In the past few years, I've developed a passion for graphic design, marketing and PR for arts organization, in particular. I've recently created my own company, called Corgi Creative, to help musicians like myself develop their brands and marketing strategies. So far, I've helped with my own group, SONAR new music ensemble, as well as others like the BSO OrchKids Program and the McDaniel Music Institute

My work with the Baltimore Symphony's OrchKids program stems from a deep passion for community outreach and music education starting at an early age. These kids inspire me on a daily basis. When I joined the organization, it was originally as a violin teacher. I quickly realized that I could help affect change in a greater way by joining the administrative team. I'm now working as the OrchKids Publications Coordinator - a position that highlights many of my strengths. I spend my days working in West Baltimore with some of the most wonderful and tenacious kids I've ever met and the rest of my time is spent on media projects that help the program gain attention and visibility. My largest task is the monthly newsletter as well as photographing events and producing other art projects.

When I was a junior in undergrad at the Peabody Conservatory (2007...seems like ages ago!), I got this crazy idea to start a new music ensemble - a group that would play all the cool music we never got a shot at while studying in music school. I asked all my friends if they'd join me in this and most of them, begrudgingly, said yes. After only a year, we were fortunate to get our start as a resident performing group at the Walters Art Museum. Little did I know, the SONAR new music ensemble would turn into something bigger than what I could have ever imagined and now we're Baltimore City Paper's "Best Classical Group"! Our goal has stayed the exact same, though: bring great contemporary music to the curious and enthusiastic music lovers of Baltimore and do it in a way that makes classical music exciting again. If you come to a SONAR concert, you'll quickly find out it's not just a concert - it's movie, it's theater, it's music, and best of all it's always exciting.

ABOUT SONAR:
The SONAR new music ensemble is Baltimore City Paper's "Best Classical Group 2014."
Embarking on their fifth season performing and commissioning new works from international composers, SONAR is at the forefront of the contemporary music scene in the Baltimore-Washington metro area.

SONAR was founded in 2007 by violinist and Artistic Director Colin Sorgi and boasts a roster of internationally accomplished artists - all graduates of the Peabody Institute at the Johns Hopkins University. From the beginning, SONAR has focused its attention firmly on the music of the past fifty years and has already presented over 40 premieres, including works written for their annual RADARlab Emerging Composers Program. Partnerships and collaborations have been formed with members of Alarm Will Sound, the Walters Art Museum, the Hubble Space Telescope Institute and Music at Old St. Paul's.

The 2014-2015 season marks SONAR's second year as the Ensemble in Residence at the Baltimore Theatre Project - a premiere performing arts venue in Midtown Baltimore. This residency at Baltimore Theatre Project provides the opportunity for the ensemble to mount large-scale productions incorporating various multimedia for their Mainstage season performances.

SONAR is deeply committed to the performance of music from Baltimore and regularly programs music by Baltimore's most prominent composers as well as in a celebrated yearly collaborative workshop featuring selected student composers from the Peabody Conservatory.

In addition to running and performing in the ensemble, Colin conceptualizes and produces each of the main-stage performances. This includes curating all the music, producing the concerts and often creating the multimedia artwork and set designs that accompany the show.

Years ago, my violin teacher told me I was "destined" to be a Concertmaster - as if I had been born into a long lineage of members of a violin-wielding secret society of men and women vowed to uphold the order of the orchestra. I wasn't so into that.

You see, I had my heart set on playing in a world-famous string quartet - just me and my three buddies jet-setting across the globe playing the greatest classical music repertoire ever written.

Fast forward ten years and somehow I've managed to fulfill my destiny! I'm not quite sure how it happened but what I do know is that the life of a touring string quartet musician was one I realized I may not like as much as I thought. What I do enjoy, though, is being a leader within a great community of musicians - perhaps that's what my teacher saw in me all those years ago.

ABOUT COLIN, THE CONCERTMASTER:
Colin Sorgi is the new Concertmaster of the National Philharmonic, orchestra in residence at the Music Center at Strathmore. As the Concertmaster, Colin is the "second-in-command" to the Music Director and Conductor, Piotr Gajewski, and leads the orchestra under his baton. As a member of the National Philharmonic community, Colin is working to build a closer relationship between the orchestra and the audience. At the beginning of this season, Colin presented a free-admission community concert collaborating with his new colleagues of the orchestra, Brian Ganz (piano) and Lori Barnet (cello), to not only allow the National Philharmonic concertgoers to have a chance to meet him but also as a way become a member of that community.

In addition to the National Philharmonic, Colin has regular appearances as Guest Concertmaster with other orchestras around the world including the Amarillo Symphony (Texas), Hopkins Symphony (Baltimore), Lake George Music Festival Symphony and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. This summer, Colin begins a new appointment as the Concertmaster of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra with conductors Pierre Boulez, Matthias Pintscher and Pablo Heras-Casado.