Dondlinger has just released her first music video, “Braveheart,” on Nov. 30, according to a press release.
“It’s great to be a person that works for other people, but I just wanted to push myself and see what I could do as a solo artist,” Dondlinger said.
Dondlinger received a Masters of Music degree in violin performance from IU. While in Bloomington, she played in the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and the Owensboro Symphony, according to a press release.
Before coming to Bloomington, Dondlinger graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Iowa. She won the Miss Iowa pageant in 1998 and went on to receive a Bert Parks Talent Scholarship in the 1999 Miss America Pageant for performing “Hoedown” from “Copeland’s Rodeo,” according to the release.
Dondlinger is a Grammy-nominated artist and has credits for performances and recordings with musicians such as Adele, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Lady GaGa, Imagine Dragons, Kanye West and more, according to the release.
She has also appeared on shows such as “American Idol,” “The Voice,” “The Tonight Show” and “Ellen,” and she played on the soundtracks to films including “Life of Pi” and “Argo.”
Most recently, Dondlinger performed violin for Celine Dion during her tour “Celine.”
The song in her music video is a combination of three songs from the James Horner-composed soundtrack of the film “Braveheart,” but classical song “Jupiter” by Gustav Holst has been woven throughout.
Dondlinger said she feels much of her work is bringing classical music to new audiences — audiences who may not attend a classical concert but enjoy the genre as an aspect of other shows.
To further her solo career, which began early this year, Dondlinger said she hopes to begin touring with singers in equal, two-part shows, then eventually evolve her own solo tour with the violin as the lead role.
She has also launched a new website this week, lisadondlinger.com, where her tour information can be found along with a biography and the new music video.
The video, filmed by Jordan Downey, shows Dondlinger in a large area of hilly fields in a flower crown and flowing pink dress as she plays her song. The area, suggested by the videographer, is in Los Angeles suburb Calabasas, California, she said.
“We tried to get it to look as much like Scotland as possible,” she said.