Doyle Armbrust

Chicago violist Doyle Armbrust graduated with honors from Northwestern University and went on to study with Donald McInnes at the University of Southern California where he earned a Masters Degree in Viola Performance. Mr. Armbrust is currently principal violist of both Camerata Chicago and the Firebird Chamber Orchestra in Miami, Florida. After returning to Chicago having completed a three-year fellowship in

the New World Symphony as rotating principal violist under Michael Tilson Thomas, Mr. Armbrust began an active freelance career including commercial engagements as sideman for The Beach Boys, Jewel, Richard Marx, Lupe Fiasco, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Positions not involving pyrotechnics include guest coach of the DePaul University Chamber and Symphony Orchestra viola sections, as well as violist for the Miami Music Project, an organization bringing classical music

to under-served children throughout Florida’s Miami-Dade County. An avid proponent of music by contemporary composers, Mr. Armbrust performs regularly on the Chicago Symphony’s MusicNow Series, is a core member of the Anaphora, New Millennium Orchestra and Accessible Contemporary Music ensembles, and has been a guest artist with both the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and Eighth Blackbird. Mr. Armbrust is also violist for Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, an internationally-touring Blues- juxtaposed-with-Classical group based in Chicago, led by harmonica virtuoso Corky Siegel.

In 2009, Mr. Armbrust was hired by TimeOut Chicago to write for its Opera & Classical and Music sections, and is often found scribbling notes at the back of the Empty Bottle, the Lyric Opera House, and everywhere in between.