Violist Michael Strauss has performed around the world as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and in symphonic settings on concert series, live radio broadcasts, and festivals across Europe, North America, Japan, and China. 

He made his solo debut with the Minnesota Orchestra and has since appeared as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Orchestra 2001, Charleston Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, and Camerata Chicago, among others. During his 20-year tenure as principal violist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Strauss was featured as a soloist nearly every season. Strauss is a founding member of The Indianapolis Quartet which made their Carnegie Hall debut in March 2020. He has been a member of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio for 10 years.

A former member of the Fine Arts Quartet, Strauss made several European and domestic tours with the ensemble as well as a critically acclaimed recording of Mozart’s complete viola quintets on the Lyrinx label.

Numerous recordings with Strauss as soloist or in chamber ensembles can be heard on the labels of I Virtuosi (debut of Jennifer Higdon’s Viola Sonata), CRI (David Finko Viola Concerto, 20th century chamber works with the Philadelphia-based Orchestra 2001), Centaur (Stamitz Viola Concerto with Camerata Chicago, reissue of Finko Viola Concerto), and on Oberlin Music/Naxos–Wordless Verses (2016) for oboe, viola, and piano and String Theory (2024) with English horn player Robert Walters. He is also the featured artist on the Suzuki® Viola School Volumes 8 and 9. Recordings with the Indianapolis Quartet include Frank Felice’s monograph recording 2020, Enharmonic Records, Reflections and Whimsies: Chamber Music for Strings and Voice" and Robert Paterson String Quartets Nos. 1-3, released in 2022.

A dedicated teacher, Strauss teaches privately and has served on the faculties of Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Butler University, Youngstown State University, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and Swarthmore College.

Strauss’s mentors include William Preucil, Sr., John Graham, and Karen Tuttle. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and performs on a viola attributed to Matteo Albani of Bolzano, Italy in 1704.