Private Lessons with Ray
Ray

Ray is a musician and artist born and raised in Erie, PA. As far back as she can remember, music has been an integral part of her daily life. The hours she spent dancing in the living room and the evenings of singing karaoke with her sister evolved into piano lessons, dance lessons, and performing in musicals.
Thanks to the Millcreek public school music programs, she was introduced to violin in the 4th grade. Ray started taking private violin lessons through Mercyhurst University, and later with Ken Johnston, a long term concertmaster of the Erie Philharmonic. Ray played in the youth orchestras of Erie, attended Pennsylvania Music Educator Association orchestra festivals throughout high school at Collegiate Academy, and played in the pit orchestra for musicals at the Erie Playhouse.
Ray attended college at Baldwin Wallace University, earning a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance with a minor in the German Language. During her studies, she was in the violin studio of Dr. Julian Ross, took lessons in piano, and spent a semester studying viola with Lembi Veskimets of the Cleveland Orchestra. She loved the opportunities to play in numerous chamber ensembles coached by varying professors, and in the Baldwin Wallace Symphony Orchestra under Octavio Más-Arocas, Katherine Kilburn, and Dr. Tiffany Chang. She worked as the Orchestra Librarian for three of her four years at BW, which provided opportunities to work closely with the conductors and the head librarian of the Conservatory of Music, a highlight being the yearly Bach Festival.
Ray had the opportunity to travel thanks to music - spending two summers in Maine at the Pierre Monteux School and Music Festival learning orchestral repertoire, and a semester abroad in Osnabrück, Germany. Since graduating college in 2018, she has taught private lessons at studios in Cleveland and Washington D.C., and has played as a gig violinist for operas, musicals, orchestras, and many other events or projects that have come her way.
Ray enjoys exploring other artistic outlets, some of her favorites being acrylic paint, oil pastels, and embroidering. She loves spending her free time with animals and loved ones, watching movies, and gently exploring and learning about nature.
