Violist Rose Armbrust Griffin received her Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School, Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music and Masters of Music from Indiana University. During her time at The Curtis Institute of Music she held the James and Betty Materese Annual Fellowship. Most notably, Rose was awarded a Performers Certificate in “recognition of her outstanding musical performance.” Her teachers include Heidi Castleman, Hsin-Yung Huang, Roberto Diaz, Michael Tree and Atar Arad.
Rose has performed as soloist with the Bogota Symphony Orchestra, Woodstock’s Mozart Festival Orchestra, The Curtis Chamber Orchestra and the Indiana University’s Chamber Orchestra. Composer Johnathan Graybill’s “Viola Concerto”, was written for and premiered by Rose along side the Ball State University Orchestra. She was awarded first prize in the Chicago Viola Society and Rembrandt Chamber Players Competitions and was a prizewinner at The Fichoff Chamber Music Competition.
An active chamber musician, Rose has collaborated with renowned artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Pamela Frank, Vadim Gluzman, Peter Wiley and the Amernet String Quartet. She has appeared at The Kennedy Center, Avery Fischer Hall, Music from Angelfire, Zankel Hall, and Ravinia’s Steans Institute. She has been a guest artist at the North Shore and the Kingston Chamber Music Festivals and has performed with The Chicago Ensemble, The Jupiter Chamber Players, The Pilgrim Chamber Players, The Chicago Chamber Musicians, The Rembrandt Chamber Players and the MusicNOW series. Currently, she is an active member of the International Chamber Artists and can be heard throughout the year on WFMT.
Rose’s passion is music education. She is currently the viola instructor at Wheaton College where she serves as the Chamber Music Coordinator and teaches an Introduction to Music History Course. Because of her love of teaching and chamber music, Rose fills her weekends with coaching chamber music at Midwest Young Artists.
Rose has recorded for Albany Records. She plays on a 1989 Marten Cornelissen that was borrowed during her time at Curtis and subsequently purchased after she realized she couldn’t live without it.