Denise Shannon
Violin
Music has always been an important part of my life. In the second grade, I started taking piano lessons and singing in the church youth choir in Kansas City. In the sixth grade, I traded piano lessons for violin lessons because I enjoyed hearing my grandfather play his “fiddle” and thought it would be fun. (The picture shows me with “Old Bull” his favorite violin.) I played in my junior high and high school orchestras and was concertmaster my senior year of high school.
For college, I chose Kansas State University because I could play in the symphony orchestra while majoring in business. I stopped playing until summer 2003 when I saw an ad for violinists, and I joined the MSO. I served as secretary to the board from 2007 – 2010 and rejoined the board in 2022. I enjoy promoting the orchestra on radios stations WIGY and WCME before each concert.
Photo credit: © Jeff Morris/the Pierce Studio
