Sheila Browne is an American-Irish violist

Violist

-Notable violists:A* Julia Rebekka Adler * Sir Hugh Allen , conductor* Kris Allen * Johann Andreas Amon * Paul Angerer , composer* Steven Ansell * Atar Arad * Cecil Aronowitz...

, recording artist, and professor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts

University of North Carolina School of the Arts

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts , formerly the North Carolina School of the Arts, is a public coeducational arts conservatory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina that grants high school, undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is one of the seventeen constituent campuses of the...

 and New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

, Steinhardt School. Ms. Browne has given solo and chamber music concerts in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. She currently serves on the Executive Board of the American Viola Society

American Viola Society

The American Viola Society is an organization headquartered in Dallas, Texas that promotes interest in the viola by its performers, teachers, luthiers, and enthusiasts....

 and teaches at California Summer Music Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and Viva Virgina! Ms. Browne was the violist of the Gotham and Arianna string quartets.

During the summer of 2009 Sheila became the first viola professor ever to teach in Kurdistan for the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq.

She has recorded CDs on the Albany Records

Albany Records

Albany Records is an American classical music record label focusing particularly on contemporary classical music. It was established by Peter Kermani in 1987, and is based in Albany, New York.-External links:**...

, Centaur, ERM, and Nonesuch Records

Nonesuch Records

Nonesuch Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Records.-Company history:Nonesuch was founded in 1964 by Jac Holzman to produce "fine records at the same price as a trade paperback", which would be half the price of a normal LP...

 labels, and has premiered new works by composers including Dan Coleman

Dan Coleman

Dan Coleman is a composer and music publisher.He studied music at the University of Pennsylvania, the Juilliard School, and the Aspen Music Festival and School where his teachers included George Tsontakis, George Crumb, William Bolcom, Robert Beaser, Stephen Albert and Bruce Adolphe...

, Lawrence Dillon

Lawrence Dillon

Lawrence Dillon is an American composer, and currently Composer in Residence at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. His music has a wide range of expression, generally within a tonal idiom notable both for its rhythmic propulsiveness and a strong lyrical element...

, and Kenneth Jacobs.

Sheila Browne studied with Karen Tuttle

Karen Tuttle

Karen Tuttle was an American viola teacher, famous for her "coordination" technique, which emphasizes being comfortable while playing the instrument. She was originally a violinist who chose to become a violist when she wanted to study with William Primrose, whose technique and ease in playing...

 at the Juilliard School

Juilliard School

The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...

, where Ms. Browne was her teaching assistant for four years. She later studied in Germany with Kim Kashkashian

Kim Kashkashian

Kim Kashkashian is an Armenian-American violist.-Professional career:Kim Kashkashian studied the viola with Karen Tuttle. She also studied at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. She won the 2nd prize at the 1980 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the 1980 ARD International Music...

 after winning a DAAD

German Academic Exchange Service

The German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation....

 grant. She also was Karen Ritscher

Karen Ritscher

Karen Ritscher is an American musician and academic.She is currently on faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory and has taught and performed extensively throughout the United States.Ms...

's teaching assistant at Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

's Shepherd School, where the Gotham Quartet was in Paul Katz

Paul Katz

Paul Katz is an internationally renowned American cellist, best known for his membership of the Cleveland Quartet. Katz currently teaches at the New England Conservatory following positions at Rice University and the Eastman School of Music. He serves on the National Advisory Board of the...

's String Quartet Residency Program.

Browne's teaching style is influenced in part by Karen Tuttle

Karen Tuttle

Karen Tuttle was an American viola teacher, famous for her "coordination" technique, which emphasizes being comfortable while playing the instrument. She was originally a violinist who chose to become a violist when she wanted to study with William Primrose, whose technique and ease in playing...

's Coordination System, the principals of the Alexander Technique

Alexander Technique

The Alexander Technique teaches the ability to improve physical postural habits, particularly those that have become ingrained and conditioned responses...

, and the Feldenkrais Method

Feldenkrais method

The Feldenkrais Method is a somatic educational system designed by Moshé Feldenkrais . The Feldenkrais method aims to improve movement repertoire, aiming to expand and refine the use of the self through awareness, in order to reduce pain or limitations in movement, and promote general well-being...

.