I was born into a very musically and artistically developed family. My mom is an opera singer, as well as my grandpa, and the rest of my family spent a lot of their lives with musical instruments. At four years old I began playing the piano, it was not my choice but my mom believed that everybody should start their music education with the piano. At age six I decided that the piano no longer fit me and made the switch to the violin. I began by studying privately with numerous teachers throughout the course of five years. After many years of private studies I decided to take my musical education to the next level by attending a pre college program. I applied to the Mannes pre college program in NYC and was accepted as a student of Arik Braude. Under his guidance I began to emerge myself into many different aspects of music. At Mannes I played in the orchestra, took theory lessons and participated in masterclasses. After my first year at the program I was invited by Mr Braude to attend the Killington Music Festival, a month long chamber intensive in Killington, Vermont. There I discovered my love for chamber music and therefore attended the festival more than once. At 13 years old I decided to switch to the viola and then began studying with my previous teacher’s wife. At the same time of my switch I began attending the Special Music School High School, a prestigious music school in NYC, where I began learning music history, technology, theory and other music electives. In 2021 I participated in the Brewster music festival, organized by my teachers Sophie Arbuckle and Arik Braude, which was a week long chamber festival. The following summer I traveled to Paris, France where I participated in AIM, Academie Internationale de Musique, participating in a collection of solo and chamber performances. Finally in 2023 I attended the Crescendo music festival in Tokaj, Hungary where I studied viola with Dino Serfezi, played the first Brahms symphony, as well as performed solo and chamber. Since then I have been studying with Mikhail Zemtsov alongside my regular teacher to prepare for the entrance audition to the Royal conservatory of Hague.
You can find Maya’s 2024 Winter Music Competition viola performance here.