Second Violin
Nancy Beckmann
Nancy Beckmann studied violin with Sergiu Luca and Paul Rolland at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she received her Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance. She was a member of the Houston Ballet Orchestra and the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra from 1985-1989 and performed in the Houston Symphony during that time. Beckmann has been a violinist in the Kansas City Symphony since 1989. She also was a member of the Kansas City chamber music group, Summerfest, from 1991-2008, and she served as an artistic advisor for 10 years.
I am married to Ken Beckmann, a violinmaker with a violin shop in Kansas City, and we have two sons. Dan lives in Los Angeles, California and works for Nagata Acoustics. Matt lives in Prairie Village, Kansas with his wife Alyssa and their two children. Matt plays the cello professionally and teaches at the Kansas City Suzuki Academy, which he and Alyssa founded and run. I enjoy reading, walking our Border Collie, and spending time with our grandchildren.
I enjoyed visiting Jerusalem with my husband, visiting historical and cultural sites.
I was fourteen years old when the idea of becoming a professional musician entered my head.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Battle Creek, Michigan
The first classical series concert weekend in Helzberg Hall.
No. My husband played the bass, our son Dan played the violin and piano, and our son Matt plays the cello.
The String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 by Franz Schubert
“A Visit From the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan
My earliest musical memory is of using my parents’ phonograph to play an LP recording of Danny Kaye singing The Ugly Duckling.