Orieta Dado

Dr. Orieta Dado has a rich international career of solo, chamber music, orchestra, pedagogy, and a multicultural approach to Music and Humanities.

A graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of music, she earned the title Doctor of Musical Arts with a Cognate in Chamber Music under the guidance of Professor Kurt Sassmannshaus, Piotr Milevsky, Dorothy Delay, and the Tokyo Quartet. Currently she is the Co-Principal 2nd Violin of Munich Symphony Orchestra in Germany, where she performs regularly at Herkulesaal, Printzregentheater, and tours extensively in Europe, Asia, and the USA.

Winner of multiple awards, like Starling International Artist in Cincinnati, Naftzger Grand Prize in Wichita, Jefferson Artist in Colorado, and Stavanger Solo competition in Norway, she has appeared as a soloist with orchestras on both continents, such as the Albanian Radio Orchestra, Aspen Young Artist Orchestra, Albanian Philharmonic, Hays Symphony -a concert broadcasted live on Kansas Radio- and Cincinnati Conservatory orchestra. At 14 years old she performed Mozart Violin Concerto in A major with the Albanian Philharmonic and later became the concertmaster of Albanian Virtuosi, a prominent Youth Soloist-and-Chamber orchestra touring all over Europe. In 2004 she returned home to perform Beethoven Triple Concerto with other prominent musicians and the Albanian Radio Orchestra in the country’s foremost venue, Teatri i Operas dhe Baletit. This event was broadcasted on several TV and Radio channels, and she gave an exclusive 45 minute interview and profile on “Pegasus”- a distinguished cultural series at the time. Her orchestra career extends to both continents, collaborating with artists like Pavarotti, Domingo, Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Flemming, DiDonato, conductors like Levine, Jarvi, Schüller, and Baroque specialists like Biondi and Göbel. She has toured in the USA, Europe, and Asia and performed in the Concertgebouw, Köln Philharmonie, Washington D.C., Beijing National Center, and Seoul Centre for the Arts.

Her artistic activities have been broadcasted in the NPR of Kansas, Minnesota, Georgia, Kentucky, and in Albanian National channels such as Radio Tirana, TV-Albania, and Top Channel. Dr. Dado has played and coached chamber music next to prominent names such as Lars Ander Tompter, Liza Fertschman, Anton Sorokow, and Firmian Lermer, in the Norwegian Youth Chamber Music Festival, at Malmö Live, Schubert Club, and the international Different Trains Festival. A passionate pedagogue, she has given lessons and masterclasses in universities and summer festivals in Georgia, Florida, Iowa, and Kentucky.

She has been on the faculty of the acclaimed Starling program at the Cincinnati Conservatory, a teaching assistant for the class of Professor Sassmannshaus, a faculty at the St. Paul Conservatory in Minnesota, and at the International Youth Chamber Music Festival in Stavanger, Norway. In addition, she has lead orchestra sectionals for the Minneapolis Youth Symphony Orchestra and Pestalozzi Gymnasium in Munich. Future engagements include sectionals for the East Bavarian Youth Symphony in Germany. Her multidisciplinary, multicultural approach to Music and Humanities inspired her to co-found and co-direct in 2009 Muse Salon, a music series evoking European Salons of the 19th century. In these gatherings, guests from different disciplines (photographers, painters, linguists, filmmakers, coffee specialists, and musicians) discussed themes of art, politics, and history in relationship to music. Live performance of a wide range of repertoire supported and/or challenged these discussions, engaging the audience with direct questions. Held at small venues such as St. Paul´s museum of old instruments, St. Paul Conservatory, or a photographer´s studio, this concert format resonated with a wide variety of audiences.

Orieta began her studies at Albania´s foremost music school, Liceu Artistik in Tirana. At a young age, she won several competitions, frequently performing on national TV and Radio. Fond memories include playing Pjeter Gaci´s Ballade with the composer present in a TV show dedicated to his music. She continued her university studies and career in the USA, where she earned all her degrees and extensive performing and teaching experiences. In a constant quest for cultural richness, she has worked and lived in Albania, the USA, Sweden Norway, and Germany. Her main passion is to bring music and society together.