HEATHER BENTLEY
 Violist and violinist Heather Bentley has dedicated herself to chamber music, both as a performer and an educator. She is currently Principal Viola of the Northwest Sinfonietta, the resident chamber orchestra at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. From 2002 - 2008 Heather was Conductor of the Northwest School Chamber Orchestra, taking the orchestra on tour to Europe and China. She also performs as Concertmaster of the ensemble “Scrape” - a 17 piece improvising string orchestra featuring original music by jazz legends Jim Knapp and Eyvind Kang. From 2003 - 2011 she performed with Odeonquartet, premiering numerous new works alongside classic chamber repertoire at venues such as the Nordstrom Recital Hall, Seattle’s Town Hall and the Triple Door as well as the Moscow Conservatory of Music and Philharmonic Hall in Odessa, Ukraine.
     
Her commitment to educating young people is reflected in her work at the Seattle Conservatory of Music, where she was Director of Chamber Music from 2001 till 2010 in a program that now boasts an average of ten ensembles working throughout the academic year. In 2007 she joined the music faculty at Seattle’s prestigious Lakeside School for an educational project to revamp and revitalize the school’s music program. Heather teaches violin and viola to many of the members of Lakeside’s five orchestras in addition to running a chamber music program for the advanced players in the Upper School. A graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she was the 1985 winner of the Conservatory Concerto Competition, she holds a Masters in Chamber Music and a Bachelors in Viola Performance.
     
She writes a blog about music at http://hemidemisemithoughts.blogspot.com