BIOGRAPHY

Peruvian violist Varinia Oyola-Rebaza has garnered international recognition for her distinctive musical voice and wide-ranging career as a concert violist and ensemble musician. She began playing the viola at age nine with Roberto Gonzalez at the National Conservatory of Peru and continued her studies in Europe and the United States. Now based in London, she performs across the UK, Europe, and South America, is a founding member of Duo Aina with award-winning pianist Ana Gogava, and appears with leading ensembles including the London Chamber Orchestra, Gabrieli Players, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, and as guest principal viola with Smith Square Sinfonia and United Strings of Europe. Her performances have taken her to major UK venues such as Westminster Abbey (St Margaret’s), the Barbican Centre, St John’s Smith Square, and Conway Hall, and she has been a multiple-time guest recitalist with the Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima.

Varinia has appeared as a soloist with leading orchestras in Peru, the North London Sinfonia, and most recently gave the UK premiere of Rafael Junchaya’s Yaraví with Duo Aina at St John’s Smith Square. A prize-winning chamber musician, she won First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Massimo Antonelli International Chamber Music Competition with the Alauda Quartet, touring extensively across Europe and appearing on broadcasts in Spain and Germany. She is also a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Award for her work with Platform Music, promoting underrepresented composers, and was awarded the title Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in recognition of her contributions to the music field.

She has worked closely with violist and composer Garth Knox, and performed chamber music with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and London Mozart Players. She has performed under conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Andrew Litton, and Leonard Slatkin, alongside soloist Martha Argerich, and appears on the Gramophone Award-winning recording of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the Gabrieli Players. Most recently, she served as principal viola for United Strings of Europe in a recording at Abbey Road with flutist Sharon Bezaly, to be released later in 2025 on BIS Records.

Varinia graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy, The Juilliard School (BM), and the University of Iowa (MA) with full scholarships from these institutions. She furthered her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London (Professional Diploma with Distinction) and completed masterclasses at the Barenboim–Said Akademie with Yuri Bashmet and at the Jeunesses Musicales International Chamber Music Campus with Heime Müller, Gerhard Schulz, and Donald Weilerstein. Her principal teachers include Heidi Castleman, Steven Tenenbom, Christine Rutledge, David Holland, Garfield Jackson, and Mate Szűcs. She performs on a contemporary viola by Hiroshi Iizuka and a Hill bow generously on loan from the Royal Academy of Music Museum Collection.