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Cassandra Lynne Richburg, Violist Served as Principal Violist with the former Sacramento Symphony Orchestra and the Sacramento Chamber Orchestra, substitute violist with the San Francisco Symphony. Currently, studio musician in Los Angeles, Principal Violist with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra. Former strings instructor at the Natomas Charter School. Studied at the University of Michigan, and received Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of Southern California. Primary teachers: Donald McInnes, Alan DeVeritch, and Lyman Bodman. I grew up in East Lansing, MI, in a family environment surrounded with music. Although there is musical talent in our family, I am the first trained professional musician. My introduction to musical instruments was a small chord organ given to our family by my grandmother. My parents quickly recognized I had musical talent when I would repeat the little songs by ear that my father had just played on the organ! I started playing the piano at the age of seven and took lessons for 9 years. At the age of ten, I was introduced to the viola through the public strings program at my elementary school. I am one of the few violists who actually started out playing the viola. Being a petite person, my school music teacher tried to persuade me to switch to the violin. (My first viola was so small it was actually a re-strung violin!) Notice was taken when I ADAMANTLY refused, as I was a rather shy child! Two years later, I was continuing my musical education with the addition of private "viola" lessons, and attending summer musical camps. The viola became my voice. Music gradually began to dominate my life, and I instinctively knew it would be my career. I decided to focus solely on the viola. I began exploring the world of orchestras, attending summer music camps, and entering competitions in which I really excelled. The performance stage was a place I was very comfortable. Consequently, I won more than 15 competitions across the nation, including the William Primrose National Viola Competition, the Wendell Irish National Viola Competition, and the 1982 Arts Recognition and Talent Search. I was awarded a special prize in the 1984 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, and in 1982, as a presidential Scholar in the Arts, performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. 1985-1995 were very active performing years for me. Among many activities, I was invited as soloist to perform with many orchestras including the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra, Aspen Concert Orchestra, Lansing Symphony, University of Michigan and University of Southern California Symphony Orchestras, the Calgary Philharmonic, Savannah Symphony, National Arts Chamber Orchestra, and the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra. I have also given many solo recitals including a television recital on WKAR in Michigan, and a radio recital on WQXR in New York after winning the MacGraw-Hill Young Artists' Showcase. I was invited to play chamber music in the 1987 "Festwochen" in West Berlin, Germany, and after performing for Yehudi Menuhin that same year, he invited me to participate in his summer festival in Gstaad, Switzerland. I was selected as one of eight violists to perform in the videotaped "Master Teacher Series" for Donald McInnes, and am proud to have earned recognition in the 1982 edition if "Who's Who in Music", and the "History of the Viola"- volume 2, by Maurice Riley. My summer schedules over the years have also been pretty active. Various music festivals I have played in include the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, the Sunflower Chamber Music Festival in Kansas, the LaJolla, SummerFest, Music at Bear Valley, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho, Buzzard's Bay MusicFest in Cape Cod, MA, and I have also taught at MusicFest Midwest in Kansas City, and Mountain Team Concepts in Steamboat Springs, CO. I have had the honor of playing chamber music with distinguished artists that include Nathaniel Rosen, Andre Previn, Mitchell Lurie, Donald McInnes, Hamao Fujiwara, Donald McInnes, and Lynn Harrell. As for orchestra playing, I have particularly enjoyed playing and touring with the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphonies. Performing with NCCO is also extremely rewarding but in a different way. I relish the intimate musical dialogue of the smaller group, and with musicians of such high caliber! It is so great making music with personal friends. Currently, I spend a lot of time on the road, but enjoy the diversity I have chosen at this point in my musical career. I work in San Francisco and frequently fly to Los Angeles, where I am an active studio musician. I have performed on more than one hundred motion pictures, including: A Beautiful Mind, Minority Report, and Seabisquit, and was selected to play in the 2002 Academy Awards Orchestra under the direction of John Williams. I also played in the 2003 Emmy Awards Orchestra under the direction of Harold Wheeler. Outside the classical world, I have performed with R&B Singer Eric Benet on both the Soul Train Awards Show and the NAACP Image Awards Program. I currently live in Sacramento, and enjoy teaching my private viola students here. At this time, I am also choosing to focus more of my energy on different personal goals and musical projects. In my limited spare time I enjoy nature, writing, reading, solitude, crafts and projects, and working out at the gym. I am also an avid sports fan, have a diverse plant collection in my home, and have taken a liking to Salsa dancing! |
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