Department of Music

Violinist Daniel Sender has gained an international reputation as a performer, educator, and scholar. Recent concert tours in Europe have been met with high praise and Dr. Sender is increasingly in demand in both the classroom and the concert stage. A frequent guest soloist and principal artist with chamber and symphony orchestras throughout the region, Dr. Sender currently serves as concertmaster of the Charlottesville Symphony and Charlottesville Opera. Since 2017, he has also been a festival artist with the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra.

Dr. Sender was selected as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar for the 2021-22 Academic Year, during which time he taught and performed at the prestigious Liszt Academy (Budapest) and the University of Pécs. Dr. Sender was also previously awarded a Fulbright Student Scholar grant for his research in Budapest (2010-11) and attended the Liszt Academy as a student of Vilmos Szabadi. He was formerly the first violinist of the Adelphi String Quartet, which held a fellowship residency under the tutelage of the Guarneri Quartet at the University of Maryland and was for four years the violinist of the Annapolis Chamber Players. Dr. Sender has recorded for Centaur, Sono Luminus, Bifrost, and other independent labels.

Dr. Sender’s scholarship focuses on the intersection of folk music and art music in Hungary. With written and composed works, including the article, “Bartók’s Rhapsodies: A Violinist’s Guide to Building an Authentic Interpretation” (American String Teacher), Dr. Sender has been making progress in bridging the gap between scholarship and performance relating to the music of central Europe. Recent compositions include Roma Folk Dances: Village Tunes of the Hungarian Roma (2019), Scenes from Csenyéte (2020), Three Souvenirs (2021), The Last Invocation for SATB Chorus and Soprano (2022), and Mosaic for Children’s Chorus (2023).

Recent season highlights include a three-concert series with the Garth Newel Piano Quartet and the opportunity to represent the City of Charlottesville once more on the international stage. With the support of a grant from the Charlottesville Sister Cities Commission, Dr. Sender and his wife, pianist Shelby Sender, gave a pair of concerts and masterclass in Besançon, France as part of a cultural exchange residency.

Solo and chamber concerts have taken him to venues around the world, including the Kennedy Center, Kursaal (Besançon, France), Solti Hall at the Liszt Academy (Budapest), National School of the Arts “Panayot Pipkov” (Bulgaria), Institute of Music at the University of Pécs (Hungary), Hungarian Embassy, Bartók Hall of the Erdödy Palace (Budapest), Smithsonian Museum of American History, Universität der Kunste (Berlin), and the Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal).

A native of Philadelphia, Dr. Sender attended Ithaca College, the University of Maryland, the Liszt Academy (Budapest), and the Institute for European Studies (Vienna). His primary teachers include Vilmos Szabadi, Arnold Steinhardt, David Salness, René Staar, Gerald Fischbach, and Louis Lanza. He is on the performance faculty of the University of Virginia’s McIntire Department of Music and also holds a faculty position at Interlochen’s Adult Chamber Music Camp.