Dr. Laurel Yu

Dr. Laurel Yu, Assistant Professor of Viola at Valdosta State University. Dr. Yu is an active lecturer, chamber musician, performer, and teaching artist. At VSU, he currently performs with VSU’s Quartet in Residence, the Azalea String Quartet, and is Principal Viola with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Yu currently teaches some of VSU’s most popular music courses including Music in Film and the Development of Rock and Roll. His other duties include Administrator of the South Georgia String Project and Personnel Manager for the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Yu earned his Doctor of Music and college teaching certificate from Florida State University, where he was a graduate teaching assistant and assistant chamber music coordinator. A graduate of Boston University and the Interlochen Arts Academy, his former teachers and mentors include Dr. Pamela Ryan, Corinne Stillwell, Eliot Chapo, Ed Gazouleas, Michelle LaCourse, and David Holland. As a chamber musician, Dr. Yu has had the privilege to work with the Muir String Quartet, Raphael Hillyer, George Neikrug, Beth Newdome, Carolyn Bridger, and Deloise Lima.

With diverse performance activities, Dr. Yu is currently violist with the Sinfonia Gulf Coast Chamber Players, violist for the Anon Ensemble, Principal Viola, and Artistic Administrator for Sinfonia Gulf Coast, Principal Viola of the Albany Symphony Orchestra (GA), and member of the Mobile Symphony Orchestra. As a collaborative performer, he has performed chamber recitals at multiple national conferences such as the National Flute Association, the International Double Reed Society, and the International Society of Bassists convention. Most recently, Dr. Yu recorded an album of strings and bassoon chamber music with bassoonist and colleague Shannon Lowe. Dr. Yu’s summers have been spent at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Indiana University String Academy, the Brevard Music Center, and the Florida State University String Orchestra Camp.

As an active advocate for music and music education, Dr. Yu is on the board for the Artist Series of Tallahassee, the board of the American Viola Society, and works with Sinfonia Gulf Coast’s education programs to develop community engagement opportunities in the public school systems of Northwest Florida. As a teacher, Dr. Yu’s students have been accepted into undergraduate and graduate programs across the country, including the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, University of Florida, University of Alabama, Florida State University, Boston University, Peabody Conservatory, University of Georgia, and Southern Methodist University to name a few. He is regularly invited to present lectures across the Southeast, including multiple presentations at the American String Teachers Association conferences, the Florida Orchestra Association’s annual conference, Florida Music Education Association’s annual conference, and was the key presenter at the Florida Chapter of the American String Teachers Association conference. In high demand as a clinician, Dr. Yu frequently gives audition workshops, violin/viola set-up clinics, master classes, All-State clinics, and chamber music pedagogy workshops around Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.