Keith Conant is Principal Violist for the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra and the Chicago Philharmonic. He studied viola at the Juilliard School of Music with Paul Doktor, graduating in 1986. At Juilliard he held principal viola positions in the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra, Juilliard Chamber Orchestra and the Juilliard Orchestra. Mr. Conant also studied with Karen Tuttle at the Aspen Music Festival where he received four consecutive fellowships and was the principal violist in the Aspen Concert Orchestra. Mr. Conant was also formerly principal viola with the American Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, and the Tanglewood Young Artists Orchestra. From 1984 to 1986 he was a member of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Mr. Conant has participated in chamber music festivals across the country including the Ravinia Festival, Second City Chamber Players in Seattle and the Kingston Chamber Music Festival in Rhode Island. Mr. Conant has two commercially available chamber music recordings: George Flynn’s “American Rest” for clarinet, viola, cello and piano on the Southport label and “Lux Aeterna” by William Ferris for flute and viola on the Cedille label. Mr. Conant has also appeared as a soloist with many orchestras including Symphony II, the Juilliard Philharmonia at Alice Tully Hall, the Highland Park Strings, the Windy City Strings, Bach Week in Evanston Festival, Contemporary Chamber Players, the North Shore Choral Society, the Eastern Connecticut  Symphony, the Norwalk and Stamford Connecticut Youth Symphonies, the Fairfield County String Festival and the Fairfield County Chamber Orchestra. (Photo by Jovanka Novakovic)