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Leanne Darling

Minimalist world blues viola textures, Kronos quartet meets Muddy Waters meets Count Basie meets Hamza El Din

About Me

Leanne Darling creates a powerful new voice for the viola. She has appeared with virtuoso oudist Simon Shaheen in Carnegie Hall, with poets Robert Bly and Clarissa Pinkola-Estes at the Omega Institute, and with the Cedar Lake Ensemble's premiere performance in Chelsea. Her work on Toy Box Theatre’s The Landlord earned her the Best Original Music award from the New York Innovative Theater Awards in 2007. She has worked with choreographers Jodie Gates and Ann Robideaux. A classicaly trained violist and former assistant principal with the Florida West Coast Symphony, Darling now specializes in Arabic music, jazz, blues and composes her own repertoire for solo viola and loops. When not performing, she leads classes in 'StringPlay', a curriculum she designed to teach improvisation to string players of all ages.