New viola professor at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee

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US violist Paul Laraia has been appointed associate professor of viola at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Laraia is a first prize winner of both the 2019 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and 2011 Sphinx Competition. He was also a recipient of the Sphinx Organization’s 2019 MPower grant. About the appointment, Laraia stated on social media, ’I’m very excited to announce my appointment to the faculty of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Boston has always been a magical place to me musically and I greatly look forward to fostering that magic for the next generation!’

Laraia is a graduate of the New England Conservatoiry where he studied under Kim Kashkashian, and the Glenn Gould School in Toronto under Steven Dann. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras across the US including the Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as playing in venues such as London’s Wigmore Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC.

Laraia also enjoys a career as a chamber musician as a part of the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet. The ensemble is currently artist in residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Laraia is also artist-in-residence at the Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, OR, US.