Virginia Lawrence, principal viola

Virginia Lawrence began studying the violin at the age of seven in the music program of the Midland, Michigan public schools. In high school she converted to viola, seduced by its wonderful tone and the richness it adds to the chamber music and orchestral repertoires. She studied with Dr. Harry Nordstrom at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and with Dr. Kurt Frederick at the University of New Mexico, where she earned her bachelor’s degree.

Ms. Lawrence is Principal Viola with the Santa Fe Symphony, has been a member of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra in Albuquerque for 30 years, and is a member of the Sunriver Music Festival in Sunriver, Oregon. She was a founding member of the Helios String Quartet and has played with the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque, the Arioso Chamber Players, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Oregon Coast Music Festival, the Flagstaff Music Festival, and, as a baroque violist, with the Albuquerque Baroque Players.

Known to her associates as Ginger, Ms. Lawrence has two grown children, both of whom are musicians, and a young granddaughter, and has been adopted by an orange cat named Lennox. She teaches viola, violin, and piano, and enjoys practicing yoga and painting watercolors. She plays an ergonomic viola made in 2000 by David Rivinus of Newberg, Oregon.