What is Music in May?
MiM 08 will bring renowned musicians to Santa Cruz in a weekend full of concerts to be offered free of charge to all. Our intent is to expand and broaden the audience of classical music, impact youth, and increase awareness and develop relationships with other local non-profit organizations serving the Santa Cruz community.
Laura Albers
Colorado native, violinist Laura Albers, is the Associate Concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and a founding member of the Albers Trio, a string trio with sisters Julie and Rebecca. She began studying Suzuki violin with her mother, Ellie LeRoux, at the age of two. Laura performed regularly with her parents and three siblings, and at the age of eight spent a month in Japan studying with Dr. Suzuki. From an early age, she loved the stage and soloed with many Denver-area orchestras. Laura received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where she studied with Donald Weilerstein and Ronald Copes. In Cleveland she worked extensively with the Cavani Quartet and Peter Salaff in the Intensive Quartet Seminar and as an assistant music therapist in the Cleveland University Hospitals. Laura also spent time in Cuernavaca, Mexico playing viola in pianist Sergei Babyon’s festival. While attending Juilliard, Laura toured with the Astor String Quartet and the Wild Ginger Philharmonic, and taught Suzuki violin at the Diller-Quaile School of Music. During the summertime, Laura returned to the mountains for the Aspen Music Festival and the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge. She and her sister, cellist Julie Albers, performed the Brahms Double Concerto with the NRO. They also recorded the Kodaly Duo together in Munich for the Bayerischer Rundfunk. More recently she has spent summers performing in Rhode Island’s Newport Music Festival and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California. Laura began her job at the San Francisco Opera the fall after she graduated from Juilliard. In addition to the opera, she is a member of the Albers Trio, a string trio with sisters Becca and Julie. In addition to the opera, Laura performs in the bay area with the Broderick Ensemble and the Empyrean Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York City and Sarasota Opera in Florida. Laura volunteers for California Pacific Medical Center’s Soothing Sounds program, bringing music to patients, visitors and employees. She enjoys studying languages and creating culinary delights. Laura is an age group triathlete and spends most of her free time training.