Raiden Thaler

Viola

Raiden Thaler completed a Master’s in Viola Performance at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Molly Gebrian in Spring of 2021. In 2019 he graduated from Florida State University magna cum laude as a National Merit Finalist majoring in Viola Performance, where he studied under Dr. Pamela Ryan. Raiden has completed additional solo and chamber studies with Charles Castleman, Patricia McCarty, George Taylor, Tim Kantor, John Kochanowski, Basil Vendryes, Corinne Stillwell, Greg Sauer and Tomoko Fujita.

Raiden has performed solo works in masterclasses with Dimitri Murrath, Csaba Erdélyi, Erika Eckert, Catharine Carroll Lees, and both Almita and Roland Vamos at the 2018 ASTA National Conference as a guest performer. Chamber masterclasses include the Kronos Quartet, the Badke Quartet, the New Zealand String Quartet, Thomas Kraines of the Daedalus Quartet, and the Telegraph Quartet. Raiden has also studied at numerous summer and winter festivals, including Castleman Quartet Program, Lyricafest, Kinhaven Young Artist Seminar, Meadowmount School of Music, and the Ithaca College Summer Music Academy. In 2020, he was principal viola of the Arizona Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Grove String Quartet, the Graduate String Quartet at the University of Arizona under the mentorship of Professor Tim Kantor.

Raiden has found success in Arizona through a multitude of awards and performances across the Tucson area. In summer 2020, Raiden was awarded two Medici Scholarships, one for his personal project of studying viola excerpts digitally with players across the country, and the other for the Grove String Quartet to pursue an online outreach project to be able to share music with community members in a time of isolation and lack of live performance during the pandemic. Winner of the 2020 Solo String Competition at the Graduate level, Raiden found many opportunities to still perform during the pandemic: the first live online performance of Quintetto Profano by Thomas Peterson was a resounding livestream success, alongside an outreach video performance produced by Raiden and his professor, Dr. Gebrian, for the If Music Be the Food 2020 online concert, aimed at raising donations for those in need within the local Tucson community. Other pursuits during the pandemic included a CIM Excerpt Workshop, Body Mapping Seminar, and a 2-week course with violinist Elise Winters, creator of Discover Violin, a teaching philosophy aimed at holistic, satisfying, and foundational musical studies for teacher and student.

Raiden is currently an Arts Integration Specialist in the Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) program within Tucson Unified School District, working alongside classroom teachers to integrate core curriculum alongside the arts. Raiden is also the Orchestra Director for Elementary students at Steele and Miles Elementary Schools.

Raiden teaches private students violin and viola, performs in events with Magnolia Strings, and in 2022 won a position with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra for a tenure track chair in the viola section.