Chicago-based violist Rebecca Miller has extensive experience across a variety of genres, with a focus on contemporary music and opera.
Rebecca is enthusiastic about pit orchestra work, and is a member of the Des Moines Metro Opera orchestra. She has played in productions with Opera Festival of Chicago, Chicago Summer Opera, San Diego’s Opera NEO, the Boston Opera Collaborative, and Commonwealth Lyric Opera. As an orchestral musician, Rebecca is assistant principal viola for the Northwest Indiana Symphony, as well as a member of the West Michigan Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, and Camerata Chicago viola sections. She has appeared with Chicago Civic Orchestra, and is an active substitute for Chicago Sinfonietta and the Milwaukee, Elgin, South Bend, and Rockford Symphonies. She was part of the Spoleto USA Festival Orchestra in 2025, and completed the 2023 National Academy Orchestra’s Mentorship Program in Ottawa, performing as part of the NAC Orchestra.
A dedicated advocate for music of the modern era, Rebecca has performed a number of contemporary chamber works throughout Chicago. She is a founding member of the Vanishing Point Ensemble, and recently performed with the group as part of the 2025 Ear Taxi Festival. She was involved in a 2024 performance of Steven Takasugi’s Sideshow with the Bienen School of Music’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. She has premiered works by many young composers and performed in contemporary orchestras and chamber ensembles, most recently alongside cellist Anssi Kartunnen, violist Steven Dann, and composer Magnus Lindberg as part of Creative Dialogue France. She has taken part in Chicago’s NUNC Festival, Toronto’s 21C Festival, and enjoyed multiple seasons with the NEXT Festival of Emerging Artists. Rebecca was also a founding member of the Highwood Quartet, appearing at chamber music venues throughout the Toronto area and earning a top prize in the Glenn Gould School Chamber Music Competition. In 2019, she toured alongside violinist/violist Laura Thompson. The duo presented a contemporary program, including two commissions, in Boston, New York, and Milwaukee.
Outside of the concert hall, she has been involved both as a performer and as an organizer with Shelter Music Boston, bringing chamber music to underserved audiences in shelters and rehabilitation facilities throughout New England. Rebecca holds degrees from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, the Glenn Gould School, and the Boston Conservatory. She studied with Helen Callus, Steven Dann, Rictor Noren, Nicholas Cords and Lewis Rosove. She is a proud member of the CFM/AFM Local 10-208. When not performing, she enjoys textile arts, hiking, biking, strong coffee, and a good book.