Olive Mead
{{Short description|American violinist (1874–1946)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
Olive Mead (1874–1946) was an American classical violinist.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XBXggAcjnEoC&q=%2522olive%2520mead%2522%2520violin&pg=PA207 |title=Women & Music: A History |last=Pendle |first=Karin |date=2001 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0-253-33819-0 |pages=207 |language=en}} She was a successful soloist and chamber player, performing with Amy Beach, among many others.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-JcDQAAQBAJ&q=%2522olive%2520mead%2522%2520violin&pg=PT74 |title=Unsung: A History of Women in American Music |last=Ammer |first=Christine |date=2016-07-26 |publisher=BookBaby |isbn=978-1-4835-7700-5 |language=en}} She formed her own well-regarded string-quartet,{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/11/24/archives/the-olive-mead-quartet-opening-of-the-young-ladles-series-of.html |title=THE OLIVE MEAD QUARTET.; Opening of the Young Ladles' Series, of Chamber Concerts. |date=1910-11-24 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2017-12-30 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} the Olive Mead Quartet (1903–1917), which featured only women. Its members were Vera Fonaroff, Gladys North, and Lillian Littlehales. She was a student of Julius Eichberg and Franz Kneisel.
Personal history
She was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and began studying the violin at the age of 7.{{cite news |title=MRS. OLIVE MEAD GREEN: Founder of Violin Quartet of Women in 1904 Dies at 71 |work=The New York Times |issue=21 |date=1 March 1946}} She began studies with Eichberg and Kneisel in 1888 and made her debut at Steinert Hall in Boston at the age of 20.{{cite news |title=MRS. OLIVE MEAD GREEN: Founder of Violin Quartet of Women in 1904 Dies at 71 |work=The New York Times |issue=21 |date=1 March 1946}} She married New York realty professional Merrill Holden Green, who died in 1918. She died at her home in Cambridge in 1946 at the age of 71, survived by two of her three sons.
Professional history
At the age of 25, she made a European tour with Franz Kneisel and his wife, during which she had the opportunity to meet Johannes Brahms. In 1898 she became a soloist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and in later years for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She also played at diplomatic receptions in London as well as gatherings hosted by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Her performance at the Salle Erard in London in June 1900 was noted as being "immensely intelligent".{{cite news |title=Music in London |work=Musical Standard |issue=338 |date=23 June 1900}} In 1910, the Olive Mead Quartet played a benefit for the Graduate Nurses Association at the Columbia Theater in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |title=GRADUATE NURSES BENEFIT.: Olive Mead Quartet Heard in Recital at Columbia Theater. |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=3 Dec 1910}}
References
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Category:American classical violinists
Category:American women classical violinists
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