Boston-based violist Lauren Nelson is a versatile chamber and orchestral musician who is equally at home on both modern and historically informed instruments. Growing up as a Waldorf student in rural New Hampshire, she fostered a love for the arts from an early age. Inspired by the collaborative spirit of chamber music, she quickly recognized that her viola would be a lifelong companion.

The viola has taken Lauren to concert halls from Boston’s own Jordan and Symphony Halls to Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Estates Theatre and Rudolfinum in Prague. A sought after period violist, she can be seen performing with Boston Baroque, Handel + Haydn Society, Arpeggione Ensemble, Connecticut Early Music Festival, Upper Valley Baroque, ACRONYM Ensemble, RELIC and Winchendon Music Festival. She also performs and records with Emmanuel Music, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Vista Philharmonic, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera. In the 2018-19 season Lauren was a featured artist on Emmanuel Music’s Lindsey Chapel Series, where she performed John Harbison’s solo Viola Sonata. Lauren holds degrees in music performance from New England Conservatory, the University of Kentucky School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. Her teachers have included Roger Tapping, Deborah Lander and John Graham. On period viola she has studied with Adam LaMotte, Patrick Jordan, Marc Destrubé, Robert Mealy, Elizabeth Blumenstock and Julia Wedman.

When she’s not practicing or performing you can find Lauren spending time with her almost 3 year old daughter, or deep in the woods, foraging for mushrooms with daughter and her husband, composer Steven Snowden.