My name is Maya Fields and I am currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music as a two-time recipient of the Graduate Incentive Award, a full tuition scholarship, where I study with Catharine Lees and Denisse Rodriguez-Rivera. My prior education includes studies at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music as well as the Eastman School of Music, where I hold Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees in Viola Performance. Additionally, I earned a minor in Russian language from the University of Rochester.
As an orchestral violist, I have held principal viola positions in several orchestras - the Cleveland Institute of Music's Preparatory String Orchestra, Cleveland Heights High School's Symphony Orchestra, Interlochen Arts Camp's Intermediate and World Youth Symphony Orchestras, the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, where she was a recipient of the Mark Jackobs endowed chair award, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Eastman School of Music's Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras, the Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory's Philharmonia Orchestra, and the National Orchestral Institute. I have also had the honor of working with renowned conductors such as Marin Alsop, JoAnn Falletta, James Feddeck, Andrew Grams, Giancarlo Guerrero, Louis Langree, Jahja Ling, Brett Mitchell, Ruth Reinhardt, Osmo Vanska, Franz Welser-Most, and David Zinman.
I also holds a number of honors and awards. I am the first prize recipient of the 2011 state of Ohio's Viola Society Competition, a winner of Cleveland Heights High School's 2014 Concerto Competition, and have appeared as a guest artist on Interlochen's Public Radio as well as Cleveland Ohio's WCLV Ideastream. In June, 2019, on behalf of the Cleveland Orchestra, I had the honor of accepting an invitation to perform as a featured guest artist as part of the Cleveland Orchestra's Gourmet Matinee Series at the Blossom Music Center.
I have attended the Interlochen Arts Camp, where I was a recipient of the Emerson Scholarship, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the AIMS Festival, where I was an orchestral fellowship recipient, the Chautauqua Festival, where I was a two time orchestral fellow, as well as the National Orchestral Institute, where I was a recipient of an orchestral fellowship.
I am a founder of Project Build - Peer Masterclass Series, an online organization founded during the COVID-19 global pandemic, focused on creating, building, and strengthening musicianship through globally interconnected friendships.