Violist Bethany Hargreaves has performed as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician across North America, Europe, China, and Israel. Notable performances include her solo debut on Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and two concerto appearances with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. A passionate chamber musician, Hargreaves has collaborated in concert with distinguished musicians such as Miriam Fried, Ara Gregorian, Ani Kavafian, Itzhak Perlman, Peter Salaff, and Donald Weilerstein. Additionally, she is currently a member of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and New Haven Symphony Orchestra viola sections and has performed as a principal orchestral musician on stages including Alice Tully Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, KKL Luzern, and Severance Hall.

 

Hargreaves’ festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and New Music Workshop, Taos School of Music, and the Perlman Music Program. During her nine years of association with the Perlman Music Program, she has participated in residencies in Sarasota, Florida, and Tel Aviv, Israel. Community engagement through the Perlman Music Program includes interactive performances on Long Island, New York City, and Sarasota in schools and assisted living facilities. Other appearances with the Perlman Music Program include performances in Bing Hall at Stanford University, the Ringling Museum of Art, and the Sarasota Opera House. 

 

In addition to her positions with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Hargreaves has performed with the Blossom Festival Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, and the New World Symphony, and has served as principal viola of the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and Yale Philharmonia. While at The Juilliard School, Hargreaves served as principal viola for the 2017 Juilliard Orchestra Scandinavian tour in collaboration with the Sibelius Academy under Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. She currently performs with multiple New York City based chamber music ensembles including New York Classical Players, Versoi Ensemble, and the Noree Chamber Soloists, the latter with whom she held a residency at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute. Hargreaves recently appeared on a Yale School of Music Faculty Artist Series alongside with faculty members Michael Friedmann, Ani Kavafian, and Wei-Yi Yang performing Arnold Schöenberg’s Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41. 

 

Hargreaves began studying violin with Rebecca Ensworth at the age of four and later switched to viola when she was twelve years old, studying with Louise Zeitlin. Her other primary teachers include Misha Amory, Heidi Castleman, Jeffrey Irvine, and Lynne Ramsey. She holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where she was a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. Hargreaves recently graduated from the Yale School of Music in the spring of 2020 with a Master’s of Musical Arts degree studying with Ettore Causa as a Stephen and Denise Adams Fellowship recipient and winner of the Grosvenor Memorial Prize in Viola Accomplishment. She plays on a viola made by her dear friend, Gabrielle Kundert.