ROBERT ASHWORTH, VIOLA

Robert Ash­worth is Prin­ci­pal viola for the Auck­land Phil­har­mo­nia Orches­tra.
He has been guest-​principal viola for the Sydney Symphony, Mel­bourne Sym­phony, New Zealand Sym­phony Orches­tra and the Aus­tralian Opera and Bal­let Orches­tra, as well as assistant-​principal for the Cal­gary Phil­har­monic Orches­tra. He is the vio­list for the Jade String Quar­tet in Auck­land, and also plays with the Australian World Orchestra.
Robert has appeared as soloist with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra performing Anthony Ritchie's viola concerto no. 1, world premiere of Ross Harris's Aria as well as performing Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante. He has also performed as soloist with the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, and St. Matthew 's Chamber Orchestra. With the Jade String Quartet he has toured throughout New Zealand with Arts on Tour, and as a CMNZ regional artist. He has recorded for Atoll and Rattle labels as well as many performances recorded for Radio New Zealand.
Robert was awarded a Tui for Best Classical Artist Tui in 2022  and is a twice recip­i­ent of the Canada Coun­cil for the Arts Award for Emerg­ing Artists. He has per­formed with var­i­ous groups at inter­na­tional cham­ber music fes­ti­vals in Europe, North Amer­ica, and Japan. He has had the hon­our to study with vio­lists Thomas Riebl and Veronika Hagen at the Uni­ver­si­taet Mozar­teum in Salzburg, Aus­tria and with Ger­ald Stan­ick at the Uni­ver­sity of British Colum­bia in Van­cou­ver, Canada.
Robert plays a Canadian "cut-away" viola made in 1995 by John Newton.