Violist Michael Strauss has performed around the world as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and in symphonic settings on concert series, live radio broadcasts, and festivals across Europe, North America, Japan, and China. He made his solo debut with the Minnesota Orchestra and has since appeared as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Orchestra 2001, Charleston Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, and Camerata Chicago, among others. During his 20-year tenure as principal
violist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Strauss was featured as a soloist nearly every season. Strauss currently performs as a founding member of The Indianapolis Quartet. He is also a member of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and is principal viola of the Akron Symphony Orchestra
and Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.
A former member of the Fine Arts Quartet, Strauss made several European and US tours with them as well as a critically acclaimed recording of Mozart’s complete viola quintets (Lyrinx). Other recordings with Strauss as soloist or in chamber ensembles can be heard on AMR (Robert Paterson String Quartets No. 1-3 with The Indianapolis Quartet), | Virtuosi (Jennifer Higdon Viola
Sonata), CRI (David Finko Viola Concerto and 20th-century chamber works with Orchestra 2001), Centaur (Stamitz Viola Concerto with Camerata Chicago), and on Oberlin Music/Naxos (Wordless Verses featuring works for oboe, viola, and piano, and String Theory with English hornist Robert
Walters).
Strauss serves on the faculty of Youngstown State University. He previously taught at Oberlin
Conservatory, Indiana University, University of the Arts, and Swarthmore College.