Background
Roberta Crawford performs extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician, and as associate director and a founding member has participated in hundreds of solo, chamber and lecture recitals presented by the Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble since its formation in 1990. As the ensemble looks forward to its 34rdyear of performances in Fall 2023, she begins her second season as artistic director.
From 2005 through 2014, Crawford served as violist with the Mobius Ensemble, the resident piano quartet at Binghamton University, performing frequently on campus and throughout the Southern Tier. She appeared often in the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra’s Chamber Music Series and as a member of the Catskill Chamber Players. She also has been a guest performer with the Ariadne String Quartet and with Mayfest at Cornell University.
Crawford has played with the Portland and Syracuse symphonies and has served as principal violist for the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. An advocate of new music, she has premiered numerous works featuring viola and has been the dedicatee of several works written for her. She has participated in music festivals throughout the United States and in the Caribbean and has also appeared in live performance broadcasts for public radio and television.
Crawford received MM in performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music, where she served as a teaching assistant to Heidi Castleman. A dedicated teacher, she has served as a clinician, coach and adjudicator for numerous music organizations and as director of ViolaFest at Binghamton. She served for five years as a faculty artist for NSOA ASTA String Institute at Ithaca College and has been a guest faculty member at Phillips Academy, the Quartet Program, Ithaca College and the Eastman School of Music. Currently, she is director of First Street Music Studios, a faculty member at Opus Ithaca and coordinator of strings at Binghamton University.
Education
Master of Music in performance and literature, Eastman School of Music
Research Interests
Viola performance
Violin and viola pedagogy
Mind/body connection in string performance
