In 2004, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presented Monroe’s violin recital entitled “Infused with the Blues”, at the PMA Van Pelt Auditorium. A “first” opportunity to express both classical and jazz on the same stage, took place in 1993, at the original Fiddlefest at Carnegie hall, where she performed Stravinsky’s The Fairy’s Kiss (with pianist Marie-Christine Delbeau), and her signature solo arrangement of Amazing Grace. Fiddlefest, a benefit event for the East Harlem Violin Program, also featured her in those performances at Alice Tully Hall, Switzerland’s Tonhalle, and the Apollo and Zeigfeld Theaters, NYC. As an active musical presence in Fiddlefest, she appears in the documentary film Small Wonders and the Meryl Streep movie Music of the Heart. 

Monroe’s ensemble membership includes the Kasimir and Beaumont String Quartets, Amabile Piano Quartet, Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, St. Lukes Chamber Players (assist. concertmaster), Jupiter Symphony (concertmaster), Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra (concertmaster), Concordia Orchestra (concertmaster), Relache Ensemble and Network for New Music. Monroe has participated in the chamber music festivals of Marlboro (3 yrs.), Caramoor (2 yrs.), and Sitka (10 yrs.). Her most recent solo premieres include David Baker’s Violin Concerto - Duluth Superior Symphony, Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy- Harlem Symphony, Andrew Rudin’s Violin Concerto - Orchestra 2001, (Innova Records), Robert Capanna’s Violin Sonata (with pianist Michal Schmidt at Curtis Institute’s Field Hall), and Paul Salerni’s The Big Sword and the Little Broom, (Monarch Records). 

Diane Monroe has taught violin and coached chamber music at Oberlin Conservatory, Temple U., Swarthmore College, Lehigh U., Ursinus College, Settlement Music School, Phila., and The Quartet Program, NY. She has adjudicated for the Sphinx and Fischoff solo and chamber competitions, and has coached members of the Ying, Brentano, Dali, PUBLIQuartet, and Marian Anderson String Quartets. Ms. Monroe is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia Musical Academy (now U.Arts), and has also attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Michigan State University.
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