Michael Snow, currently based in New York State, has an extremely varied musical background. His first instrument was the piano, and he went on to the banjo, the mandolin, the guitar, and the violin, which soon became his main instrument. His passion for expanding his musical boundaries led him from studying with third-stream artist Ran Blake at New England Conservatory of Music, to Yale University as a music major, to improvising violinist Julie Lyonn Lieberman in New York City, to the Bhatkhande School of Music in Lucknow, India (where he studied North Indian classical music on the sarangi, a violin-like bowed instrument). He studied advanced jazz violin performance with John Blake Jr., and at City College in San Francisco, he studied composition with Jerry Mueller and jazz arranging with David Hardiman.
Performance
Michael has played in just about every kind of group you can imagine: jazz, swing, country, bluegrass, classical, contradance, rock, fusion, free improv, blues, and more. Since moving to the Hudson Valley, New York, Michael has performed with bluegrass, free jazz, roots, and swing groups. He is currently focusing on playing and writing gypsy jazz–inspired music. See Current Groups and Projects for more info.
