Viola with Alaina B.

Alaina is a violist from Seattle, Washington. After graduating high school in Seattle, she moved to Bogotá, Colombia to pursue a Maestra en Música degree in viola performance from la Fundación Universitaria Juan N. Corpas under the tutelage of Raul Garcia. While completing the required credits for her undergraduates degree, she learned Spanish through immersion. Alaina has played pieces by Colombian composers including in the premiere of the opera El Último Día de Francisco Pizarro (2017) by Colombian-Catalonian composer Moisès Bertran in the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá, Colombia. Alaina has also composed pieces such as Ellipse (2017) for solo viola, The Winding River (2011) for string quartet and March of the Dwarfs (2012)— a sextet for violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, and piano. After graduating from Corpas, Alaina was awarded a full tuition scholarship by the John P. and Ellen Moseley Scholarship Endowment which enabled her to graduate with a Masters of Music in viola performance from the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) under the tutelage of Hsiaopei Lee. Alaina served as a student representative for the School of Music and as the Bylaws Committee Chair and Parliamentarian in the USM Graduate Student Senate. Inspired by her own experience of learning a second language while living in Colombia, Alaina has taught English as a foreign language in private classes, at the Open English learning center in Bogotá, as a volunteer at the Casa de Cultura de Sincé, and online through various companies. Alaina has performed in Benaroya Hall in Seattle, WA; Carnegie Hall in New York City, NY; Alice Tully Hall in New York City, NY; Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá, Colombia; Auditorio León de Greiff in Bogotá, Colombia; and Museo Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá, Colombia. She has participated in music festivals such as the Forte Festival in New York City, NY (2011-2012); Bogotá es Música in Bogotá, Colombia (2015); Á Tempo Bogotá Festival Internacional de Música in Bogotá, Colombia (2015); Festival Internacional de Música Esmeraldas in Quito, Ecuador (2016-2018); and the Marrowstone Summer Music Festival (2010-2012, 2017)— awarded a fellowship in 2017.