Isabelle Ekstrom

Isabelle is the sixth generation to grow up on her family’s farm in southeastern Minnesota. Isabelle loves sharing her music with others, crocheting, reading Greek, or walking through the pastures of her farm. Isabelle will be using the Trailblazer Fellowship grant toward tuition at Hillsdale College to study music performance, theory, and pedagogy. Isabelle’s bold dream is after completing her studies, to move back to southern Minnesota and open a violin instruction school.

Isabelle used her initial ABF grant to attend the Stringwood Chamber Music Festival for a two-week intensive camp studying music. Isabelle said about her previous grant experience, “I developed an important awareness of how each instrument performs a unique and essential role in the group: the cello provides the internal pulse; the viola adds depth as the middle voice; the first violin soars above the other instruments, singing the melody; and, arguably, the most important member of the quartet, the second violin, is rarely noticed, yet ultimately runs the show by adding intensity to the other parts and pushing them to sing their lines more brilliantly than before. As I developed a deeper understanding of the quartet art form, I felt drawn to the role of second violin. Even though it is fun to sparkle in the spotlight as the first violin, I was actually happier as the second violin; in the shadow of the melody, I loved urging my fellow musicians to play their best. In my background role, I shined.”