Annalise Song, 16, is a scholarship student at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy, a training center for advanced pre-college musicians. She studies violin with Almita Vamos.
Annalise has been studying violin since the age of four with Betty Haag-Kuhnke and the Magical Strings of Youth. During this time, she has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City and for Mayor Fernando Medina in Lisbon, Portugal. Since then, Annalise has served as Concertmaster of the Symphony and Concert Orchestras at the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory and also as a violinist with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO). Annalise has also participated in the ILMEA orchestra for the past three years. She has also received various violin accolades, such as winner of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Bach Double Competition, multiple scholarships awarded under the auspices of the Mary B. Galvin Foundation, honorable mention at the Sejong Music Competition in 2022 and 2019, honorable mention at the Depaul Concerto Festival in 2023 and 2018, and two-time winner at the Granquist Music Competition. In 2023, Annalise also attended the Euro Music Festival and Academy in Poland studying under the auspices of instructors Michael Vaiman and Kyung Sun Lee. In 2024 Annalise attended the Center Stage Strings summer program and festival del lago where she studied under Grigory Kalinovsky, Ryan Meehan, Danielle Belen, and Simon James. Her pedagogy in violin also includes master classes with Vadim Gluzman, Stephanie Jeong, Pasha Sabouri, Julian Rhee, and Lisa Shihoten.
Annalise is a tenth-grade student at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, USA. In her free time, Annalise enjoys performing violin at her church and local retirement centers, being a student mentor to young string students, and volunteering at refugee homes.