Dr. Margaret Nichols Baldridge, Associate Professor of Violin and Viola, has been at The University of Montana since 1992.  In addition to her violin and viola studio, she has taught music theory and currently teaches string music education, and chamber music. Dr. Baldridge is a very active soloist, chamber musician and orchestral performer. In addition, she is a frequent adjudicator around the northwest region.  She is the violinist in the Montana Piano Trio, and the Sapphire Clarinet Trio, both resident ensembles at the University of Montana, Missoula,.  Dr. Baldridge is also the Concertmaster of the Missoula Symphony and a violinist and Concertmaster in the String Orchestra of the Rockies. During the summers she is on the faculty of the prestigious Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina.

Recent engagements with the Montana Piano Trio and the Sapphire Clarinet Trio include concerts in New Mexico and Washington States, Vienna, Austria and Neckargemund, Germany in addition to teaching and coaching chamber music in these locations

Her performances with these groups and others have been broadcast on public radio in the northwest region. Dr. Baldridge can also be heard on the String Orchestra of the Rockies CD “Under the Northern Sky” released by Earth Passage records.

Previously she performed in chamber music ensembles and orchestras at the Heidelberg Opera Festival, Heidelberg, Germany, the Des Moines Metro Opera Festival in Iowa, and the Flathead Festival in Whitefish, Montana.

She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY (Gerardo Ribiero, Charles Castleman, Catherine Tait and Chamber Music with Abram Loft, John Graham, Vern Reynolds) and a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Il.( Gerardo Ribiero, Chamber Music with Myron Kartman, Debra Sobol.)

Current professional memberships include ASTA/NSOA , CMS, MENC, and MTNA

Margaret lives in Missoula with her husband John and their sons, Andrew and Matthew.  She enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing, cooking, reading and traveling.  In addition to her violin playing, Dr. Baldridge enjoys researching the life and music of Dmitri Shostakovich.