Roland and Almita Vamos are a husband-and-wife team of violin and viola instructors recognized as leading pedagogues in string instruction. The Vamoses have been recognized at the White House seven times and were named Distinguished Teachers by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Almita Vamos was born September 16, 1938. She studied with Mischa Mischakoff and Louis Persinger at the Juilliard School. As a performing artist, she won the Concert Artists Guild Award in New York City along with other prizes. Roland Vamos has served as Director of the Music Institute of Chicago Academy Orchestra since its inception in 2006.
Notable students
Their former students include violinists Rachel Barton Pine, Jennifer Koh, and :fr:Benjamin Beilman (winner of a 2012 Avery Fisher Career Grant); violist Matthew Lipman (2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient); founding members of the Ying Quartet (Janet Ying and Philip Ying); and Ryan Meehan of the Calidore String Quartet. Rachel Barton Pine has credited them with encouraging artistic development over competitive success, saying they "wanted me to think long term."
- White House recognition (7 occasions)