Track3

Violist Elijah Spies likes exploring sounds, both classical and new, in spaces ranging from living rooms to large concert halls. A former academist of Ensemble Modern and the Basel Sinfonietta, Elijah performs as the violist of the Swiss contemporary music group, latenz ensemble, and has premiered works at the BBC Proms, the Lucerne Festival, Wittener Kammermusiktage, the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, New Music on the Point, Gaudeamus Musiekwiek in Utrecht, Netherlands and Time of Music in Viitasaari, Finland.

Passionate about chamber music, Elijah is a member of Track3 and Trio Anbau, and recently undertook intensive string quartet lessons with György Kurtàg at the Budapest Music Centre. This season, Elijah will perform with Glass Clouds Ensemble, the Rose Quartet, and ensemble eeek. Further highlights include performances at Into the Open Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania, Acht Brücken in Cologne, Germany, and the Bach Virtuosi Festival in Portland, Maine as well as Artist Residencies at impuls Festival in Austria, the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina, and Casa di Rosa in Switzerland.

Elijah has performed with Concerts in Motion since 2019, playing at hospital wards, retirement communities, and for isolated, homebound residents in New York. He was the featured soloist at the Queens COVID Memorial Ceremony.

Elijah began learning the viola in group lessons at school, then at the junior department of the Royal College of Music in London. He holds degrees from Juilliard and Musik-Akademie Basel, and is grateful to his past mentors Geneviève Strosser, Molly Gebrian, and Carol Rodland. In his free time, Elijah enjoys free improvisation, meeting cats, and going down Wikipedia rabbit-holes.