Praised as “the real thing, a true virtuoso” and “an exceptional violinist” (Seen and Heard International), Augusta McKay Lodge is an international prize-winning baroque and modern violinist based in New York and Paris. Enjoying a flourishing solo career, McKay Lodge has had concerto appearances in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully (Mendelssohn Concerto), a concert series with Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra (Bach A minor Violin Concerto), and many featured solos as concertmaster of Juilliard415. Most recently she gave her solo debut at Carnegie Hall.
Ms. McKay Lodge has claimed grand prizes from Concert Artists International, Juilliard’s Historical Performance Concerto Competition, the Indianapolis Baroque Concerto Competition, and placed as semifinalist in Le Concours Corneille (France), International Musica Antiqua Competition, and finalist in the 2016 International Indianapolis Baroque Concerto Competition.
McKay Lodge’s debut solo album of unaccompanied baroque violin works – Beyond Bach and Vivaldi – was released on the Naxos label, April 13 2018.
An avid chamber and orchestral musician, she was named a 2016 English Concert American Fellow, a 2017 Juilliard-Mercury Fellow, and a Kovner Fellow. She will be joining William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants in their 2018 season. She has performed regularly in leading historical orchestras such as The American Classical Orchestra, Mercury: an Orchestra Redefined, Oregon Bach Festival, Apollo’s Fire: The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, and Les Arts Florissants. She has performed, with solo and chamber music capacities, in venues such as The Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center, NY), Carnegie Hall, Kosciuszko Foundation, The French Consulate (NY), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), and Severance Hall (Cleveland).
As concertmaster, she has led Juilliard415 under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, William Christie, Masaaki Suzuki, Ton Koopman, and Kristian Bezuidenhout. She enjoyed sitting concertmaster for Bach’s B Minor Mass and performing the solo Laudamus Te on Juilliard415’s 2016 Netherlands tour. She also performed a featured concertmaster solo on Juilliard415’s West Coast tour with Nicolas McGegan, after which she was said to have “worked especially hard and rose to the challenges beautifully” (The New York Times).
She is a founding member of her own ensemble, Voyage Sonique in New York.
She is a native of Oberlin, Ohio. At the age of 25, she has earned a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, a Masters of Music from Indiana University Jacobs School, and a Masters from The Juilliard School in historical performance where she was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. While at Juilliard she studied with Cynthia Roberts, Monica Huggett, Elizabeth Blumenstock, and Robert Mealy.
Augusta began her studies early on and continued at the Moscow Central Special Music School, and received honors (Pi Kappa Lambda) from Oberlin Conservatory upon graduation at the age of 19 and spent an exchange semester at Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2011. Previous teachers include Alexander Kerr, Stanley Ritchie, Marilyn McDonald, Milan Vitek, Johannes Leertouwer, Sophie Gent, and Almita Vamos.She plays on a Jason Viseltear baroque violin from 2014.