Natalie Loughran, viola

American violist Natalie Loughran is quickly establishing herself as one of the most versatile young artists of our time. Ms. Loughran was awarded First Prize at the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition along with the Audience Award, as well as the BIPOC Composer Prize for her arrangement and performance of William Grant Still’s Mother and Child. She has also appeared as a finalist for the 2020 Young Concert Artist Auditions, and was awarded a special prize for her performance of the Bowen Viola Sonata in C minor at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. Ms. Loughran also received the William Schuman Prize for her outstanding leadership and achievement in music from the Juilliard School.

As the violist of the Castalian String Quartet, she has appeared in many internationally renowned chamber music series, including Konzerthaus Berlin, Wigmore Hall, 92nd Street Y (NY), San Francisco Performances, and Dallas Chamber Music Society. The quartet is currently in residence at Oxford University and Wigmore Hall. Additionally, Ms. Loughran has performed extensively at Marlboro, Yellow Barn, Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop, and Kronberg’s Chamber Music Connects the World. Ms. Loughran has collaborated with renowned chamber musicians such as Mitsuko Uchida, Stephen Hough, Itzhak Perlman, Dénes Várjon, Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Tabea Zimmermann, and Nobuko Imai. 

In addition to solo performance and chamber music, Natalie Loughran holds a deep love of the orchestral repertoire, and has worked as principal violist under the batons of Simon Rattle, Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. She has performed with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra under Gábor Takács-Nagy, toured internationally with the Budapest Festival Orchestra directed by Ivan Fischer, and performed regularly with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and New York Philharmonic.

Under the tutelage of Roger Tapping and Misha Amory, Ms. Loughran earned her BM and MM in Viola Performance at the Juilliard School, where she was a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. Ms. Loughran is continuing her professional studies at the Kronberg Academy with Tabea Zimmermann. 

Ms. Loughran plays on a 1976 viola by Sergio Peresson.