Fitz Gary, violist

Violist Fitz Gary has built a wide-ranging musical life as a performer, artistic leader, and advocate for the power of chamber music to connect people and communities. He serves as Co-Artistic Director and violist of the resident Garth Newel Piano Quartet at Garth Newel Music Center in Hot Springs, Virginia, where he helps shape a vibrant year-round season, alongside educational and community programs.

His chamber music collaborations span a roster of acclaimed artists and ensembles including Daniel Hope, Attacca Quartet, Kelley O’Connor, Jennifer Frautschi, Michelle Cann, Parker Quartet, among others. Fitz’s musical path took him from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Jeffrey Irvine, to The Juilliard School, working with Heidi Castleman and Hsin-Yun Huang, and ultimately across the Atlantic as a Fulbright Scholar. In Germany, he studied with Barbara Westphal at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, earning a second master’s degree and the DAAD Prize, while simultaneously stepping into the professional orchestral world as a member of the Academy of Hamburg’s GRAMMY winning NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra.

Fitz has served as a Clinician Ambassador for the string company D’Addario, as well as the President of the Feldman Chamber Music Society in Norfolk, Virginia. Beyond the concert stage, Fitz is the founder of Music Feeds Us, a chamber music initiative he launched in 2012 to support hunger relief. Featured nationally on Performance Today, the project has helped provide the equivalent of more than 250,000 meals through partnerships with Virginia food banks.