Indigenous musician Laura Ortman—who is White Mountain Apache, originally from East Fork, Arizona—can still remember when she fell in love with the violin. She was only seven, but even then, growing up just outside of St. Louis, she could recognize its escapist power.

“I had a really good teacher, and playing gave me my own little universe to express myself and forget everyday life,” says Ortman. “My grandma also played violin, and she always had a smile on her face when she played, even though she’d been through a lot in her life.”

Flash forward to today, and Ortman is now a leading contemporary violinist in Brooklyn, where she has been based since 1997. The rhythms of the city have helped to shape her signature sound , one that fuses classical technique with a more contemporary, tran

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