Career
She is the former principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony, a role she held from 1976 through 2005. Previously, she was assistant principal viola of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Miami Symphony and Baltimore Symphony. She currently teaches on the music faculty of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Before joining the Takács Quartet at the University of Colorado, Geraldine Walther was Principal Violist of the San Francisco Symphony for 29 years.
Early in her career she served as assistant principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Miami Philharmonic, and the Baltimore Symphony. She had been on the music faculty of The San Francisco Conservatory, Notre Dame de Namur University, and Mills College and conducted master classes at numerous universities and festivals.
She has also served as principal violist with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego. An avid chamber musician, Mississippi
Walther regularly participates in leading chamber music festivals, including Marlboro, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Bridgehampton, and, most recently, the Telluride, Seattle, and Ruby Mountain festivals, Music at Kohl Mansion, Green Music Festival in Sonoma, and the inaugural season of MusicMenlo.
She has collaborated with such artists as Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, and Jaime Laredo, and appeared as a guest artist with the Vermeer, Guarneri, Lindsay, Cypress, Tokyo and Saint Lawrence quartets. Geraldine Walther’s recordings include Paul Hindemith"s Trauermusik and Der Schwanendreher with the San Francisco Symphony (both on London/Decca), Paul Chihara"s Golden Slumbers with the San Francisco Chamber Singers (Albany), and Lou Harrison"s Threnody (New Albion). In 2003, she recorded, with SFS Assistant Concertmaster Mark Volkert and cellist January Volkert, a disc of Mr.
Volkert"s transcriptions for string trio entitled Delectable Pieces.
In 2013, she released a cd of the music of Johannes Brahms, which includes the two viola sonata (F minor and East-flat major) and the Trio in A minor for Viola, Violoncello and Piano.