Jakob Hofer

Dr. Jakob Hofer is the violin instructor and orchestra director at Southern Virginia University and is delighted to join the music faculty at Washington and Lee University as a Lecturer in Music. Before moving to Virginia in 2020, Jakob was a founding member of the Rosco String Quartet which won first place in the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition and was twice a finalist in the American Prize Competition. He has also performed frequently with the Utah Symphony, Sinfonia Salt Lake, and the Ballet West Orchestra. Jakob is originally from San Diego and has studied with some of the world’s leading chamber musicians including members of the Takács, Juilliard, Emerson, Tokyo, and Muir String Quartets.

In Virginia, Jakob serves as concertmaster of the Rockbridge Symphony and collaborates regularly with the Waynesboro Symphony, Lynchburg Symphony, Marlbrook Chamber Players, and the Chamber Music Society of Lexington. Each summer, he teaches violin and chamber music at both the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute and the Green Mountain Suzuki Institute.

Jakob holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance and a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance and Pedagogy from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Performance with a secondary emphasis in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Utah in 2016. Jakob lives in Lexington, Virginia with his wife, vocalist Laurel Hofer, and their daughter.