Dr. Amber Archibald-Sešek
VIOLA, VIOLIN
Education
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON-DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS (DMA)
RICE UNIVERSITY- MASTER OF MUSIC (MM)
INDIANA UNIVERSITY-BACHELORS OF MUSIC (BM)
Current Professor of Viola at the University of Houston
and Texas Music Festival Summer Institute
Dr. Amber Archibald-Sešek has over 20 years of experience training students at every stage of ability. She has been praised for her vivacious playing that matches her personality and enjoys a diverse career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Mrs. Archibald has appeared as a soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Bellingham Symphony, Olympia Symphony, Philharmonia Northwest, the Leipzig Akademische Orchester in Germany, and other organizations throughout the United States. Notable chamber invitations include the Grand Tetons Music Festival, Lyrica Baroque in New Orleans, the Seattle Russian Chamber Music Society, Arizona Bach Society, Caroga Lake Music Festival, and the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival in Winthrop, WA. From 2016-2020, you could regularly catch Amber on stage with the Seattle Symphony and in the pit with the Seattle Opera as a substitute member.
Amber returned to her hometown of Houston, Texas in 2021 after living in Seattle for 13 years. Mrs. Archibald has reconnected to the arts scene, performing with the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, ROCO, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, and other musical organizations in the city. Dr. Archibald is the Professor of Practice for Viola at the University of Houston. Prior teaching posts include professorships at Seattle University and Seattle Pacific University. The viola studio at Seattle University was awarded the Collegiate Ensemble Prize by the American Viola Society for their performance of the society’s commissioned work in 2016. For two summers, Amber was the youth viola coach in the inaugural Los Angeles Philharmonic’s YOLA Summer Festival (NTASF) under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel in 2018 and 2019. Prior to her time in L.A., she was on faculty at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Tennessee and at the Burgos International Music Festival in Spain.
Amber began her pedagogy training in 1999 while at Indiana University, studying four years with internationally renowned pedagogue Mimi Zweig. (For more on Mimi Zweig, see www.stringpedagogy.com) As part of her training, Mrs. Sešek worked with the Indiana University String Academy for 3 years as a pedagogue in training and would assist in the IU String Academy Summer Program as a a practice monitor and mentor. After Indiana, Archibald participated in the Rice Prep Program during her MM studies. In 2007, Amber opened her first private studio in Houston, Texas to much success.
After receiving her teaching position at Seattle University in 2008, Sešek reopened her private studio in Seattle in 2009 and has maintained it ever since. Now back in Texas as of 2021, she is committed a standard of excellent teaching while making learning fun and engaging.
Amber and her husband, violinist Ervin Luka Sešek, are the founders of the Sešek String Studio in Sugar Land, TX. Amber and Luka stay in demand as their instruction over the years has produced a number of outstanding students who pursued music at the collegiate and professional levels.
Amber was born and raised in Houston, Texas to parents from the Dominican Republic and Panama. Dr. Archibald earned her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Washington. She holds her Master of Music from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and her Bachelor from Indiana University’s Jacob School of Music. Her principal teachers include Melia Watras, Karen Ritscher, and Mimi Zweig.
Outside of music making, Amber enjoys cooking, reading, and playing with her Standard Poodle, Felix. She plays on a viola dated to 1650 by an unknown Italian maker from Brescia. Her bows are made by Vladimir Radosavljevic.
If you would like to know more about Amber and hear her most recent recordings, please visit her website.