Artist Affiliate (violin, viola)
Dr. Emily Laminack Wetzel teaches violin, viola and chamber music at Berry College, where she joined the music faculty as an Artist Affiliate in 2020.
Dr. Wetzel completed her Bachelor of Music degree at Reinhardt University in 2008, where she majored in violin with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Asst. Principal Second Violin, Jay Christy, and minored in piano with Reinhardt University’s Artist in Residence, Dr. George Lucktenberg. She pursued her graduate degrees at the University of Georgia, earning her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in 2011 and 2016 respectively, studying violin with Dr. Michael Heald and minoring in viola with Prof. Maggie Snyder.
While a student at the University of Georgia, Dr. Wetzel was employed as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for music theory and aural skills, taught violin for the UGA Community Music School, served as the UGA Symphony’s head librarian, was a performer for the UGA Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and assisted with the UGA String Project. Dr. Wetzel taught as an Adjunct Instructor at Reinhardt University from 2012 - 2015, where she was a violin and viola instructor, the orchestra concertmaster and coach, an instructor of music appreciation and a founding member of the Reinhardt Faculty String Quartet. Her past teaching experience also includes the Johnson Ferry Conservatory, the Murray Arts Academy, Carere Music, the Lassiter String Academy, Hawk Music Academy, and the Atlanta Music Project. Dr. Wetzel’s students’ achievements include the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, GMEA All-State Orchestras, District Honor Orchestras, the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the National Take a Stand Festival with Gustavo Dudamel.
Dr. Wetzel has performed internationally in Germany, Austria, Italy, and China, participating in orchestras, opera orchestras, chamber concerts and solo recitals. She has also recorded for film scores, television, classical, pop, gospel, blues, rock, bluegrass and more. Her local freelance orchestral work includes section violin and viola with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, the Augusta Symphony, the Georgia Symphony, the Macon Symphony, the Rome Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Sinfonia Gulf Coast, the Hollywood Concert Orchestra and the Macon Pops Orchestra. She has a passion for chamber music, and she is currently the violinist for the Atlanta Trio.