Carla-Maria Rodrigues is the San Francisco Opera Orchestra’s Principal Violist. Her professional life began with a long tenure as a member of the Minnesota Orchestra, where she was eventually appointed Assistant Principal Viola. In 1994, while serving as the orchestra’s Acting Principal, she was a featured soloist in Strauss’s Don Quixote with Yo-Yo Ma. During the 1998-1999 season, Carla-Maria was invited to join the Australian Chamber Orchestra as its Guest Principal Violist. She continues this collaboration today as she was offered the Principal chair of the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 2004. Chamber music activities have taken Carla-Maria throughout the world with artists such as Rudolph Serkin and Sir Yehudi Menuhin. She has toured extensively with Pinchas Zukerman as a member of the Zukerman and Friends’ Ensemble. She has been an active participant at the Marlboro, Gstaad, Verbier, Prussia Cove, Santa Fe, Vancouver, El Paso and Aldeburgh Festivals, touring nationally and internationally with "Musicians from Marlboro." In 1995, Carla-Maria performed in a series of chamber music concerts at the Wigmore Hall with Steven Isserlis and Joshua Bell. In 2000, as a guest of the Jerusalem Music Center, Ms. Rodrigues was invited to coach chamber music and give master classes to aspiring young musicians from all over Israel. A native of London, Carla-Maria entered the Yehudi Menuhin School at the age of ten. During this time she appeared regularly as soloist and chamber musician in London’s major concert halls and was heard on the BBC Radio and Television Network. She continued her studies in the United States and graduated from the University of Michigan, where she was awarded the prestigious Albert A. Stanley Medal. Other prizes to her credit include the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, the William Primrose Scholarship Competion, and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
