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Photo credit: Mike Lovett

Andrea Segar’s excitement about coming to Colorado to join our College of Music faculty is palpable.

As the first violinist of the renowned Lydian String Quartet in residence at Brandeis University, Segar previously served as a professor in the university’s Department of Music. “It’s been an incredible privilege playing in the Lydian quartet for the past seven years,” she shares. “I will really miss my colleagues and will always be their biggest fan! I’m lucky that I went on this journey with such good and generous people.”

This fall, Segar will join our faculty as an assistant professor of violin. “I am so excited to join an unbelievably talented group of faculty,” she says. She also mentions the students she met while in Boulder for interviews. “I was inspired by the warmth I felt between students and faculty at CU. I thought to myself, ‘This is a place I would love to work.’

“I know from my experience at Brandeis how valuable it can be for students to watch their teachers going through the same process they are. Even though I’ve had more years of experience, I’m still going through the same process of discovery, still reaching for the same artistic ideals and still trying to be a better collaborator.”

Segar brings a welcome combination of experience both in the academic world and in the rarefied world of performance. As she notes, the College of Music has its share of faculty members with similar credentials, including the internationally renowned Takács Quartet in residence. “I first encountered the Takács Quartet as a teenager in a master class at a summer festival,” she recalls, “and hearing them play showed me just how wonderful, dynamic and inspiring quartet-playing could be. I’m thrilled to get to work with them.”

Segar’s primary emphases at CU Boulder will be teaching and performing. “I love learning about each student and their goals,” she says, “getting a sense of what comes naturally to each of them and what feels difficult, and helping them through the process of taking risks. I’ve always found that teaching is so much more than just helping students learn to play well. 

“One of the beautiful things about teaching is that I’m both learning from my students and getting to share the wisdom passed down from my teachers. It’s a privilege to help students figure out their path in the world, support them in their individual work and see them grow.”

In that vein, she turns her attention to the College of Music’s universal musician mission which, she says, “really resonates with me.” She appreciates how the college is “addressing the needs of the students as whole people—both personally and professionally—and I’m very excited to contribute to that.” Segar expresses the hope that College of Music students graduate “with the skills and passion to not only make beautiful music, but to use music as a force for good in the world.”

Welcome!