Violist Elizabeth Reid is in high demand as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician in Vermont. Her playing has been described as having a “deep and expressive sound” and a “natural musicality.” (Times Argus).
She performs with the groups ARIOSO, the Northern Third Piano Quartet and in a viola-piano duo with the pianist Alison Cerutti. In Northern New England Ms. Reid has been featured on concert series as a soloist with the vocal group Counterpoint and various concert series as a chamber musician and soloist, including Cathedral Arts Burlington, Paine Mountain Arts, Chamber Works at Dartmouth College, Norwich University Concerts and the Barre Opera House. She has also performed live on Vermont Public Radio in various performances, including the Rebecca Clarke Sonata with Alison Cerutti in June 2015.
Ms. Reid is currently principal violist of the Middlebury Opera Orchestra. She is also a member of the Burlington Chamber Orchestra and has played with Vermont Symphony Orchestra, New York Chamber Soloists, Burlington Ensemble, Green Mountain Opera, Handel Society of Dartmouth, Music-COMP, Vermont Virtuosi, TURNmusic and Capital City Concerts.
She has a passionate interest in contemporary music and has been involved in various premieres of solo and chamber works in Canada and the United States. She was the premiere performer of Jorge Martin’s solo viola work Don’t Know Yet, Erik Nielsen’s Sonata for Viola and Piano and Little Suite for Solo Viola, Dennis Bathory-Kitsz’s Solo Sonata, Jacob Morton-Black’s Romance, and Lydia Busler-Blais’ The Scree Dragon. Recently she performed a solo viola show at ArtsRiot in Burlington, Vermont, including electronic works of American, Canadian, and Finnish composers. Ms. Reid studied improvisation and chamber music at the Time of Music Festival in Viitasaari, Finland in July. She will appear as soloist with the Burlington Civic Symphony in Vermont this March, performing Martinu’s Rhapsody-Concerto.
A native of Hamilton, Canada, Ms. Reid started violin at the age of seven in the public school program with Kosha Braun. At the age of ten she switched to viola within one week of hearing the viola for the first time. She went on to study for her bachelor and master’s degrees in viola performance at Western University in London Ontario, and an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould Professional School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Her main teachers included Betty-Jean Hagen, Lorand Fenyves, Ralph Aldrich, and Rennie Regehr. She also attended masterclasses at Banff, Orford, and Bowdoin. Ms. Reid was fortunate to receive coaching from Louis Moyse in Montpelier, Vermont during the last three years of his life. She has performed across North America including the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto, Hertz Hall in Berkeley, and the Southern Illinois Chamber Music Society. Ms. Reid has also played principal viola in the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, the Banff Opera Orchestra, and the National Orchestral Institute.
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