BIOGRAPHY
Performance Biography
Micaela Murphy is a Cleveland-based violist and violinist with more than 25 years of performance experience. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey, with additional chamber music training under the Cavani String Quartet and Peter Salaff.
Murphy began studying violin through the Suzuki method at age four and took up the viola at age 13. While classically trained, she is a versatile musician whose performance experience spans orchestral, chamber, indie, rock, and fiddle music. She has performed throughout Cleveland and beyond, appearing at venues including Severance Hall, Playhouse Square, the Kauffman Center in Kansas City, and Jacobs Pavilion.
As a soloist, Murphy has received first-place honors in multiple competitions and has performed with orchestras throughout the Midwest, including the Springfield Drury Orchestra, Ozarks Youth Orchestra, and Ozark Festival Orchestra. She has also participated in the Encore Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and received a fellowship to the National Orchestral Institute.
An active collaborative musician, Murphy has performed and shared the stage with a wide range of artists and ensembles, including Il Divo, The George Martins, Warren Haynes, Carl Topilow, and Frank Cohen, former principal clarinetist of The Cleveland Orchestra. She has also worked with conductor Michael Stern, music director of the Kansas City Symphony, and has performed on live broadcasts for 91.9 Classical KC and WRUW in Cleveland. Her work across genres includes serving as lead violist and violinist for Sugar Deer, a Cleveland-based indie pop group.
Murphy has extensive chamber music experience, having performed in string quartets, trios, and collaborative ensembles throughout her career. Her former ensemble, the Aurelia Quartet, was selected for the Cleveland Institute of Music's Intensive Quartet Seminar and collaborated with Frank Cohen. Earlier in her career, she was also a founding member of the Firebird String Quartet, which was recognized by the Kansas City Symphony as a “Rising Star” ensemble.
Based in Cleveland, Murphy continues to perform as a violist and violinist across Northeast Ohio and beyond, working in both classical and contemporary musical settings.
When not performing or teaching, Ms. Murphy loves running, cycling, yoga, supporting local coffee shops, and spending time with her friends and family.
Teaching Biography
Micaela Murphy is a dedicated violin and viola instructor in the Cleveland, Ohio area. With over 15 years of teaching experience, Ms. Murphy has a passion for sharing her love of music with students of all ages and levels.
Ms. Murphy studied viola pedagogy under Jeffery Irvine and received her Suzuki Registration under Mrs. Kimberly Meier-Sims, both at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
She owns and operates 'The Viola Studio' where she instructs committed viola students both virtually and in person. Ms. Murphy is also the co-director and viola faculty of Lakewood Suzuki Strings, a full Suzuki Program in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. In addition, she is on faculty at the prestigious Murphy Music Academy. Beyond the studio, Ms. Murphy has also led viola sectionals and small chamber coachings for local music programs and youth orchestras.
Ms. Murphy has taught masterclasses at the Ohio Viola Society's Viola Day where viola instructors and students gather to gain inspiration and learn from each other.
Ms. Murphy’s students are devoted to their craft. They place highly in OMEA state playing competitions, have won section and principal positions in youth and community orchestra auditions, and have won concerto competitions. Her students have been accepted into prestigious music programs and colleges, including the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Ithaca College and Berklee College of Music.
Ms. Murphy believes that teaching is more than instructing music, but through striving for excellence it nurtures the confidence, grit, discipline, and self-esteem that are necessary for success in every area of life.