Leanne Darling

Leanne Darling draws from her classical technique, her Arabic and jazz skills, and her passion for improvisation to break the boundaries of traditional viola playing. She has performed with Simon Shaheen in Carnegie Hall and with poets Robert Bly and Clarissa Pinkola-Estes at the Omega Institute. After her recent appearance with the Cedar Lake Ensemble modern ballet company in New York, The Gay City News proclaimed "Violist Leanne Darling stole the show...." Leanne specializes in Arabic music, Jazz, Blues, and modern classical and composes her own repertoire for solo viola and loops. Collaborations include choreographer Jodi Gates, speaker Iyanla van Sant, Storahtelling, a Jewish ritual theater company, The Sultana Ensemble and the Near East River Ensemble. In a previous life Leanne was assistant principal viola of the Florida West Coast Symphony and violist of the New Artists Piano Quartet. When not performing, she leads classes in 'StringPlay', a curriculum she designed to teach improvisation to string players of all ages.