Joan DerHovsepian, viola
Violist Joan DerHovsepian has been a member of the Peninsula Music Festival since 1992. Previous solo performances with PMF include Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #6, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, Penderecki’s Viola Concerto and Berlioz’s Harold in Italy. Ms. DerHovsepian holds the position of Associate Principal Viola of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. She joined the viola section of the Houston Symphony in 1999, and began her new position with the Houston Symphony in the fall of 2010. She is an Artist Teacher of Viola at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, instructing students in viola orchestral repertoire and chamber music. In addition to her time in Wisconsin, she spends her summers in Wyoming at the Grand Teton Music Festival. Ms. DerHovsepian is an active performer of chamber music in Houston and throughout the United States. As a member of the Everest Quartet, Ms. DerHovsepian concertized throughout the U.S. and Canada and won top prizes in the Banff and Fischoff competitions, as well as holding the string quartet residency with the Midland-Odessa Symphony. She was Principal Viola of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra from 1997-1999 and played in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 1992-94. Ms. DerHovsepian was the second prize recipient of the 1995 William Primrose Memorial Scholarship Competition. Her teachers include Kim Kashkashian and James Dunham.