DIRECTOR

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Valerie founded The Suzuki Violin School of Santa Barbara out of her love of teaching violin and viola. She began Suzuki violin at age 5 in the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. She has attained the highest level of training in all aspects of musical performance, from Suzuki to chamber music to the orchestral repertoire. Valerie is currently on the Music Faculty for Violin and Viola at Santa Barbara City College. She is a former member of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra (Principal Viola) as well as the Santa Barbara Symphony. Valerie also served in the viola section for the  Los Angeles Philharmonic both at Disney Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.

 

She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Viola Performance, from The Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Karen Tuttle, Joseph de Pasquale and Felix Galimir. After Curtis, Valerie became a member of the Young Artist String Quartet and studied with Heiichiro Ohyama at UC Santa Barbara, where she holds her MM. As a DMA student at UC Los Angeles, Valerie worked with Evan N. Wilson and Paul Coletti.

Formerly, Valerie Malvinni was Visiting Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, and Professor of Viola at Westmont College in Montecito, CA.   She also taught at the inaugural summer of the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Termoli and Bonefro, Italy. Valerie was founding member of the Rose String Quartet, performing with this group at Carnegie Hall and Music at Mt. Gretna.  She served as Principal Viola of the Haddonfield Symphony under the direction of Alan Gilbert, current music director of the New York Philharmonic.