The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance announces that Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt will join the Department of Strings as an associate professor in August 2026. Pajaro-van de Stadt is a world-renowned violist and educator.
“Known for her beautiful tone and exquisite musicianship, Professor Pajaro-van de Stadt is one of the most highly respected and sought-after violists in the world,” said David Halen, chair and professor of the Department of Strings. “It is with tremendous excitement that we welcome her to the string faculty at the University of Michigan and anticipate her tremendous impact on her students, now and in the future.”
In addition to appearances as a soloist with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, Pajaro-van de Stadt has performed in recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall.
Pajaro-van de Stadt was the founding violist of the multi-Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet and played with the group from 2008 to 2022. During her time with the ensemble, the Dover Quartet won first prize and received every special award at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, and it won the gold medal and grand prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The quartet also was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Cleveland Quartet Award, the Hunt Family Award from Lincoln Center, and the Consul General’s Award for Cultural Diplomacy by the Consulate General of the United States of America in Milan, Italy.
Her numerous awards also include first prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the Sphinx Competition and the Tokyo International Viola Competition. She is now a member of the newly formed piano quartet Espressivo! She performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Seattle Chamber Music Society, and the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, and she is a frequent performer at music festivals around the country, including La Jolla SummerFest, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival.
With the Dover Quartet, she has released recordings on the Cedille and Azica Records labels, including recordings of the complete Beethoven and Schumann quartets; an album of Mozart chamber music titled Tribute, in honor of the Guarneri Quartet; and an album titled Voices of Defiance, celebrating powerful music written during World War II. She has also collaborated on recordings with the Pacifica Quartet and the Ehnes Quartet.
“I could not be more thrilled to be joining the esteemed faculty at SMTD,” Pajaro-van de Stadt said. “It is deeply meaningful to get to be part of this thriving, world-class artistic community – one I have admired since my first time in Ann Arbor as a thirteen-year-old competitor in the Sphinx Competition. I look forward to working side by side with phenomenal colleagues and mentoring talented and dedicated violists.”
Pajaro-van de Stadt previously served on the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and was part of the quartet in residence at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She has given master classes at numerous renowned institutions, including the Curtis Institute of Music, the Colburn School, Mannes School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Meadowmount School of Music, and Toronto Summer Music, among many others.
Pajaro-van de Stadt received degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.