Our Founder

Early Life

Peggy Ward is a treasure. A lifetime of dedication to her craft led her to the height of her profession and an enduring legacy.

Peggy was born on September 21, 1928 to Gerrit Van Ringelesteyn (1901-1978) and Dorris Alberta Gilbert (1901-1984). Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, she took up the violin at the behest of her mother in 1933. A few of her early instructors were Emmanuel Jablonski and Romeo Tata, the latter a violin professor at Michigan State. Immediately recognized for her precocious talents, she joined the Grand Rapids Junior Symphony Orchestra around the age of 12. While in high school, she was promoted to the main orchestra, and continued in this capacity for many years. During her early career, she collaborated with Percy Grainger, Rudolph Serkin, Clare Fischer, and Arthur Rubinstein, to name a few. Despite being told that violinists were more in demand, curiosity about the viola led her to borrow one from a friend and experiment with the instrument in late 1946. She was soon performing viola in a string quartet with instructors from Michigan State.

In 1951, she applied to the Eastman School of Music, and was awarded a full scholarship to cover the $750 tuition. There, she decided to major in viola performance instead of violin, having alternated for some time.

Peggy eventually moved to the Washington, D.C. area in 1956 and continued to pursue music as a profession. While simultaneously working non-music jobs, she found various opportunities to perform, and in 1961 was invited to play at the inauguration gala for President John F. Kennedy under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, along with Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole.

Later that year, she moved to Florida, where she stayed until she moved to Beirut in 1964, and returned to Washington, D.C. in 1966. It was here that her career soared to unprecedented heights. She befriended and performed alongside Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, an accomplished violinist himself. Fortas was a long presence in Peggy's professional life and kept her well connected to Washington, D.C.'s music scene.

In 1967, she enrolled at Catholic University for her Masters degree, an experience that Peggy found to be demanding but ultimately exciting and enriching for her career, given the university's proximity to our nation's capital.

A performance at the White House during the Johnson administration indirectly led to a position on the music staff at the newly renovated Ford's Theater in 1968, which Peggy would recall as one of her favorite jobs. She was also part of the grand openings of both the Wolf Trap Farm Park and the Kennedy Center in 1971, the latter of which became her permanent employer. For the opening, she was reunited with Leonard Bernstein and played on the inaugural recording of Bernstein's Mass, which was presented as part of the Kennedy Center's dedication. She also auditioned for and earned a chair in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, although her time with the outfit was brief.

Peggy primarily worked as a member of the Kennedy Center's musician staff until 1985, when she began her teaching career in earnest. She established Motter Ward Studios in Silver Spring, MD, and was a perpetual presence in professional organizations, and major publications in strings pedagogy.

The Birth of Opus

Peggy eventually made her way to Westminster, MD, where she continued her private teaching and also joined the faculties of Carroll Community College and McDaniel College in 2001. She stopped playing professionally in 2002 after suffering a stroke, but didn't allow this to interfere with her overall work.

After retiring from full-time employment in 2007, Peggy was just getting started. Despite being almost 79 years old, she recognized the need for better access to high quality strings education in Carroll County.

The Carroll County Strings Project started as a Sunday afternoon strings workshop at both McDaniel and Peggy's home in Westminster. Soon, the Project began offering instruction in other instruments with the same vision, and conductor and pianist Kathryn Harsha joined as Executive Director of the emerging institution. Instruction was mainly in small, rented spaces, and recitals were held at local churches. The Project moved to its own home on Sykesville Rd. in 2012, where it remains to this day.

Since the organization had evolved far past its roots as a weekly strings workshop, the Carroll County String Project was rebranded Opus Community Music School in 2016. Pamela Wiswakarma, also a pianist and conductor, assumed the Executive Director role in 2018.

Around the time that the school became Opus, Peggy retired once again, but speaking at the 10th anniversary concert in 2017, she remarked how her dream had become a reality and expressed her gratitude to the community for sharing in her vision and helping it grow.

Today, Peggy is as active as ever, and has published two volumes of her autobiography, Viola Peg: The Life of Peggy Margaret Ethlyn Van Ringelesteyn Campbell Grainer Motter Ward (2022) and Viola Peg: Book 2 (2024). She remains a member of Opus’ Board of Directors, and made a cross-country journey to visit the school in 2023 at the age of 94.

Opus proudly continues to provide accessible and affordable high-quality music instruction in Carroll County as a testament to Peggy's dream and legacy.