Maria Larionoff – Violin, Artistic Director

“An outstanding talent, intoxicating in its brilliance” raved the San Francisco Chronicle at Ms. Larionoff’s solo debut. Since then, she has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the symphonies of Seattle, Yakima, Port Angeles and Oakland, with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the String Orchestra of the Rockies, the University of Washington Orchestra, the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra and the Orquestra Sinfonica in Mexico City. Ms. Larionoff has toured Germany and Austria with the New European Strings and has performed on tour in Japan with the Mostly Mozart Orchestra.

A Loomis Scholarship Award winner at the Juilliard School, Ms. Larionoff was a student of Dorothy DeLay. Additional teachers included Stuart Canin, Sally Thomas, Paul Doktor, Joel Krosnik and Felix Galimir. Upon graduating, Ms. Larionoff was invited by the esteemed Maestro Carlo Maria Giulini to join the violin section of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms. Larionoff moved to Seattle in 1990 and served as Associate Concertmaster of the Symphony and was then appointed Concertmaster, where she was featured as soloist and leader on numerous occasions, including her critically acclaimed solo performances in the 2011 Naxos release of Scheherazade. In 2012 her performance of the Vasks violin concerto Distant Light received praise from the New York Times: “the elegant violinist Maria Larionoff was stunning, incisive and radiant.”

Ms. Larionoff’s versatility as a violist as well as a violinist has led to invitations at many chamber music festivals, including the Seattle Chamber Music Society, the Seattle International Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, the Marrowstone Music Festival, Chautauqua and the Vetta series in Vancouver, BC. She has collaborated in chamber music concerts with many distinguished artists including Emanuel Ax, Lynn Harrell, Steven Staryk, Jamie Laredo, and Glenn Dicterow.

Ms. Larionoff has served on the faculty of the University of Washington School of Music and has been a guest Artist-in-Residence at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. She has taught at the Round Top Festival in Texas and the Interlochen Arts Academy and currently teaches an orchestra repertoire class and chamber music at the Seattle Conservatory of Music.

In 2001, Ms. Larionoff and her husband, double bassist Barry Lieberman, founded The American String Project, a conductorless string orchestra made up of Concertmasters and soloists from around the world. The group received great critical acclaim both for their annual performances at Benaroya Hall, as well as for their numerous recordings.

Ms. Larionoff and her duo partner, pianist Robin McCabe, recently completed their cycle of all 10 Beethoven sonatas, and are currently featured in concert on UWTV in Beethoven Back to Back. The popular duo performs frequently throughout the Pacific Northwest, and have been called a glorious musical team by the Seattle Times.

Ms. Larionoff plays on a 1678 Nicolo Amati violin and contemporary American bows by Paul Siefried. When not playing the violin, she enjoys tennis and long walks with Barry and their rescue golden retriever puppy, Pamina.