Carlos Tarazona

Fun Facts

Playing the violin since: Age 5

Why did you start playing the violin? My mother was a violinist and she introduced me to it.

Violin Heroes: Nathan Milstein, Jascha Heifetz, Ruggiero Ricci.

Favorite piece of music: Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata for Violin and piano.

Hobbies/Interests: Fishing, cooking, The Chicago Cubs, Soccer.

Born in San Jose Costa Rica, violinist Sakira Harley began playing the violin at age 5 with Suzuki pedagogue Tetsuo Yagi. At age 14, Sakira was invited to study at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL with violinist Cathy Robinson. She has a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University School of Music where she studied with violinist Miriam Fried. Other principal instructors include Linda and David Cerone during frequent summer studies at Encore School for Strings.

Sakira joined the Charlotte Symphony in 2015. Her orchestral

four seasons under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Carlos has been part of music festivals such as Spoleto USA, Chautauqua, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, The Peace Festival in Bulgaria, and The Beziers Music Festival in France.

Carlos joined the Charlotte Symphony in 2008 where he holds the Third Chair-Second Violin position. Other orchestral collaborations include contributions with the San Francisco Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Miami Symphony where he served as Concertmaster, and the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway.

An avid educator, Carlos enjoys working with the students of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra programs and he has been the First Violin coach since 2007. He has been in the faculty of the Community School of the Arts summer program and the Sizzling Strings music camp.

Carlos is an active participant in the Charlotte Symphony Outreach and Education programs providing music presentations and coaching to school children and teenagers through out the school system. In addition, Carlos has appeared in performances as part of the Violins of Hope school programming with members of the music faculty of the University of North Carolina in Charlotte.

In addition to his performing schedule, Carlos dedicates his time to teaching in his private violin studio which he opened in 2003. His love for the violin as an instrument sparked an interest in opening Queen City Violins & Strings, his own violin shop, where he indulges his passion for all things violin and offers rentals and sales of stringed instruments.

career includes a fellowship with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL where she performed as co-concertmaster under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. She has performed in music festivals such as Spoleto Charleston, Spoleto Italy, Schleswig Holstein Academy in Germany, and she is an alumna of the New York String Orchestra Seminar led by violinist Jaime Laredo. Sakira has performed as a section violinist with the North Carolina Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, and the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway.

Chamber music collaborations include performances with clarinetist David Shifrin, pianist Garrick Ohlsson, and jazz pianist Pablo Ziegler and the Quintet for New Tango. She has participated in chamber music concerts and public radio performances for the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, El Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, as well as performances in Barcelona and Rome.

In addition to her current performance schedule, Sakira manages a full private violin studio where she enjoys encouraging violin students of all ages. She is an active participant of the Charlotte Symphony Education and Outreach Programs and she has been in the faculty of the Community School of the Arts, the Sizzling Strings Music Camp, and the Chamber Music for Teens Summer Workshops.  

Sakira is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas.

Beyond teaching and performing, Sakira enjoys spending quiet time at home with her husband and beloved pets.

Fun Facts

Playing the violin since: Age 5

Why did you start playing the violin? My sister started playing the violin a couple years before me and I would sneak in and take her violin pretending to play (she hated it!), and so my mother got me one too :)

Violin Heroes: Yehudi Menuhin, Nathan Milstein, Miriam Fried, and Hilary Hahn.

Favorite piece of music: Beethoven Violin Concerto, Bach Chaconne from Partita #2.

Hobbies/Interests: Spoiling our cats, and doing jigsaw puzzles