Composer-Violinist-Musical Archaeologist ELISABETH WALDO has spent her life making scores of musical beauty. Her reputation as an authority on NEW WORLD MUSIC has been of long standing. Early years were spent in rural Eastern Washington on a family ranch near the YAKIMA INDIAN RESERVATION. From the time she was five years old, Elisabeth Waldo and her violin were inseparable. Her violin teachers were immigrants from European Countries who had settled in rural communities and were a real inspiration to this tiny musician. A scholarship to attend the CURTIS INSTITUTE OF MUSIC in Philadelphia up on the recommendation of JASCHA HEIFETZ was followed by symphony experiences with LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI. While performing in MEXICO CITY the great Muralist DIEGO RIVERA heard her music and as a result changed the direction of her musical career. Diego believed that Ms. Waldo's highest calling would be to create new idioms based on the rich cultural heritage of great INDIAN CIVILIZATIONS of the past, and to develop new scores for the future. She continues to do just that at her Rancho cordillera del Norte in Northridge, CA, composing original music and putting on monthly concerts in her New Mission Theatre.