Vivian D'Amelio

With performance experience as varied as she is, Vivian Murphy's main passion remains connecting with others.  When she discovered how profound that connection was through experiences like connecting with dementia patients who had hardly spoken a word for 3 years by playing their favorite song, she knew she wanted to be a musician professionally.  She fell in love with the art of musical storytelling at a young age. 

Vivian's drive to connect with others and tell stories through music have led her through countries like Cuba and Austria, performing with artists like The Piano Guys and Nachito Herrera, and making cancer patients smile with their favorite song.  Vivian has recently graduated with a degree in Violin Performance from the University of Saint Thomas.  She has had diverse performance experience: as a studio musician at Minneapolis' F5 SoundHouse; being featured on MPR's Minnesota Varsity program in 2017; performing with The Piano Guys on their 2017 tour; with Minnesota Opera's Project Opera as a pit musician; solo performance with orchestra experiences in 2017 and 2021; and performing for the Church of Saint Agnes, All Saints and Chapel of Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Saint Paul Irish Association pro bono.  Vivian has had the privilege to study music performance in Vienna, Austria, and worked under Barbara Gorzynska and Dr. Ulrike Anton in private lesson and Baroque and Romantic chamber music settings.

Vivian's primary stomping grounds are her hometown of Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she joyfully private teaches and serves Saint Agnes School as its elementary chamber strings program founding director.  A 4th-year music performance student at the University of Saint Thomas studying under Allison Ostrander of the Minnesota Opera, she performs regularly in the Twin Cities community as a freelance soloist and chamber musician. 

Working upon a foundation of classical training, Vivian loves to explore new music and ways of playing.  She has attended workshops for Baroque performance and spends her free time exploring folk styles and learning tango and klezmer music.  She has gone beyond her community to stretch her limits by participating in the Green Mountain, Killington and Green Lake Music Festivals. In the future, Vivian hopes to continue stretching her musical, educational and personal limits by continuing to hone her skills in violin and teaching, as well as embracing a new practice: performing arts health.