Steven O. Laraia

Steven O. Laraia joins the Boston Symphony Orchestra viola section in the fall of 2019 after serving as principal viola of the Sarasota Orchestra for from 2015 to 2019. He has performed at music festivals including the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Yellow Barn Music Festival, and Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, and has toured in the U.S., Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Cuba with Sejong Soloists, A Far Cry, and Sphinx Virtuosi. Mr. Laraia has garnered top prizes at many competitions including the 2014 Hellam Competition, 2012 NEC Concerto Competition, 2012 MUSICCAS International Young Artists Competition, and Sphinx Competition, and he received the 2014 Borromeo Guest Artist Award. He holds bachelor and master of music degrees from the New England Conservatory, where he received the Abraham Skernick Memorial Presidential Scholarship. Mr. Laraia’s principal mentors include: Kim Kashkashian, Dimitri Murrath, Cathy Basrak, Byrnina Socolofsky, and Che-Hung Chen.