PortraitFounder · Faculty · Annie Moses Band
Gretchen Wolaver
Founder & Director
Violin · Mandolin · Guitar · Voice · Songwriting
Gretchen Wolaver is a professional violinist, mandolinist, guitarist, and singer, and a member of the Annie Moses Band, with whom she has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry House. A musician since age four, she trained at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music and Manhattan's School for Strings before beginning her professional touring career at twelve. She has appeared in two PBS specials, including the Emmy-nominated The Art of the Love Song, released the EP Mistakes, and is currently recording a new album of original songs. Gretchen is also the founder of Handmaiden Music, a Catholic apostolate offering melodically rich, classically inspired liturgical settings and praise and worship music for today's Church.
Biography
On Gretchen.
Gretchen Wolaver is a multi-talented professional musician — violinist, mandolinist, guitarist, and singer — and a member of the Annie Moses Band, with whom she has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Grand Ole Opry House, and appeared in two PBS specials, including the Emmy-nominated The Art of the Love Song.
Gretchen's musical journey began at age four, when she started violin studies at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music. After her family relocated to Connecticut, she continued her training at The School for Strings in Manhattan — and by age twelve, she was touring the country professionally.
As a songwriter and recording artist, Gretchen released her debut EP Mistakes and is currently at work on a new album of original songs. She is also the founder and creative voice behind Handmaiden Music, a Catholic apostolate dedicated to new liturgical settings and praise and worship music. Her compositions are rooted in a classical sensibility — melodically rich, accessible, and unhurried — offering something genuinely fresh within the sacred music tradition.