Sonja Bosca-Harasim

Concertmaster

Sonja Bosca-Harasim, performer and educator, has been described as an “undeniably impressive” performer (James Chute, San Diego Union-Tribune, August 21, 2011), and hailed for her attention to detail, making “every note count deliciously” (Joel Luks, Culture Map Houston, April 26, 2011). Bosca-Harasim is Concertmaster of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony and is Associate Professor of Violin and Viola at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. Additionally, she coaches chamber music, teaches string methods to future music educators, serves as String Area Coordinator and Director of Concordia’s North Star Chamber Music Festival and Symposium, as well as its String Preparatory Program. She maintains an active performing career locally, nationally, and internationally as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician, including performing as Guest Principal 2nd Violin with the Detroit Symphony and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, as well as performances at the “Grieg in Bergen” concert series in Norway, the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., La Jolla SummerFest in California, and at the Soiva Music Camp in Järvenpää, Finland. She has performed at numerous preeminent music festivals, including Schleswig-Holstein, International Holland Music Sessions, Sarasota, Encore, Tanglewood, Aspen, Round Top, Brevard and Interlochen, Performance and pedagogical residencies include those at “Outside the Box” at the University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Valparaiso University, University of Manitoba and with the Apollo Chamber Players, Willy Street Chamber Players and Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, she has been featured with the Shepherd Symphony Orchestra at Rice University, Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, Concordia Orchestra, Winnipeg Youth Symphony, Fargo-Moorhead Area Youth Symphonies and Northern Valley Youth Orchestra. Before joining Concordia’s faculty, she performed frequently with the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and Da Camera of Houston. She has been featured on MPR’s “Regional Spotlight” and Houston Public Radio’s “The Front Row.” She is dedicated to the performance of new music and works by underrepresented composers, particularly by Frank Bridge, the subject of her doctoral thesis. Several composers, including Karim Al-Zand, Daniel Breedon, Doug Harbin, Benjamin Krause, Richard Lavenda, Russell Peterson and Christopher Walczak, have written pieces to her. 

A sought-after pedagogue and chamber music coach, she is also on the faculty of the North Star Chamber Music Festival and Symposium at Concordia College, Dakota Chamber Music, International Music Camp, Soiva Music Camp and frequently works with the violinists and chamber groups at the Fargo-Moorhead Area Youth Symphony and the Northern Valley Youth Orchestra. She previously taught violin and chamber music at Rice University’s Michael P. Hammond Preparatory School, the Houston Youth Symphony, and Chamber Music of the Rockies. Her students have been featured on Houston Public Radio and have won prizes in numerous competitions, including those with the Grieg Society of Minnesota, FMAYS, Houston Youth, Houston Civic, and Clear Lake Symphonies’ concerto competitions, as well as the MTNA North Dakota Young Artist Competition. Her students have participated in prominent music festivals all over the world and have gone onto distinguished graduate programs in music performance and other fields of study.

A native of Houston, Texas, she began her violin studies at the age of 5 in the Suzuki program at Parker Elementary with Karen Somer, Kathy Karpicke, and Rosemary Jodeit and went on to study with Albert Muenzer, while attending the critically acclaimed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She completed her undergraduate studies with David Updegraff at the Cleveland Institute of Music and returned to her hometown to continue her studies with Kenneth Goldsmith and Cho-Liang Lin at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she received her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. She plays a violin made in 2011 by Mario Miralles, modeled after Mr. Lin’s “Titian” Stradivarius. Bosca-Harasim resides in Fargo with her husband, long time chamber music partner and bowling teammate, Ryan.