Michael Furgala is a violinist and music educator from the Chicagoland area of Illinois. New to Arizona, he is currently pursuing a Masters Degree of Music in Violin Performance under the tutelage of Dr. Kathryn McLin. He received his Bachelors Degree of Music in Violin Performance in May of 2021 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While attending there, Michael studied under Professors Wayne Lee and Stefan Milenkovich. Prior to his collegiate studies, he worked with Ying Chai of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for over a decade.

In June of 2018, Michael was a violin fellow at the Cincinnati Young Artists Chamber Music Festival where he worked alongside many talented peers and an inspiring faculty. The following summer, Michael studied at Mount Holyoke College for the Aria International Summer Academy where he participated in numerous masterclasses.

Michael has always had a passion for music and planned on pursuing it ever since he first picked up the violin. His passion for music has led him to participate in masterclasses under Janet Sung, Oleh Krysa, Renée Jolles, Timothy Lees, Gregory Fulkerson, and Rictor Noren. Michael is honored to have worked with these incredible artists and aspires to reach their level of musicianship and teaching ability.

Michael has an extensive knowledge of classical music, music history, and violin. He believes that students should always be able play music they enjoy while growing as musicians. Michael’s performance history includes classic repertoire by Bach, Mozart, Paganini, Tchaikovsky, Franck, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich and lesser-known works by Purcell, Goldmark, Tegnér, Kodály, Gaubert, Pettersson, and Oshima.