Violist Erin Pitts, 16, is a junior in the Magnet Program for High Achievers at Chamblee Charter High School. Erin began her music training in Kindermusik at age 3. She sang with Harmony: Atlanta’s International Youth Chorus for five years. She began violin studies at age 9, and added viola when she was 10. She decided to focus her studies on viola at age 15.
Miss Pitts has won several awards for her viola performance. She was co-principal violist of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America in 2014. She served as principal violist of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra for three years. She won concerto competitions with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and the DeKalb Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2014. Twice she was a finalist in the Rising Stars Festival of Arts Competition (2014, 2012). She was the Competition Laureate in the Samuel A. Fordis Concerto Competition with the Georgia Philharmonic Orchestra in 2013, as well as a finalist in the Ruth Kern Concerto Competition. She won her first Concerto Competition at the Indiana University Strings Summer Program in 2011. She served as Concertmaster of the Furman Summer Symphony Orchestra (2013).
She has been a member of the Georgia All-State Orchestra for five years, serving as Principal Viola for two years and Concertmaster for one. She also was a violist in the Emory Youth Chamber Program with the Vega Quartet for two years. She was the only high school student admitted to the Colorado College Music Festival in 2014. She also has attended the Castleman Quartet Program, Meadowmount School of Music , Indiana University Strings Program, and Philadelphia International Music Festival. In her spare time, Miss Pitts loves to coach elementary-aged children who want to learn to play the violin or viola. Miss Pitts currently studies viola with Dr. Marilyn Seelman. She also has studied with Manuel Diaz. Miss Pitts has played in Master Classes with violists Roberto Diaz and Jennifer Stumm. She plans to pursue a career in viola performance.