Michaela Paetsch

Michaela Paetsch Neftel (born Michaela Modjeska Paetsch; November 12, 1961 – January 20, 2023) was an American violinist who was born in Colorado Springs.

She was known for being the first American female to have recorded all 24 Paganini Caprices for solo violin.

Michaela Modjeska Paetsch was born on November 12, 1961, the second oldest of seven children in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was named after the famous Polish actress Helena Modjeska.

Her parents were Günther Johannes Paetsch who was from Germany and Priscilla Paetsch who was American, and she was raised with two sisters (Phebe and Brigitte) and four brothers (Johann, Christian, Englebert and Siegmund).

Paetsch's father was a cellist and her mother was violinist.

Both parents played in the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra and they also taught all of the 7 children to play stringed instruments.

Paetsch's family was passionate about classical music.

Michaela Paetsch had her first lesson at the age of three from her mother and immediately after showed her two-year-old sister Brigitte exactly what she had been taught with the violin.

When Michaela was just a little more than a baby, her father Gunther Paetsch had taken apart an old violin to take out some of the dirt and to repair some cracks.

When it was still apart, she, as a tiny little girl went around carrying the belly of that violin which was eggshell thin and said “This will be MY violin someday.” And even when the glue was not even dry on it, she grabbed it and said, “Mama, I want this violin and I'm going to play it now,” even though the violin was way too small.

She did in fact earn all the money and paid for the violin all by herself.

The children and both their parents, who are professional musicians, formed the Paetsch Family Chamber Music Ensemble which gave many concerts throughout state of Colorado.

Michaela Paetsch gave her first public recital at the age of seven.

She performed with the Baroque Players in Colorado Springs, as well as the Jefferson Symphony in Golden, Colorado.

On November 1, 1969, Priscilla Paetsch presented her daughter and student Michaela Modjeska Paetsch, who was seven years old, in a 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon Recital program.

Michaela played 4 Sonatas by Corelli; Sonata in A Major, No. 9, Sonata in F Major, Sonata in E Major and Sonata in D Minor.

Also playing on this recital was her older sister Phebe Verena Paetsch, age 9 and her younger sister Brigitte McClure Paetsch, age 6.

Michaela went to Skyway elementary school and performed there her first public performance at the age of seven together with her sisters Phebe and Brigitte and brother Johann, who had just began Kindergarten.

Music was very much part of life in the Paetsch Family.

Being taught by their parents how to play the stringed instruments violin, viola, and cello, the children grew up involved in music, hearing symphonies and operas in rehearsal and in concert, hearing quartets and chamber music groups and so it became quite natural that each of the children wanted to play one or more instruments.

In 1970, by the time Michaela was nine she was the first-chair violinist for the Fort Carson Little Theatre production of the “Fiddler on the Roof.” The Paetsch Chamber Music Ensemble was formed in 1971.

Her playing began to receive attention and she attended the Cheyenne Mountain Junior High School only half a day to devote more of herself to music.

In 1972, at the age of ten, Michaela Paetsch she was concertmaster of the Cosmic Heights Chamber Orchestra and played as 1st violinist with the Baroque Players as well playing as a soloist with them.

In a concert at the Penrose Library Auditorium in Colorado Springs the program included: Vivaldi's Concerto gross in D minor, Op. 3 No. 11, Mozart's Divertimento in D, K. 136, Albinoni's Sonata a Cinque in G Minor and Corelli's Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 4. Although they had given concert performances for television and in Pueblo this was their first public performance together in Colorado Springs followed soon after by performances in Canon City and Palmer Lake.

In 1972, for the Centennial Celebration of Colorado Springs’ 100 years as an incorporated city, the Paetsch family of Colorado Springs gave a concert in conjunction with Heritage Day on the lawn of the El Paso County Court House.

On Sunday, March 18, 1973, the Paetsch Family Orchestra began a series of concerts throughout the state of Colorado starting at the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center in Pueblo.

Michaela Modjeska Paetsch, who was 11, was featured playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in D Minor, the Vitali “Chaconne”, Vivaldi “Season’ and the first violin solo part of the “Sixth Brandenburg Concerto” by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Gunther Paetsch was quoted in saying: “Although the children are still very young, they are very dedicated to their art.

They arise at 6 a.m. daily to practice their violins and violas for two hours before breakfast.” After the family concert in Pueblo, the Ensemble performed at the Temple Buell College in Denver on March 29 and during the month of April performed concerts in the cities of Boulder, Greeley, Ft. Collins, and Steamboat Springs.

Colorado Springs violinist Michaela Paetsch, 11, received a standing ovation after playing at the Colorado Women's College.

She performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in D Minor as well as 3 other selections.

The Paetsch Family gave a concert in the new Community Center at the Abbey School in Canon City in 1973.

On the program was the Antonio Vivaldi Concerto for Violin in A Major Op. 7 No. 12, followed by the Nicolo Paganini Sonata in A Major for Violin and Strings and the Johann Christian Bach Quintet in D Major Op. 11 No. 6. After the intermission was the Georg Friedrich Handel's Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 7 and the Pablo de Sarasate's Spanish Dances for violin and Strings.

The Concert ended with Giuseppe Tartini's virtuoso Variations for Violin and Strings over a Theme by Corelli.

By this time Michaela Paetsch, age 11, had a repertoire of more than 30 violin concertos by Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Haydn, Tartini and Paganini all of these pieces were taught by her mother Priscilla Paetsch who had dedicated herself to the training of young musicians, many of whom have become famous soloists and hold important positions in orchestras throughout the United States.

Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gunther Paetsch were well known as performers and teachers of violin, viola and cello in the Rocky Mountain region.

Both had been first violinist and principal cellist of the Colorado Springs Symphony, the Opera, the Chamber Soloists, The Baroque Players and the Colorado Springs String Quartet for many years as well as playing in many solo concerts in the Colorado region.

On May 12, 1974, The Paetsch Chamber Music Ensemble gave a special mothers day concert at the “Colorado Springs Y/USO Community Center” in Colorado Springs.

On the program was “The Spring” by Antonio Vivaldi, the Double Concerto in D minor for two violins by Bach, and Boccherini’s Cello Quintet Op. 37, No. 7. A week later she was the featured soloist with the Jefferson Symphony in Golden, Colorado.

She was first prize winner in the 1984 G. B. Dealey Awards and a top prize winner in the 1985 Queen Elisabeth Competition and a special prize winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition held in 1986.