As a violist with a broad background in community music-making, Deberly Kauffman Mills has been playing and teaching for over twenty years. In addition to many international tours, masterclass performances, and orchestral work, Deberly also actively works to create programs bringing music education and experience to underserved communities.

 

Deberly has toured and performed in venues across the globe, including a United Nations conference in Madrid, Spain, and performances in Canada, in Busan, South Korea, and in London, Manchester, and Oxford, England. Her U.S. performances include Avery Fischer Hall in New York City, Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall in Boston.

 

This fall, Deberly was a soloist in Concert for One as part of the Celebrity Series of Boston, and won Boston University’s Bach Competition. She has also been featured on NPR’s “From the Top” both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She was a finalist in the Strings Concerto Competition at the Fresno Opera and Orchestra Summer Program, and won 1st alternate in the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Senior Division Competition.

 

Deberly is currently principal violist of the Boston University Symphony Orchestra, the Boston University Chamber Orchestra, and The Orchestra Appassionata of Boston. She has played with the Boston Civic Symphony, Cape Ann Symphony, Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra, the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, Princeton University Chamber Ensemble, and was principal violist of the Princeton University Orchestra. 

 

Deberly founded and ran Strings Work, a program that provided free strings instruments, and music lessons to students and their families in communities where the arts budget was severely lacking. Deberly also founded and was co-President of Princeton’s chapter of the Modern Improvisational Music Association, creating workshops to make creative arts and music-making processes more accessible to local communities and students.

 

Deberly Kauffman Mills is currently working on her Performance Diploma with Michelle LaCourse at Boston University. Her past teachers include Martha Strongin-Katz, Jessica Thompson, and Patinka Kopec.