Elise Frawley
Viola
Elise has performed with several orchestras throughout the country including the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Ballet Theatre, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, the New Haven Symphony, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, among others. Conductors she has worked with include Kurt Masur, Neeme Järvi, Gerard Schwarz, Oliver Knussen, and Joseph Silverstein. She also performs on Broadway and off-Broadway as a substitute musician. She recently held the viola chair for the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the longest-running Yiddish theatre company.
Artists she has performed with include Paul Simon, St. Vincent, Danger Mouse, Alessia Cara, Julia Michaels, Jon Batiste, Kygo, Halsey, Meghan Trainor, Andrew Bird, Pharaohe Monch, Jacky Cheung, Kelis, Shallou, Pink Martini, Shoshana Bean, Cynthia Erivo, Grace McLean, Santino Fontana, Nathan Gunn, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Falls, Landlady, Cassandra Jenkins, and the Airborne Toxic Event.
An active recording musician, Elise has appeared on multiple major and indie label albums, including Jon Batiste’s Hollywood Africans (Verve Records), Danger Mouse’s Resistance Radio: Man in the High Castle (30th Century Records), among others. She records frequently for artists on Mason Jar Music and Likeminds Music. She has also appeared on numerous orchestral recordings.
Elise especially enjoys performing in solo and collaborative projects and has been fortunate to work with inspiring and creative musicians along the way. She has commissioned works by Timo Andres, Mike Boyman, Benjamin Brody, Fraser Campbell, Chanell Crichlow, Oliver Hill, and Mariel Mayz, and regularly performs new works by living composers. She has been featured in recital with duo partner Nuno Marques in the Allegro concert series at St. Paul’s Chapel Trinity Church Wall Street, the 92nd Street Y Faculty series, and the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge, premiering new works for viola and piano at each recital. Elise and Nuno are co-founders of Atlantic Collective, a group that performs socially thematic programs with an emphasis on contemporary music from around the world. As a soloist, she gave the New York premiere of Sally Beamish’s Viola Concerto No. 2, The Seafarer, with the Chelsea Symphony. She also performed at the opening of the new Whitney Museum in New York’s Meatpacking district with the Velvet Underground’s John Cale along to Andy Warhol’s film, Empire, with the String Orchestra of Brooklyn.
Elise is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and NYU, where she served as Adjunct Instructor of Viola. She served on the Executive Board of the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 from 2019 – 2022 as its youngest member, where she helped organize and serve on the negotiating committees for several local and national contracts, including the first Live TV contract to win streaming residuals. She continues to hold a special interest in organizing and local New York City politics. She serves as viola instructor at the 92nd Street Y and the Trinity School. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and their two young sons.