Aija Cave is 19 years old and is studying Music Education at New York University. She is from Mesa, Arizona and began playing the viola at 10 years old. Her musical studies, however, began with piano and violin at age 7. In Arizona Aija was a member of Divisions I and II of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony and principal violist of the Junior High Festival Orchestra and the Advanced Junior High Symphony. At 13 she accepted to St. Andrew’s Boarding School in Middletown, Delaware for High School, where she continued to study the viola with Fredrick Geiersbach. In high school she was the principal violist of the St. Andrew’s Symphony, and the St. Andrew’s Chamber Orchestra. She participated in the Delaware All-State Orchestra for 3 years and throughout her four years in Delaware she played in many chamber ensembles. She began studying with Anne Lanzilotti at New York University in the fall of 2015 and is very excited for the next three years of her time there. At NYU she has also been an avid chamber music player. Currently, she is working on Ludwig Von Beethoven’s String Trio in G Major, coached by Meghan Todt. She also enjoys playing in pit orchestras and has played in productions of “Kiss Me Kate” by Samuel and Bella Spewack, “Curtains” by Rupert Holmes, and “Pirates of Penzance” by Gilbert & Sullivan.