Jennifer N. Girone-Virgilio

Jennifer Girone-Virgilio is on faculty at the New England Suzuki Institute and New England Conservatory Prep Division. She is the Head of the Suzuki Cello/Bass Department and the Suzuki Program Coordinator at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and maintains her own private studio. Her students have been accepted into such prestigious programs as the Special Music School, LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Interlochen Arts Camp, Manhattan School of Music Summer, Ithaca College Summer Music Academy, and NYU SummerStrings. She has taught cello and music appreciation classes at the BKCM Summer Piano, Guitar, and Strings Workshop from 2016-2021.

Jennifer’s approach to teaching music is full of vivid analogies, hands-on activities to reinforce ideas, and questions to get her students to think for themselves not only to analyze what they are looking at on the page, but also how to approach getting an optimal sound out of their instruments. Having experience with the Feldenkrais Method, and Music Mind Games, Ms. Girone-Virgilio’s versatile training allows her to approach her teaching from a visual, aural, or kinesthetic standpoint, depending on the student’s needs.

Jennifer completed training in Suzuki Cello Books 1-8 from the School for Strings with Pamela Devenport and Books 9-10 with Tanya Carey.  Additionally, she completed an apprenticeship with Tova Rosenberg through the School for Strings’ Early Childhood Program, and spearheaded that department from 2010 until 2017, working with children ages 1-4.  Ms. Girone-Virgilio earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance from The Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut, where she studied with Steven Thomas.  She went on to receive her Master of Music degree in Cello Performance at New York’s Mannes College of Music, under the guidance of Paul Tobias.

As a performer, Jennifer has appeared as the Principal Cellist with the Mid-Atlantic Foundation for Asian Artists Opera at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C; with the OMNI Ensemble performing Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Crumb’s Vox Balanae, in New York; and playing the soundtrack for “The China Question”, a documentary directed by Brook Silva-Braga, which has been played and featured on CNBC. She has also performed with such distinguished organizations as the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Ensemble 212, and the Mimesis Ensemble.  Jennifer was a core member of Rhymes with Opera and a founding member of the Red Door Chamber Players. 

She lives in Boston and enjoys going for hikes, cooking and baking, and spending time with her trombone playing husband Kevin and her cat named Daisy.