Biography

Hannah Breyer is a graduate of the University of Michigan, where she studied under the tutelage of Yizhak Schotten. Hannah concluded her Master of Music degrees in both Viola Performance and Chamber Music in the spring of 2020. Originally from Gilbert, Arizona, Hannah began playing viola at age 10. 

As a freshman in high school, she had the honor of performing at Carnegie Hall with the Mesquite High School Symphony. During her time as an undergraduate at the University of Oregon, where she studied with Dr. Leslie Straka and Dr. Arnaud Ghillebaert, she earned a position with Rogue Valley Symphony in Ashland, Oregon and performed with the Eugene Symphony, the Oregon Mozart Players, and the ballet company OrchestraNext. She also taught as a Chamber Instructor for the University of Oregon’s Community Music Institute. 

For the entire academic year of 2016-2017, Hannah studied modern and baroque viola at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (State University for Music and Performing Arts) in Stuttgart, Germany on a full-tuition scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Program. In culmination of her bachelor’s degree, she was awarded the Outstanding Undergraduate Performer in Strings award at the University of Oregon.

Since attending the University of Michigan, Hannah has also won positions in the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, Flint Symphony, Lansing Symphony and Ann Arbor Symphony and performs as a freelance musician with orchestras and quartets throughout the lower peninsula. She is certified to teach Suzuki violin and viola and has acted as a substitute mentor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Civic Youth Ensembles program. She continues to engage in chamber music by presenting her duet arrangements for violin and viola at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market and performing in string quartets for weddings, receptions, candlelight concerts, and other celebrations.