Robert E. Mortensen Chair
Barbara Govatos was named the winner of the Orchestra’s 2012 C. Hartman Kuhn Award for enhancing the standards and the reputation of the Fabulous Philadelphians. She and pianist Marcantonio Barone were presented with the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists award by the Classical Recording Foundation in recognition of their recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano on Bridge Records.
Ms. Govatos has collaborated with Emanuel Ax, Radu Lupu, Riccardo Muti, Christopher Parkening, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and the Emerson String Quartet. She made her debut in Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Orchestra and has made appearances with the Dallas and Delaware symphonies and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. She has performed worldwide with The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1982 and has been heard in solo and chamber music concerts at the Marlboro, Salzburg, Saratoga, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Marblehead, and Music at Gretna festivals. She has also given recitals, chamber music concerts, and master classes at UCLA, Mt. Holyoke College, the University of Delaware, Bucknell University, Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Music director and violinist of the Delaware Chamber Music Festival from 1990 through 2017, she has also explored her interest in the music of the Italian Baroque with the Amerita Ensemble and the music of women composers with the Hildegard Chamber Players. She has been a frequent guest artist with the Lenape Chamber Ensemble and on The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Chamber Music Series.
Ms. Govatos earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School as a scholarship student of Ivan Galamian. During that time she won the G.B. Dealey International Competition, the Charles Petschek Scholarship, and the Austrian American Society’s scholarship for study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Her initial studies were with Sabina K. Girvan and Jascha Brodsky, the first violinist of the Curtis String Quartet, and she was mentored by chamber music greats Felix Galimir, Josef Gingold, Robert Mann, and Mischa Schneider.
Ms. Govatos has served on the advisory boards of Astral Artists, an organization that promotes, presents, and advises talented artists on the cusp of their musical careers, and the Music School of Delaware, a community music school where she began her studies. In addition to recording extensively with The Philadelphia Orchestra, she can be heard on Albany, Bridge, and Parma records. She also teaches privately in her Philadelphia studio.
Photo by Jessica Griffin