Violinist and Oak Park native Cara Schlecker, alumna of The University of Michigan and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, is currently the concertmaster and soloist with the Star Gate Orchestra and is a former Member of The Civic Orchestra of Chicago.  She has participated in master classes and studied under artists such as: Ruggiero Ricci; Alice Schoenfeld; Shmuel Ashkenasi; Christopher O'Riley; Chee-Yun Kim; Robert McDuffie; Emerson String Quartet; St. Lawrence String Quartet; Brentano String Quartet; Cavani String Quartet and Orion String Quartet among others.

     Ms. Schlecker has performed internationally  and made her Lincoln Center debut in 2012, has had the pleasure of performing several times at both the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse and Le Poisson Rouge. 

   A 2016 Fellow at the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, she was also a past participant in the Monticito International Music Festival; Foulger International Music Festival; and the Innsbrook Institute Music Academy & Festival. She has been featured on Chicago’s classical station WFMT radio’s “Introductions.” Ms. Schlecker was featured on national television with the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings in their PBS special, “A Grand Mercer Christmas”. 

   Cara Schlecker appears on a newly released album “Beloved” with tenor, Christian Ketter, and has performed with popular artists such as country-star Jo Dee Messina, The “Ten Tenors” of Broadway, actor/comedian Martin Short, to name a few.  She performed on tour with Rod Stewart in his 2015 National Tour “Another Country”. Ms. Schlecker has performed chapter recitals on behalf of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Her recording, of Igor Frolov's Concert Fantasy on Themes From Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, was released through The University of Michigan's “Gershwin Initiative” in January, 2018.

    Ms. Schlecker has enjoyed playing respectively with The Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Glendale and Macon Pops orchestras, Chicago Holiday Pops, as well as the Ann Arbor Symphony. She has played under the baton of conductors such as Robert Spano, Marin Alsop, Michael Stern, Ken-David Masur, Nicholas Kraemer, among others. In addition to an undergraduate degree from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, she completed both a Master’s Degree and a Specialist’s Degree in Violin Performance at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor under the direction of St. Louis Symphony Concertmaster, and Professor of Violin, David Halen.  In January 2018, Ms. Schlecker’s video recording of Igor Frolov’s Concert Fantasia- On Themes from Gershwin’s Opera Porgy and Bess, op.19, was released from The University of Michigan’s Duderstadt Center and Gershwin Initiative.

    Ms. Schlecker completed her Suzuki Teacher training at The University of Michigan. A former Suzuki student herself, she has a passion for helping students find satisfaction and confidence in music making, as well as enjoyment in the performance of their instrument.