Bio : Artists

Penny Thompson Kruse : Violin I

Penny Thompson Kruse serves as an associate professor of violin at Bowling Green State University and previously taught for eight years at William Jewell College in Missouri. Dr. Kruse was trained at Northwestern and Yale Universities and earned the D.M.A. in violin performance from the Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri at Kansas City. For five seasons, she was a member of the Kansas City Symphony serving as associate concertmaster during the 1989-90 season. Dr. Kruse has performed extensively in solo and chamber recitals in addition to solo appearances with numerous orchestras in the U.S. As first violinist of the Escher Quartet, she was an artist-in-residence at Music at Penn?s Woods at Pennsylvania State University. Her recording of Chinese Folk Dance Suite by Chen Yi with the BGSU Philharmonia is available through Albany Records. Internationally, Dr. Kruse has performed and given master classes in South Africa, Australia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Germany, and Romania. She has presented at conferences of the College Music Society, American String Teachers Association, and International Viola Society. Dr. Kruse has co-authored articles with husband Steven Kruse in the American String Teacher, Journal of the American Viola Society, and Strad. Prior to joining EMF in 1993, she performed in the Grand Teton, Colorado, Peninsula, and Sunflower music festivals.