RIANA HEATH
First Prize at the 2016 Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition.
A member of the Leopold Mozart Institute for Highly Gifted Students (2014-2017).
I feel incredibly blessed to be able to play the violin. It gives me a sense of purpose and belonging in this world—to bring people together and share the joy of music. As a musician, I strive to offer musical experiences that uplift and enrich the hearts and souls of humanity. Music is such a magical language that connects people from all around the world. Although I’m fluent in five languages, I consider music to be by far my favorite means of communication.
A graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Mozarteum University, Riana Heath is an American-Indonesian violinist and violist. Known for her warm and soulful sound, her distinctive artistic voice is shaped by her life across three continents. She made her solo debut at the Musikverein in Vienna after winning first prize at the 2016 Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition, and has since appeared in major venues across Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia, such as the Großes Festspielhaus, Haus für Mozart, Woolsey Hall and Lincoln Center. Recent highlights include Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Jakarta Sinfonietta and the world premier of the Pertiwi Concerto with the Yogyakarta Royal Orchestra.
Chamber music is at the heart of Riana’s artistry. She has appeared at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, the Taos School of Music, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Kronberg Academy in Germany. She performs regularly with her sisters as part of the Eucharis Strings, an ensemble dedicated to creative collaboration and new works. Her chamber music mentors include members of the Vienna Piano Trio, Minetti Quartet, Kuss Quartet, Quatuor Mosaïques, the Hagen Quartet, and the Brentano Quartet.
Riana has further enriched her musical development through masterclasses with renowned violinists such as Maxim Vengerov, Augustin Hadelich, Vadim Repin, Igor Ozim, Martin Beaver, Tai Murray, Dong-Suk Kang, Pierre Amoyal, and Ulf Wallin. She has also benefited from the mentorship of Prof. Meesun Hong Coleman, Prof. Mark Zelmanovich, Prof. Jela Špitková, and Irina Goldstein—wife of the legendary violinist Boris Goldstein.
Riana has extensive orchestral experience, performing with the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Philharmonie Salzburg, Yale Philharmonia, Orchestra of New England, and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra under conductors Peter Oundjian, Leonard Slatkin, Hans Graf, Elisabeth Fuchs, Reinhard Goebel, Bruno Weil, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla.
Born in the United States in 1998, she began violin studies at the age of six with Moscow Conservatory graduate Pavel Feldman in Montréal, Canada. At thirteen, she moved to Salzburg to study in the pre-college division of the Mozarteum University with Prof. Wonji Kim-Ozim, as a member of the Leopold Mozart Institute for Highly Gifted Students.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in violin performance from the Mozarteum University under Prof. Lily Francis, while also studying viola performance with Prof. Thomas Riebl, earning a double Bachelor of Arts degree. In 2019, as a recipient of the Erasmus+ Scholarship, she pursued further studies at the Conservatoire de Paris with Prof. Michaël Hentz. She later completed her Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music, studying under Prof. Syoko Aki Erle and Prof. Soovin Kim as a Stephen & Denise Adams Scholarship recipient.
In addition to her performing career, Riana is a dedicated educator. She has taught at secondary violin lessons Yale University, and served as a Teaching Artist for the Yale Music in Schools Initiative and the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven. In 2023–24, she was the Resident Violist at Music Haven, where she taught a viola studio and performed throughout Connecticut as a member of the Haven String Quartet.
She has given masterclasses at the Universitas Pelita Harapan Conservatory of Music, Jakarta Conservatory, Yogyakarta International Chamber Music Festival, and the Indonesia Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta, and mentored at the Bandung Philharmonic Orchestra Academy Festival and the Yogyakarta Youth Music Camp in collaboration with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Currently based in Indonesia, Riana maintains a private violin studio in Yogyakarta and serves as Head of the Violin Department at Canzona Music School in Jakarta, nurturing the next generation of young musicians.