Dr. Geronimo Oyenard

Uruguayan violinist Geronimo Oyenard has studied with Ludmilla Cavallaro, Amos Lawrence, Lee-Chin Siow, Kevin Lawrence, Hal Grossman, and Gregory Lee. After serving as concertmaster for the National Youth Orchestra and as the youngest member of the National Symphony Orchestra in his native country, Geronimo attended the College of Charleston on a full scholarship, where he obtained his Bachelor’s in Arts and an Artist’s Certificate in Performance. He furthered his musical studies at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), where he received a Master’s Degree in Performance, and at the University of Oklahoma, where he completed his DMA in Performance.

Dr. Oyenard is currently Assistant Principal Second Violin with the Symphony Orchestra of Northern Arkansas, and plays regularly with the Arkansas Symphony and the Tulsa Symphony and Ballet. He has also played with the Charleston Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the West Virginia Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, the Richmond Symphony, the Roanoke Symphony (RSO), Opera on the James, and the Williamsburg Symphonia, among others. He has served as concertmaster and soloist with the Lynchburg Symphony, the New River Valley Orchestra, and the College of Charleston and UNCSA orchestras. As chamber musician, Dr. Oyenard has been a member of the Charleston Promusica early music ensemble, the Die Kunst Piano Trio, and the Stern Scholar and Blue Ridge string quartets. Dr. Oyenard has also participated in numerous summer chamber music workshops and orchestral festivals in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Austria, Spain, and France. He has performed frequently as recitalist for the Roanoke College, Hollins University, and College of Charleston faculty series, and in his native Uruguay.

As educator, Dr. Oyenard was Hal Grossman’s sabbatical replacement for his undergraduate class at the University of Oklahoma (2017). He has been a faculty member for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s El Sistema-based Young Musicians Program, the Norman School for Strings, the UNCSA Community Music School, the Performing Arts Institute of Virginia, Bluefield College, and was the RSO’s Strings Instructor for three years. In this position, Dr. Oyenard created and directed Suzuki-based violin programs for Franklin County and Salem City public schools, taught underprivileged students for the Friends of the RSO, coached the Roanoke Youth Symphony, judged its annual concerto competition, and taught at their Summer Music Institute. As Artist-in Residence for Franklin County Public Schools, Dr. Oyenard directed an in-school Suzuki-based program that reached over 80 elementary and middle-school children every week.

A certified Suzuki instructor, Dr. Oyenard has taught for the Lynchburg City Schools Suzuki Program, and is currently a full-time Teaching Artist for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s Sturgis Academy, in addition to serving as the ASO’s Music Librarian. He also accepts private students of all ages and levels, and enjoys arranging popular film, TV, and videogame music for strings.