About.
Phoebe Gelzer-Govatos holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, respectively. Her principal teachers include Igor Markstein, Alvaro Gomez, and Routa Kroumovitch.
She has a particular love of early music, and has received additional instruction in historical performance through festivals and workshops such as the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Oberlin College’s Baroque Performance Institute, the International Baroque Institute at Longy, and the Berwick Academy of the Oregon Bach Festival, including studies with Marilyn McDonald, Julie Andrijeski, and Marc Destrubé.
Recent performances include programs with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Louisville's Bourbon Baroque, and vocal ensemble Audivi. Phoebe is also a core member of period-instrument ensembles l’Invenzione, the Michigan Bach Collective, and Ensemble Affect. She is a frequent guest artist with the baroque orchestras of the University of Michigan and Grand Valley State University, and has been invited to lead workshops in baroque style and technique at Bowling Green and Youngstown State Universities.
An active modern violinist as well, Ms. Gelzer-Govatos performs with a number of ensembles in her home state of Michigan, including the Adrian, Lansing, and Kalamazoo Symphonies, the Detroit Opera Orchestra, and CutTime Simfonica, and is an avid chamber musician. She teaches chamber music at the Rudolf Steiner High School of Ann Arbor and maintains a private studio in addition.
When performing early music, Phoebe plays an anonymous 18th-century Bavarian violin patterned after Amati, with bows by Andrew Dipper and Ken Millard. Her modern setup features an 1897 violin by François Barzoni and a bow by Finnish maker Armin Seebass.
