Kaylee Erlewein

Kaylee is Acting Associate Principal Second Violin with the Traverse City Philharmonic and was previously Acting Assistant Concertmaster with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra. During the summer, she is also Principal 2nd Violin for the Bay View Music Festival Orchestra. As a Traverse City native, she began her studies at the age of 7 and then attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy for four years, studying with Paul Sonner. She continued violin studies with Dmitri Berlinsky at Michigan State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Music while studying music therapy and violin. Other teachers include Blair Milton and I-Fu Wang.

She is active as a soloist and chamber musician at weddings, musicals, churches, and other events around Michigan. She has also played as a member of the MSU Symphony Orchestra and as a violinist with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Midland Symphony, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Sault Symphony in Canada, and with orchestras for many visiting artists, including Weird Al Yankovich and Josh Groban. She is concertmaster for the Interlochen Choral Institute, the violin coach for the Interlochen Adult String Orchestra Retreat, and has been the violinist for the Interlochen Composers Institute as well.

Kaylee maintains a violin studio from her home in Traverse City and has taught violin and piano privately for over two decades. She is a founding teacher for the Benzie Youth String Program that provides free lessons to kids in Benzie County. In addition to teaching and performing, she was a practicing music therapist at Children's Therapy Corner working mostly with Autism and Traumatic Brain Injury clients. She completed her internship in the Fulton County School System around Atlanta, GA working with pre-K through High School special education students in groups and one-on-one therapy. Since 2015, she has focused solely on teaching and performing. As a teacher, she has adjudicated scholarship and concerto competitions and is frequently sought out as a chamber and orchestral sectional coach for area schools, Dorothy Gerber String Program, and the TC Philharmonic Civic String ensembles.

Kaylee enjoys spending time with her husband Joe and their many children and pets. In her spare time, she loves to tend her many plants (indoors and out) and curl up with a good book.