Bettina Mussumeli, first violinist of the Ives Quartet since 2005,received her B.A. and M.M. degrees from The Juilliard School.  She has studied with Ivan Galamian, Dorothy DeLay, and Paul Doktor.  She has studied chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, and Cleveland Quartets.  As a student of Kato Havas at Oxford, England, she has focused on the elimination of tension in violin playing.  After completing her studies at Juilliard, she became Co-Concertmaster and soloist with the Italian chamber group, I Solisti Veneti.  She has performed throughout Europe, Australia, and the Far East, and made numerous recordings for the Erato, RCA, Tactus, and Concerto labels.  She has collaborated frequently as guest Concertmaster with the Orchestra Toscanini of Parma, Orchestra del Teatro di Cagliari and the Orchestra della Fenice.