Concertmaster

Ulli Reiner, a Grammy Education Award semi-finalist for 2016 and a finalist for 2017, is the epitome of music. Music is her life as an educator, conductor and violinist. She is the Orchestra Director for the Poway Unified School District since 1983. Ms. Reiner is an adjunct faculty member of Palomar College, Concertmaster of the Palomar College Symphony Orchestra, founder, Orchestra Manager and Concertmaster of the PUSD Adult School Poway Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director of the PUSD Adult School Poway Symphonette. Ms. Reiner is also Artistic Director and co-founder of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of San Diego-Intermediate Symphony, Suzuki School and formerly conductor and co-founder of the Civic Youth Orchestra-Intermediate String Orchestra and Chamber String ensembles. She was the founder and Orchestra Director of the Poway High School Symphony and has taught orchestra at Mt. Carmel High School, Black Mountain Middle School, Mesa Verde Middle School, and Meadowbrook Middle School. She is currently the Orchestra Director at Bernardo Heights Middle School, Twin Peaks Middle School, and also is the instructor for the Music Appreciation classes offered to non-music students.

A graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, as a full scholarship recipient, she received a Bachelor of Music Education degree with emphasis in violin and viola performance and went on to graduate study. Her musical studies began at the age of 3 1/2 starting with the cornet and then the violin at age 11 with her father, Rudolf Reiner, who attended the Bruckner Conservatory of Music in Linz, Austria. She is also a direct descendent of the great conductor, Fritz Reiner. As a professional violinist, she has performed with the San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, Starlight Opera, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, St. Louis Municipal Opera, the St. Louis Philharmonic, and the Alexandria String Quartet. As a certified private instructor of Suzuki and traditional violin, her students have won numerous awards and scholarships leading to professional careers in music. She has also worked in the recording industry having made commercials for both local and national companies.

Ms. Reiner is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the California Music Educators Association, Suzuki Association of the Americas, Suzuki Association of San Diego, served on the Board of Directors and is a member of the American String Teachers Association and was an adjudicator for the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association. She is currently an adjudicator for the Grossmont College Music Scholarship Committee, the Philharmonic Society of Los Angeles and Music Teachers Association of California. She currently hosts and founded the PUSD Orchestra Festival with such distinguished guest adjudicators; Jung-Ho Pak, Artistic Director of the Cap Cod Symphony and Interlochen School of the Arts, Dana Zimbric, Music Director of the California Symphony Orchestra and Dr. Ellen Weller, Music Director of the Palomar Symphony Orchestra. She was recognized in 1991 and again in 1993 by Outstanding Young Women of America and in 2000 was elected to the prestigious Who's Who of American Teachers. Since 1995 she has led successful international concert tours of Salzburg, Vienna, London, and Paris conducting the Civic Youth Orchestra Chamber Strings and her "Mostly Mozart Orchestra" comprised of students from the Poway Unified School District. She was invited to conduct at the American String Teachers National Convention in Reno, Nevada in 2005 and also was the guest conductor for the San Diego Unified School District Honor Orchestra in the spring of 2005. Her orchestras continue to be invited yearly to perform in international festivals around the globe.

Ms. Reiner performs regularly as a violin soloist with the Palomar Symphony, Poway Symphony, Poway Symphonette and with the Maryland University Symphony Orchestra in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2011 Ms. Reiner was appointed conductor of the Symphonic Strings ensemble with the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory. She also frequently performs in the San Diego Youth Symphony Faculty Recitals held throughout the year. In the summer of 2015 she travelled with the San Diego Youth Symphony on their performance tour of China. Her Poway Unified School District Adult School Symphonette performed at the Advent Festival in Vienna in December of 2014 performing at the Vienna City Hall, St. Stephan's Cathedral, St. Peter's Cathedral and the Melk Monastery in Austria. She recently returned from a performance tour to China with her Poway Symphonette in July 2016 and performed the Decorah Bald Eagle Violin Concerto in Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. She was also invited as a quest to tour the Raptor Rescue Center at the Normal University in Beijing.

Ms. Reiner serves on several boards in advocating music education and music performances in the community. She serves on the Rancho Bernardo Friends of the Library-Discovery Series board in bringing performances to the library throughout the year for student and amateur performers. She also hosted a workshop at Bernardo Heights Middle School December of 2015 for American composer and fiddler, Mark O'Connor. Ms. Reiner is also certified in books one thru four of the Mark O’Connor American Music method and was a quest conductor at the NYC Summer Music Camp. She will return to conduct at the camp in the summer of 2017. She also collaborated with the Raptor Resource Project Director in the Midwest for an original composition for solo violin and orchestra representing the Decorah, Iowa bald eagle family with composer Dr. Madelyn Byrne of Palomar College. This original composition titled, the Decorah Bald Eagle Violin Concerto is dedicated to Ms. Reiner. A special performance of a portion of the concerto was co-produced by Ms. Reiner and dedicated to the Raptor Resource Project Director and biologist, Robert Anderson, who passed away in the summer of 2015. Ms. Reiner will also be a guest conductor for the April 2017 California Music Educators Association San Diego Middle School Honor Orchestra Concert to be held at the University of San Diego.

Ms. Reiner will travel to Beijing, Xian and Shanghai in the summer of 2017 with students from Bernardo Heights and Twin Peaks Middle Schools to perform music from the Mark O’Connor American Music method and perform portions of the Decorah Bald Eagle Violin Concerto in her mission to bringing cultural exchange and wildlife awareness to students while in China. She is also a music consultant for three university/prep schools for Heifei Meicheng International Education School, Global Elite Education and the Tshinghua University High School located in both Beijing and Shanghai, China.

In addition to her music Ms. Reiner is active in community volunteer work. She is active in wildlife preservation, photography of nature and holds a student pilot's license flying Piper Cherokee planes. She is a member of Woman of Aviation and Golden State Flying Club in El Cajon, California. She is a volunteer for Project Wildlife and a member of several non-profit wildlife organizations across the country.