Joyce Ramee
Affiliate Artist, Viola
Affiliate Artist, Viola
Joyce A. Ramée, Affiliate Artist Faculty, Viola, has enjoyed a long and varied musical career in the Pacific Northwest. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, as a student of Max Aronoff and Joseph DePasquale, Ms. Ramée was also a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, performing under conductors including Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and Kurt Masur. In 1987, Ms. Ramee moved to Seattle and joined the School of Music Faculty as viola professor at the University of Puget Sound, a position she has held ever since. Her studio at Puget Sound includes all college violists and a broad range of Community Music students of all levels and musical ambitions.
In 1990 Ms. Ramée co-founded the Max Aronoff Viola Institute, a non-profit educational program which trained more than 900 string players. Ms. Ramée directed the Institute throughout its 28 years of operation. As a performer Joyce Ramée has been active in recital work and solo engagements with local orchestras, having appeared with the Everett Symphony and Tacoma Youth Symphony (Paul Elliott Cobbs), Lake Union Civic Orchestra (Christophe Chagnard), Philharmonia Northwest (Roupen Shakarian), Grays Harbor Chamber Orchestra (Bill Dyer), Tacoma Community College Orchestra (John Falskow) and the University of Puget Sound Symphony (Edward Seferian and Christophe Chagnard). Recent solo performances include George Walker’s epic Viola Sonata at Puget Sound (2019) and the North American Premier of José Aranda’s viola concerto, Cuatro Escenas de Sur (four Scenes from the South) at Tacoma’s Rialto Theater.
Ms. Ramée is a founding member of both the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and the Auburn Symphony. Outside of professional activities, she is a member of the choir and a music volunteer at St. Clement's Church in Seattle and is currently President of the Dante Alighieri Society of Washington. Joyce lives in Seattle with her husband, French hornist Rodger Burnett, and their cats.