Life & Music
Monique Mead’s rich and varied career is a testament to her enduring belief that music has the power to connect, heal, and uplift humanity.
Whether performing as a violinist, sound practitioner, or teaching artist, Monique strives to create transformative musical experiences that connect people more deeply with themselves and others.
Monique Mead is a violinist, educator, and entrepreneur currently innovating at the interface of music and well-being.
In her role as Director of Music Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University, she has recently helped civic-minded students launch sustainable community wellness programs including Azure Pittsburgh, an interactive concert series for families with autism, Lullaby Project Pittsburgh, a collaborative songwriting program for healing birth trauma, and Scottie Sound Bath, a relaxing sonic immersion to reduce campus stress.
Responding to the post-pandemic mental health crisis, Monique founded a Sound Healing studio in 2021 in partnership with the Awareness & Wellness Center, a holistic mental health practice. Her sensitive musicianship and mindful awareness infuses all areas of her practice, enabling clients to experience deep relaxation and access healing states that unlock new possibilities. Monique hopes to contribute to the rapidly-growing world of sound therapy by mentoring practitioners in musical techniques that lead to transformative experiences.
“Music is not an escape from life, but a path into it.”
In 2019, Leading up to Beethoven’s 250th birthday Monique set out to perform his Violin Concerto 50 times in 250 days for people who, like Beethoven, were struggling with adversities of all kinds. Lifting up their stories of triumph, the series culminated in a celebration of the ‘indomitable human spirit’ in Carnegie Music Hall on Beethoven’s birthday.
Shortly thereafter, in a pandemic-isolated world, Monique and her teens collaborated with neighbors to bring people together through weekly porch concerts featuring local musicians, resulting in a series that has since become an annual neighborhood tradition.
Since 2015, Monique has been a regular performer at Rancho La Puerta, a premiere wellness resort in Mexico where she directs the annual Rancho La Puerta Chamber Music Festival that features artists including Anthony McGill, Orion Weiss, Miro Quartet, WindSync, and The King’s Singers.
These endeavors continue Monique’s lifelong commitment to stretching the boundaries of performance to explore how the integration of music into everyday life might inspire greater well-being for individuals and communities.
Monique presented her first “Klassik for Kids” concert in 1997 with the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen in Gelsenkirchen, home of Germany’s famous soccer team Schalke 04. This sparked the idea for a soccer program that launched her success throughout Germany.
With concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie, Monique collaborates RIAS Kammerchor and other world-class ensembles to engage young people with extraordinary concert experiences that create space for discovery, wonder, and transformation.
It was this belief that that inspired Monique’s unconventional approach to introducing young people to classical music, using emerging technology as well collaborations with soccer stars or hip-hop artists to break down barriers and create space for authentic interaction. Since 1998 her programs with major orchestras and festivals in the United States and Europe have drawn international acclaim for their popular appeal and innovative approach. Her youth concerts reached millions via radio and television broadcasts and concerts with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Cologne Philharmonic, Düsseldorf Symphony, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and the Mainly Mozart Festival, among others.
In this capacity, she has collaborated with artists such as Manfred Honeck, Leonidas Kavakos, Jon Kimura Parker, Sarah Chang, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Nicola Benedetti, and Yan Pascal Tortelier to create extraordinary musical experiences for young people.
Further endeavors to make concerts and music education more widely accessible include a mentorship of Orquesta Guadalupe that creates a safe haven for girls in the poorest neighborhoods of Tijuana, the Olympic Strings Camp at Olympic National Park, and the 2021 launch of Azure, an all-behaviors-welcome concert series for families with autism.
“Camp should be like a musical love affair, filled with excitement, inspiration, and a sense of belonging.”
Having bypassed the traditional gatekeepers to create her own international performing career, Monique now mentors musicians within the culture of innovation at Carnegie Mellon University, where she has served as founding director of the Music Entrepreneurship division since 2011. Offering hands-on experiences and community-integrated learning, she strives to free musicians from limiting beliefs and support them in building careers that amplify their unique talents and values.
“I have rarely seen such a gifted teacher and mentor for young people. Monique Mead's teaching reflects her remarkable creativity, absolute dedication, and love of her work and of the students.”
— Jeanne Baxtresser, former Principal Flute, New York Philharmonic
Born into a large musical family, Monique’s love affair with the violin began at age 7 and her desire for a life in music was sparked attending Interlochen Arts Camp as a young teen. While still an undergraduate at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, she toured Europe with Leonard Bernstein and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, a transformational experience that inspired her career path as an artist/educator.
Monique finds inspiration in nature walks, yoga, and artful cuisine. She plays on a 1860 Vuillaume violin and enjoys performing with her talented children, Isabel and Tino Cardenes, on harp and piano.
