Violinist Svend Rønning enjoys a varied career as an artistic director, chamber musician, concertmaster, educator, and soloist. He is Chair of the String Division at Pacific Lutheran University where he is Professor of Music and violinist in the Regency String Quartet. His prior teaching appointments have included faculty positions at the Eastern Music Festival, the Shenandoah Conservatory, and the University of Virginia.

One of the most active performers in the Puget Sound, Dr. Rønning serves as Concertmaster of Symphony Tacoma as well as performing frequently as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and recording artist. He is also Artistic Director of the Second City Chamber Series, Tacoma's award winning producer of chamber music concerts and chamber music educational programs. Additional activities include period instrument performance with the Puget Sound Consort, Tacoma’s ensemble for early music.

Svend Rønning has appeared in venues around the world, including the Aspen Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Harkness Park Summer Concerts, Jerusalem Winter Classics, Methow Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, Spoleto U.S.A. and the Wintergreen Music Festival. He has served as Concertmaster of various orchestras including the Charlottesville Symphony, the San Jose Symphony, the Spoleto U.S.A. Chamber Orchestra, and the Tacoma Opera Orchestra. As soloist, he has appeared with numerous orchestras, including the Arctic Chamber Orchestra, the Charlottesville Symphony, the Prague Radio Symphony, Orchestra Seattle, and the Tacoma Symphony. His repertoire includes more than twenty of the standard violin concertos as well as concertos by Alban Berg, Jerry Kracht (written for him), Walter Ross (written for him) and Miklós Rózsa. Other notable solo appearances include recitals at the Conservatorium of Music, Hobart, Australia, Duke University, Ithaca College, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In addition to performing and teaching violin, Svend enjoys teaching courses non-major undergraduates at PLU, among them “Music in Film,” “The Music of Scandinavia” and “The Arts and Society” which he developed for PLU’s International Honors Program and has taught both at PLU and at the University of Oxford. He has also lectured on the Music of the United States at Hedmark University College in Norway.

Svend Rønning is a native of the Pacific Northwest and holds an undergraduate degree in violin performance from Pacific Lutheran University. He subsequently earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University. He appears with the Olympia Symphony this evening for the second time, having performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Orchestra in 2017.