Growing up in a musical household, Southeast Missouri State University applied violin and viola professor Brandon Christensen knew from a young age that he wanted to have some sort of career in music.

"The story is that when I came home from my first violin lesson, I told my mother I was going to be a violinist when I grew up," Christensen said.

After receiving a doctorate of musical arts from Stony Brook University in New York, Christensen began teaching at Southeast in 2002. He not only teaches, but is also the founder and artistic director of the "Sundays at Three" concert series that is performed at the River Campus.

He also travels frequently for his busy concert schedule and has private studios in Cape Girardeau and St. Louis that he works in. He performs with the Southeast Missouri State University Orchestra and has performed during the summer at the Southern Illinois Music Festival.

Christensen has traveled to Italy to perform in the Ascoli Piceno Festival as part of his busy schedule and also worked with the Beijing Sinfonietta in China. He said that he loves Beijing and he had really fallen in love with Italy. He said that he has traveled to China quite a bit, and even took a sabbatical there in 2008.

He recently traveled to Stockholm, Sweden, and did a residency at one of the music universities there. He said that the travel gave him the opportunity to work with world-class musicians from all over the world.

"Every fall, I travel to Italy," Christensen said. "The violin I play is Italian, so whenever I go to Italy, it's like it knows it's home."

During graduate school, Christensen said that he made contacts overseas, which is one of his reasons for traveling. He said another big reason for traveling is an academic exchange. He gave an example where if he met someone in China, and they worked together, he would arrange for that person to come to Southeast to teach and vice versa. The fact that he can travel and also promote Southeast is something he takes pride in.

"Southeast is really trying to promote international exchange," Christensen said.

He said that he likes to perform in smaller music ensembles. He loves symphonic music, but chamber music gives him "more focus."

"You're really communicating, not just with the audience, but with the other musicians," Christensen said. "It's like you're having a conversation, but you're using music rather than words."

As a fan of the violin, Southeast student Chelsea Garrett is very impressed with Christensen.

"You can tell he really has a gift and passion for it," Garrett said.