Department of Music

Violinist Lenora-Marya Anop is “ravishing . . . with [her] lean yet intense … violin particularly capturing the spirit of [the] music” (San Francisco Chronicle); “a highly skilled and invested violinist, who brought a lovely singing tone to her playing … top-notch performance(s) … meltingly sensitive” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). She “played with balance and sympathy . . . [and] achieved a fine, lyric intensity” (Cleveland Plain Dealer); had “beautiful soloistic passages . . . well-performed”; “first-rate” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Following a performance of a J.S. Bach violin concerto: “Concertmistress Lenora-Marya Anop assayed the solo part with passion and clarity. This was a fiery performance, as fine as one would wish to hear in any of the world’s musical capitals.” (St. Louis Beacon).

Dr. Anop enjoys a busy performing career as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, and orchestra leader. In April 2025, she celebrated her 25th year as the Concertmaster of the Bach Society of Saint Louis Orchestra. She is also the Concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis and of the Salem Chamber Orchestra, with whom she proudly gave the St. Louis and Midwest premier of Florence Price’s Violin Concerto #2 in February 2026.

Other noteworthy projects include her recording entitled Bach Unlocked following her scholarly violin edition of J. S. Bach's Cello Suites Nos. 1 & 2. Other recent concerto appearances include works by Mozart, J. S. Bach, Vaughan Williams, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, as well as soloing while leading the Bach Society of Saint Louis Orchestra in sold-out performances of the complete cycle of J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti. An avid scholarly and historically appropriate artist, she performs equally comfortably on Baroque, Classical, and modern instruments. Truthful to Bach's intentions, she performs Brandenburg Concerto #1 in rare fashion: on a period-appropriate Violino Piccolo.

Additional recent performance highlights include multiple solo and chamber music performances in Carnegie Recital Hall (NYC), as well as concerts in Italy at the InterHarmony International Music Festival.

Previously First Violin of the professionally managed Rackham String Quartet (RSQ), she performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia winning five national and international chamber music competitions. The Strad magazine labeled the RSQ “a force to be reckoned with” following their performance at the Evian (France) International String Quartet Competition. Champions of contemporary music, the Rackhams worked with and performed works by many leading composers including Ned Rorem, William Albright, and György Ligeti. They spent their summers in residence at the Aspen Music Festival’s Center for Advanced String Quartet Study, Tanglewood, the Madeline Island Music Festival, and the Norfolk Music Festival. The Quartet apprenticed with the Cleveland Quartet at the Eastman School of Music, followed by a three-year Rural Residency in Monterey County, California where they founded, designed, and taught the South County Strings Program, providing string educational opportunities throughout the southern portion of the heavily agricultural county. Originally funded by Youth Music Monterey, Chamber Music America and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the South County Strings Program is still in existence today, over 25+ years later.

Dr. Anop began her violin studies at age 3 in Denver, Colorado (USA). She was one of the very first Suzuki violin students in the United States, under the tutelage of a violinist trained by the legendary Suzuki pioneer John Kendall who, at that time, was the violin professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE).

Her musical life came full circle in 1997 when she was appointed to the music faculty at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) - the same institution that trained her very first violin teacher – where she is now Professor of Violin and Director of Strings. A passionate, dedicated and accomplished pedagogue, Lenora's talented and capable students have been appointed to teaching and orchestral positions worldwide. Dr. Anop now teaches many students, grand-students – and great grand-students, as former students send their students to train with her knowing that they will have an exceptionally dedicated mentor.

Dr. Anop earned her B.M. with Honors in Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, M.M. degree from Yale University, and D.M.A. from the University of Michigan.