Bethany Hargreaves

Violist Bethany Hargreaves has performed as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician across North America, China, Europe, and Israel. Notable performances include her debut on the Millennium Stage in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, concerto appearances at Kulas Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and orchestral performances in the Berlin Philharmonie, KKL Luzern, and Severance Hall. A passionate chamber musician, Ms. Hargreaves has collaborated in concert with distinguished musicians including Itzhak Perlman, Peter Salaff, Donald Weilerstein, and members of the Cleveland Orchestra. She is currently a member of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Versoi Ensemble, and regularly collaborates with the New York Classical Players and Noree Chamber Soloists.

A recipient of many musical prizes, Ms. Hargreaves has received awards from the Kovner Foundation, the Cleveland Institute of Music Alumni Association, the Fortnightly Musical Club, the National Federation of Music Clubs Wendell Irish Viola Award, and the Ohio Viola Society for her performances and academic work. As an accomplished soloist, she performed the Bruch Romance and Mozart Sinfona Concertante with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra as winner of their annual Concerto Competition. Prior to graduating from the Cleveland Institute of Music, she served as teaching assistant to faculty member Jeffrey Irvine, working with a wide variety of students in Suzuki programs and at the collegiate level.

Festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, where Ms. Hargreaves was a recipient of the New Horizons Fellowship, the Four Seasons Winter Workshop, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk New Music Workshop and Chamber Music Festival, the Taos School of Music, and the Perlman Music Program. During her seven years of association with The Perlman Music Program, she has traveled to residencies in Sarasota, Florida, and Tel Aviv, Israel. Important community engagement works with The Perlman Music Program include the chamber music alumni retreat during the autumn season, resulting in local performances on Long Island and Sarasota with primary school students and additional community outreach with young children on the Shelter Island campus. Other performance projects with The Perlman Music Program include appearances at the Ringling Museum and art galleries in the Sarasota vicinity, as well as local school performances and community outreach.

Ms. Hargreaves has an extensive commitment as an orchestral musician, which includes the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, New York Classical Players, and Symphony in C. Her most recent engagements include serving as principal viola for the 2017 Juilliard Orchestra tour to Finland and Sweden in collaboration with the Sibelius Academy under Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2015, she was invited by conductor Benjamin Zander to serve as principal violist in the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra’s tour to Europe, including performances at the Rudolfinum in Prague, the Berlin Philharmonie, and the KKL Luzern in Switzerland. Ms. Hargreaves has additionally held tutti positions in the Akron Symphony Orchestra and the Canton Symphony Orchestra, substitute positions in the Blossom Festival Orchestra, the Erie Philharmonic, and the New World Symphony, and has served as principal viola in the Juilliard Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.

Ms. Hargreaves began studying violin with Rebecca Ensworth at the age of 3 and later switched to viola studying with Louise Zeitlin. She has received a Young Artist Certificate and a Bachelor’s Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey and is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. During her studies at the Juilliard School, she was a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. Ms. Hargreaves is currently studying at the Yale School of Music under Ettore Causa and chamber music with the Brentano Quartet as a Stephen and Denise Adams Fellowship recipient. She plays on a viola made by her dear friend, Gabrielle Kundert.