Biography:

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Violinist, Laura Oatts, got her Bachelors degree in Music Performance at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music and Schools for the Arts. At Stony Brook University, she was the First Violinist in the Graduate String Quartet. She has toured with the English Chamber Orchestra, the Soviet Emigre Chamber Orchestra, New York City Ballet Orchestra and the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble. She has played with the American Symphony, the Caramoor Festival Orchestra, the Opera Orchestra of New York, American Ballet Theater, the Kammer Guild Orchestra, Musica Aterna (at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), Manhattan Philharmonic, Musica Sacra, the New York Choral Society and the American Song Book at Lincoln Center. She has worked on numerous occasions under the direction of Leonard Bernstein and James Levine.

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Laura has had extensive teaching experience giving private lessons, coaching chamber music which includes string ensembles, to students of all ages throughout her 30-year career. She was on the faculty of the Webster Music School in St. Louis, Missouri. She studied and performed as a conductor at the St. Louis Conservatory and Schools for the Arts. She currently teaches for the organization, "Music in Your Home."

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The chamber music Laura has played includes concerts, music festivals, and tours in Europe and the United States with the Astor String Quartet and the Piano Trio St. Gilles, as well as string quartets in television and film appearances. She is involved in a series of chamber music concerts with the concertmasters of the New York City Ballet in Saratoga.

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Laura plays with the New York City Ballet, where she has been working for the past 28 years. She is a longtime member of the following orchestras: American Composer's Orchestra (with Dennis Russell Davies and new music director George Manahan), New York Pops (with Skitch Henderson), and the Westchester Philharmonic conducted by Itzhak Perlman. Laura has been a member of five long running Broadway shows: "Thoroughly Modern Milly," "Victor Victoria," "The Scarlet Pimpernel," "Crazy for You," and the original production of Steven Sondheim's "Into the Woods." In addition, she has played for 35 other Broadway shows.

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Laura has recorded extensively. These recordings include classical, jazz, pop, Broadway, film, as well as jingles. Movie soundtracks include: "The Age of Innocence," "The Winslow Boy," "Shaft," "Marvin's Room," "Malcolm X," "Runaway Bride," "Snake Eyes," "What Makes a Family," and "Tadpole." She has played on 7 Grammy-Award-winning albums. Additional albums include Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, Whitney Houston, Aerosmith, Rosemary Clooney, and Pavarotti. Laura was also featured on TV with Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5, Harry Connick Jr., Andrea Bocelli, Burt Bacharach, and on stage at Carnegie Hall with Sting.

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Her television appearances include being featured as a First Violinist in the Pine Valley String Quartet as a recurring role on "All My Children." She also appeared in the String Quartet for Tim Robbins' Showtime pilot, "Possible Side Effects." In addition, she has appeared several times on "Good Morning America" and "Late Night with David Letterman."

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Her movie appearances include playing on screen in Tom Hanks' "The Money Pit." Most recently, Laura can be seen and heard playing First Violin for the string quartet in the movie, "The Black Swan."

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She also recorded for the new video game soundtrack, "Home Front," for X-Box 360.

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