New to Portland, OR, Dana is thrilled to be the new Instructor of Viola at Lewis & Clark College! She is a tenured member of the Oregon Mozart Players. Additionally, she is a regular guest violist in the; Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Portland Opera Orchestra, Eugene Ballet Theater Orchestra, Eugene Symphony Orchestra, and Eugene Opera Orchestra. During summers, Dana joins the viola sections of the Oregon Coast Music Festival, Sunriver Music Festival and the Siletz Bay Music Festival. She has performed regularly in the Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival during summers in Jamaica, VT as a member of the acclaimed Inscape Chamber Orchestra.
An enthusiastic chamber musician, Dr. Dana Rokosny has performed at the Swiss and Japanese Embassies, the Lyceum, Dumbarton Oaks, Sydney Harmon Hall, and Anderson House in Washington, DC. In 2017, she was a guest violist with the Pacifica Quartet performing Osvaldo Golihov’s Last Round at the University of Maryland School of Music. She was a member of the Two Rivers String Quartet in Shepherdstown, WV, where she served as principal viola of the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra and appeared as a soloist. In addition, she was a member of the River Hawk String Quartet based at Anne Arundel Community College, violist of the DC-based Beau Soir ensemble, and the Mirá String Quartet in Frederick, MD.
As an orchestral violist, Dana has toured with orchestras throughout the United States, Switzerland, Ireland, Russia, and Armenia. She has performed regularly with musicians in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, New Orchestra of Washington, American Pops Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Apollo Chamber Orchestra, and Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. As part of her distinctive professional training, she has performed in the Luzern Festival Academy led by Pierre Boulez, and was a fellow and assistant principal violist in the American Conducting Academy Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival led by David Zinman. Dana has participated in numerous exceptional summer festivals, distinguishing herself in leadership roles with the National Orchestral Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, American Russian Young Artists Orchestra, Meadowmount School of Music, and the Indiana String Academy.
Dana also teaches beginner viola classes for the Lake Oswego School District Elementary Strings Program. She engages her students to pursue excellence in playing while encouraging them to become lifelong advocates for string playing, music, and the arts. Previously, she was Viola/Violin Faculty at Anne Arundel Community College, Maryland Talent Education Center, Frederick Community College, the DC Youth Orchestra Program, two county magnet performing arts high school programs, and the Holton-Arms School in Maryland. For fifteen years, Dana has maintained a thriving private studio of violists and violinists of all ages and levels and has lead beginning to advanced Suzuki-based group classes.
Dana performs on a 2004 Guy Rabut viola and a 2021 Pierre-Yves Fuchs bow. Her primary teachers are Dan Foster, Katherine Murdock, Doris Lederer, Karen Ritscher, Lynne Ramsey, Debra Moree, and Phyllis Freeman. Also, she has worked closely with Joan DerHovsepian, James Dunham, Jeff Irvine, Ralph Fielding, Rita Porfiris, Peter Salaff, Ken Slowik, Jane Starkman, Roger Myers, Rebecca Henry, Sheri Sinift, and Alan Bodman.
As an advocate for equity and diversity in the arts, Dana is an Education and Performance Ambassador and Consultant for Boulanger Initiative, an organization promoting music of womxn composers (previously, she was the Assistant Executive Director). Dana is a proud union member of the American Federation of Musicians (AFM)- Locals 99 and 689, previously Locals 40-543, and 161-710. Currently, she is serving as an acting member of the AFM Local 99 Executive Board and the affiliated Music Education Assistance Project (MEAP).
B.M., Ithaca College; M.M., Rice University; Professional Studies, Cleveland Institute of Music; D.M.A, University of Maryland College Park
Academic Credentials
B.M., Ithaca College; M.M., Rice University; Professional Studies, Cleveland Institute of Music; D.M.A, University of Maryland College Park