Bio
Violinist Raina Arnett is a recent MM graduate of the Juilliard School where she studied under Lewis Kaplan as his teaching assistant. She also holds BM degrees in Violin Performance and Music Theory with high distinction from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied under Renee Jolles. Other important mentors include Leila Josefowicz, Muneko Otani, Laura Bossert, and Charles Castleman. As an orchestral musician, Raina has performed under the baton of many esteemed conductors including Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Brad Lubman, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Alondra de la Parra, David Zinman, and David Robertson. She has appeared as principal and concertmaster of the Southbank Sinfonia (London), Juilliard Orchestra, New Juilliard Ensemble, and in a side-by-side performance with the Royal Opera House (London); and as a member of Ensemble Signal, La Orquesta Imposible (Mexico), and the Grafenegg Orchestra (Austria).
Photo by Emma Geisler 2019
Passionate about contemporary music, Raina has collaborated with composers such as Kaija Saariaho, Charles Wuorinen, Julia Wolfe, and George Lewis, and has performed chamber music with members of the JACK Quartet, Ensemble Modern, Alarm Will Sound, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and Eighth Blackbird. As an academic, Raina has researched contemporary music at the IRCAM Centre in Paris and was invited to give a lecture recital on Kaija Saariaho's Nocturne for Solo Violin in January 2021 at the Music and Movement Conference sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh.
Raina is a founding member of the Glass Clouds Ensemble along with violinist Lauren Conroy and soprano Marisa Karchin. This group formed out of a mutual desire to connect meaningfully with environmental issues through contemporary music and improvisation, with a mission to amplify the message of New York area climate leaders through the commission, performance, and promotion of new music for chamber ensemble. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances at NYC venues such as the James Cohan Gallery and MISE-EN_PLACE, as well as residencies at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute and Yellow Barn.
Raina spent a portion of the last year in London performing as a member of the Southbank Sinfonia, a chamber orchestra of young professional musicians devoted to creating a forward-thinking future for orchestral music. This past season included performances at various venues in London including Cadogan Hall and St. John’s Smith Square; side-by-side collaborations with the Royal Opera House and Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; and tours throughout the UK and Italy. Recently, Raina has performed with Ensemble Signal at Carnegie Hall, the Grafenegg Festival Orchestra (Austria), the Bach Virtuosi Festival (Maine), the Juilliard Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, Symphony in C, and as a guest soloist with the Southbank Sinfonia (London). Outside of classical music, Raina performs regularly with the high energy event band Sugar Lane under Hank Lane Management, recently described by New York Magazine as “serotonin overload.” She has also worked as a session musician for pop and jazz musicians including GRAMMY nominated artist Louis Cole.
Raina was a winner of the AVIMC Competition in 21st century interpretation, and a finalist in the Black Box New Music Competition. She has also won several other competitions including the Ann Keller Concerto Competition, the Eastman Honors Chamber Music Competition, and the Williamsport Young Artists Competition.
A dedicated teacher, Raina is on the violin faculty at Arts Ahimsa, a summer chamber music workshop for adult amateur players with a passion for chamber music. She is also a theory instructor and chamber music coach for the Chamber Music Center of New York. During her time at Juilliard, she was the department tutor for the music theory department at Juilliard, where she assisted undergraduate students on their theory coursework. Previously, Raina has worked for the Zeta Charter Network as one of their after school violin instructors. The Zeta Charter Network aims to whittle away at the quality gap between the education lower-income children receive as compared to their higher income peers. Through Zeta's violin program, Raina's students had the opportunity to engage in the classroom with professional musicians from the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet Orchestra, and the Juilliard School. In 2021, Raina spearheaded the new Emerging Musicians Series at Zeta, which brings in conservatory students and young professional musicians from diverse backgrounds to share their music, curiosity, and expertise with Zeta's violin students.
Raina teaches a small studio of private students in NYC and online over Zoom. She is currently available as a private instructor -- contact her here to schedule a lesson!