Miriam English-Ward

Instructor of Viola

department: Music
office: Evans Center
specialty: Viola
email:

After discovering a passion for the viola in the active musical community in her hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska, Miriam English Ward began her collegiate studies at the Manhattan School of Music. Her adventurous curiosity next took her to Japan where she played in various orchestras, recording studios, bands and chamber ensembles in the Tokyo area.

On her return to the US, she entered the studio of Victoria Chiang as a scholarship recipient at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University where she completed a Masters in performance. While in Baltimore she was Assistant Principal violist of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and principal of Gustav Meier’s renowned conducting program orchestra. She also holds a Doctorate in performance from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she won the Strelow Graduate Teaching Fellowship with the Pro Arte Quartet.

While in Madison she performed extensively with the Galena String Quartet, enjoying a residency with the Madison Symphony and the Graduate School of Music. Dr. Ward had always hoped to return to the Northwest and is thoroughly enjoying playing with the region’s orchestras and Nocturna, a viola-piano eclectic duo. An accomplished improvising musician, she is at home in a diversity of styles. Dr. Ward also dabbles in photography, the study of theology and exploring the outdoors with her family.