Jay Christy

Jay Christy is Assistant Principal Second Violinist in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, in which he has played since 1992, and Assistant Concertmaster of the American Sinfonietta from 1993-2002 in Bellingham, Washington. He soloed with the National Repertory Orchestra under Otto Werner Mueller, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra under Louis Lane, the Ohio Ballet Orchestra, and the Congress of Strings Orchestra in a double concerto with Joseph Silverstein. He also has appeared as soloist with the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Walton High School Orchestra on an Austrian tour, the Rome Symphony, the Florida Space Coast Philharmonic, the Florida Symphony Orchestra under Alfred Savia,and the Melbourne Community Orchestra. Since the summer of 2004, he has played in the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Mr.Christy began studying the violin at the age of three in the Washington, D.C., area with his mother Nancy. His other teachers include John Merrill of the Baltimore Symphony and Lev Gurevich of the Florida Symphony. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of David Cerone, David Updegraff, Victor Danchenko, and Eugene Gratovich, and a Master of Music degree from Indiana University as a student of Franco Gulli.

In addition to performing with the Georgian Chamber Players at Spivey Hall, Mr. Christy is a frequent guest of the Emory Chamber Music Society and has performed with Thamyris, a contemporary music ensemble. An active violin teacher and coach in the metropolitan Atlanta area, he is an Artist Affiliate at Emory University, a faculty member of Reinhardt College, and an adjunct faculty member at Covenant College in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A guest faculty member at Stringendo School for Strings, he also has been teaching and performing in the Robert McDuffie School for Strings at Mercer University. He made his first chamber-music recording, a collection of oboe quartets, with the Christy Oboe Quartet, whose other members include his two sisters and brother-in-law, all professional musicians. They have played concerts throughout the Southeast and in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Mr. Christy resides in Marietta with his wife Katie and young daughter Diana, and enjoys jogging, hiking, and mountaineering in his spare time.