Denise Cridge, sponsored by Barbara Erickson - Viola

Denise Cridge is an enthusiastic New York musician. Since 2007, Denise has played summers with Lake Placid Sinfonietta. 

Currently, Denise holds contracts with several orchestras including as the Assistant Principal in the Greenwich Symphony and with the Canterbury Chorale.

Every year she does outreach work for a series called "Sounds Like Fun." She plays with the Masterworks Chorale of New Jersey, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, and the Bach festival at St. Peter's Church. 

Early touring years included living in Lisbon, playing in the Novo Filarmonia Portuguesa and Kammerensemble Koln, a baroque ensemble.  Ms. Cridge has toured with New York City Opera National Company, played with The Opera Ensemble of New York, and the Berkshire Opera. She was concertmaster for the national tour of Kiss of the Spiderwoman. More recently, she was acting principal violist for the Little Opera Theatre of New York. Denises’ chamber group Quentre plays arranged and commissioned works for mixed ensemble. Her viola/cello duo held a grant from the Fischer Foundation. Euterpe Quartet plays outreach concerts in Queens. One of her earlier quartets appeared on Unsolved Mysteries.

A dedicated teacher, Ms. Cridge is the viola teacher at the Allen-Stevenson School, where she has built a mighty class of young, enthusiastic violists. She enjoyed working with Francis Tursi while attending the Hartt School of Music and Raphael Bronstein, at the Manhattan School of Music.   Further study and coaching were with Jesse Levine, Jerry Beale and Raphael Druian.