Joan DerHovsepian, Viola

Joan DerHovsepian holds the position of Associate Principal Viola of the Houston Symphony Orchestra.  She joined the viola section of the Houston Symphony in 1999, hired by Christoph Eschenbach, and began her current position with the HS 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.  She has given master classes in the study of orchestral excerpts at the New England Conservatory and Baylor University, and has been a viola instructor for the New World Symphony.

Ms. DerHovsepian spends her summers in Wyoming performing with the Grand Teton Music Festival, in Wisconsin as Principal Viola of the Peninsula Music Festival and in Ft. Worth Texas and Melbourne, Australia with the Mimir Chamber Music Festival.  Her solo appearances with orchestras include performances of the viola concertos of Walton, Penderecki, Telemann, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Harold in Italy by Berlioz.

Joan’s teachers include violists James Dunham and Kim Kashkashian.