ABBA

Violist from Seattle, Washington, who played in the school orchestra and started taking lessons at ten years of age. He attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and the Curtis School of Music, from whence he graduated in 1975.

His teachers included Felix Galimir, Raphael Hillyer, Karla Kantner, Donald McGinnis, Veda Reynolds, Oscar Shumsky, Vilem Sokol, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, and Karen Tuttle.

After matriculating from Curtis, he became professor of viola at the Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music at the Unversity of Houston. He has also taught at Yale and given master classes at The Hartt School, Portland State University, and the Utah Conservatory.

In 1976, he appeared with Pablo Casals and the Marlboro Festival Orchestra on the album, Bach: Orchestral Suites Nos. 2 & 3; Fourteen Canons.

He took on the post of assistant principal viola with the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1977.

In 1979, he co-founded the Muir String Quartet, which has been going strong ever since. They became the quartet-in-residence at Boston University in 1983, the same year he joined the faculty at the School for Arts.

In 1985 and 1987, Steven won the Naumburg Award and Grand Prix du Disque, respectively.

He played viola on Joan Tower’s 1995 album, Black Topaz.

In September 1996, he became the principal viola of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His first concert with them took place on 24^th September 1996.

On 18^th November 1996, the Muir String Quartet performed at the Tsai Performance Center at Boston University. They appeared on the 1997 album, Carol Wincenc, Douglas Webster, Luis Battle, Muir String Quartet and Guests. Their other recordings include Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 130 in B flat major; String Quartet Op. 135 in F major. On 28^th October 1998, they were joined by double bassist Edwin Baker and pianist Randall Hodgkinson at Caspary Auditorium at Rockefeller University in a recital that included Antonin Dvorak’s “String Quartet in G major, Op. 77”, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478” and Franz Schubert’s “Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667” (“Trout”).

In 2001, Steven appeared on the Boston Chamber Music Society album, Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence; Arnold Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra were conducted by Andre Previn at Symphony Hall in October 2002 in a program that comprised Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 in A major”, Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Symphony No. 102 in B flat” and Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E flat major”, with Steven and violinist Malcolm Lowe as the soloists.

On 12^th April 2004, pianist Michele Levin and the Muir String Quartet took the stage at Harvard University in celebration of Raphael Hillyer’s ninetieth birthday. The recital included Leonard Bernstein’s “Violin Sonata”, Dvorak’s “Quintet in E flat”, and Mozart’s “Quintet in D major”.

In 2005, Steven performed a pair of concerts under the umbrella of the New York Viola Society. The BSO and cellist Steven Isserlis teamed up in February 2005 for a performance of Don Quixote, Op. 35 by Richard Strauss in Boston, Massachusetts. On 12^th August 2005, they reprised the program in with cellist Jian Wang at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. Steven performed the viola solos both times.

In 2007, he appeared on the album, Mozart: Piano Concertos 6, 8, 11-14 chamber versions.

James Levine conducted the BSO on 6^th September 2007 at Royal Albert Hall where they shared the stage with the Finchley Children’s Music Group and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for a performance of La Damnation de Faust by Hector Berlioz.

On 19^th November 2007, the Muir String Quartet performed at Sapinsley Hall in the Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts. The tripleheader included Haydn’s “String Quartet in G major, Op. 77, No. 1”, Schubert’s “String Quartet in D minor, D. 108” (“Death and the Maiden” and Tower’s “String Quartet No. 3” (“Incandescent”).

Steven was a guest soloist with the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra on 7^th December 2007 when they appeared at Chapin Hall at Williams College in a program of Aaron Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and “Quiet City”, Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story” and the premiere of Ezra Laderman’s “Viola Concerto”.

On 4^th February 2008, the Muir String Quartet returned to the Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts, with bassist Edwin Barker in tow, in a program that consisted of Dvorak’s “String Quartet in G major, Op., 77”, Felix Mendelssohn’s “String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13” and Mozart’s “String Quartet in F major, K. 168”.

They appeared at the Stratford Hall Council House in Virginia on 2^nd March 2008 in a recital of Beethoven’s “String Trio in C minor” and Mozart’s “Oboe Quartet”.

On 31^st March 2008, it was back to Sapinsley Hall with pianist David Deveau for Dvorak’s “Piano Quartet, Op. 81” and “String Quartet in F major, Op. 96” (“American”) and Cesar Franck’s “Andean Walkabout”.

The BSO interpreted Pierre Boulez’s “Notations I-IV”, Berlioz’s Harold in Italy, with Steven as soloist, and Olivier Messiaen’s “Et exscpecto resurrectionem mortuorum” in October 2008.

On 25^th March 2009, Andre Previn teamed up with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players for Johannes Brahms’ “String Quintet in G major, Op. 111”, Claude Debussy’s “Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp”, Francis Poulenc’s “Sextet for Piano and Winds”, and his own “Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano”. Gilbert Kalish and the Boston Symphony Chamber Players appeared on the album, Hindemith: Quartet for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano; Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57.

The BSO revisited Harold in Italy in January 2010, with Steven again performing solo duties.

They appeared on the Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall on 1^st February 2010 for—once again—Harold in Italy, as well as Elliott Carter’s “Dialogues” and Maurice Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2” and “Piano Concerto for the Left Hand”, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the keys.

On 26^th July 2010, they dusted off Don Quixote by Richard Strauss and performed music of that other Strauss family, including “At the Hunt”, “Emperor Waltz’, the overture from Die Fledermaus, “Polka Annen”, “Polka Tritsch Tratsch”, “Radetzky March”, “Roses from the South”, and “Thunder and Lightning”.

The Muir String Quartet opened 2011 by performing with a very special guest pianist, Condoleezza Rice. It was a reunion of sorts for them as she used to perform with them in Montana before becoming Secretary of State. The recital of Brahms and Dvorak took place at Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah, and was a benefit for the Deer Valley Music Festival. Ms. Rice and the quartet donated their time and talents free of charge.

On 16^th January 2011, Steve joined the Concord Chamber Players at the Concord Academy Performing Arts Center in a recital of Beethoven’s “Septet in E flat major, Op. 20’, Erno Dohnanyi’s “Serenade in C major for String Trio, Op. 10” and Richard Strauss’s “Til Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”.

He participated in the BSO’s pre-concert recital of Schubert’s “Quintet in C for Two Violins, Viola and Two Cellos, D. 956” at Seiji Ozawa Hall on 10^th July 2011.

On 28^th July 2011, he and pianist Jason Hardink, violinists Lucia Lin and Peter Zazofsky and cellist Michael Reynolds appeared at St. Mary’s Church in a program of Brahms’ “String Quartet in A minor”, Mozart’s “String Quartet in E flat major” and Tower’s “Trio Cavany”.

He was a guest soloist at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute at Seiji Ozawa Hall on 13^th August 2011 in a performance of William Walton’s “Viola Concerto”

On 3^rd October 2011, the Muir String Quartet appeared at the Tsai Performance Center in a recital of Bela Bartok’s “String Quartet No. 2”, Brahms’ “Quartet in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1”, and Mozart’s “Quartet in E flat, K. 428”.

Other recordings on which Steven is credited include Music of Richard Wilson and Wilson/Mackey: String Quartets.

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