ABOUT

Photo by Molly Weinberg

Her lifelong, mother-daughter ensemble, Avita Duo, has been praised for their “technical excellence, emotional intensity, and unity of purpose”. The Duo produced their first recording of Lera Auerbach’s 24 Preludes for Violin and Piano and world-premiere of Oskolki in 2021. Called an “absorbing, dramatic, compelling, audacious, and riveting”, this CD has been released on the Hänssler Classic label and has received five-stars reviews from several prominent critics. The duo will be releasing their second album on Hänssler Classic later this year, featuring sonatas by Adele aus Der Ohe and Ernst Dohnanyi and Lili Boulanger’s Pieces for Violin and Piano. More information is available on avitaduo.com.

A successful competitor, Katya was awarded the Grand Prize Winner at the Walgreens National Concerto Competition and ENKOR International Violin Competition, and First Prize of the World Bach Competition, ODIN International Music Competition, and the 1st World Violin E-Competition Napolinova,  among others. Previously, she was the Gold Medal Winner at the St. Paul String Quartet Competition (Peresson String Quartet), Grand Prize Winner at the Chicago International Music Competition and received a Silver Medal Award at the Fischoff Chamber Music National Competition (Dasani String Quartet). Katya has performed several times on Chicago’s WFMT and Iowa Public Radio’s classical music stations. Summer engagements include the Perlman Music Program Chamber Workshop, Aspen Music Festival, Yellowbarn Young Artists Program, Valley of the Moon Music Festival, and Verbier Festival Solo Academy, where she was awarded the Prix Rodolphe et Helen Tissières. She has participated in masterclasses with renowned pedagogues, Midori Goto, Itzhak Perlman, Mihaela Martin, Rachel Podger, Rachel Barton Pine, Augustin Dumay, Gyorgy Pauk, and Sergey Kravchenko.

Katya is currently based in New York City, pursuing a Master’s Degree at the Juilliard School, studying with Catherine Cho, after completing her Bachelor’s Degree at Juilliard with Masao Kawasaki. She serves as Concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra and the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, with upcoming performances at BBC Proms in Royal Albert Hall under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salomen. Katya is a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School. Previously, she studied at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, under the tutelage of Almita Vamos.

Katya plays on a 1978 Sergio Peresson violin.

Katya is a native of Iowa City, IA and proudly holds a blue ribbon from the Iowa State Fair Grape Stomping Competition.

Violinist Katya Moeller, 22, is an accomplished award-winning performing artist. She was deemed a “phenomenal instrumentalist” and praised for her “dramatic and convincing performances” and “exquisite interpretations” by Fanfare Magazine, and “highly characterized” by SF Classical Voice. She played her first solo recital at the age of six and made her orchestra debut when she was twelve, performing Bruch’s Violin Concerto with the Southeast Iowa Symphony. Since then, she has taken the stage internationally, performing in Italy, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, Southeast Asia, as well as across the United States, most notably, Carnegie’s Isaac Stern and Zankel Halls, David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, Music on Madison, BargeMusic, and the Joyce Theater, alongside artists of the NYPhil, NYCB and ABT. Katya has soloed with numerous orchestras internationally, concerti of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Barber, and Coleridge-Taylor. Katya was SEISO’s 2026 Artist-in-Residence, where she presented interactive programs for over 2,000 children in local public schools, presented three recitals with the Avita Duo, and concluded the residency with three performances of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto- in just under two weeks.

Katya is deeply driven by her love for chamber music. In their first two years together, her string quartet, DragonBoot, won Grand Prize at the Coltman Chamber Music Competition and Second Prize at the St. Paul String Quartet Competition, collaborated with living composers on three world premieres, and performed at a staggering range of venues, from Alice Tully Hall, Sarasota Concert Artist Series, the MATA Festival, Eleva Chamber Players, to the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and Riker’s Island Prison. Greatly supported by the Juilliard Honors Chamber Program, DragonBoot has been fortunate enough to study with members of the Juilliard String Quartet, the Brentano Quartet, the Cavani Quartet, as well as Itzhak Perlman, Natasha Brofsky, Donald Weilerstein, and Laurie Smuckler.