Cristian Contreras is a violist from Glendora, CA. He recently graduated with a Masters in Viola Performance from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University and also holds a Bachelors in Viola Performance from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSU Long Beach. While studying at Peabody, Cristian won a two year fellowship with the Fairfax Symphony, a professional orchestra in the greater Washington DC area. Additionally, Cristian frequently performed with Symphony in C, a highly regarded training orchestra in Philadelphia. He has also attended prestigious orchestra festivals such as the National Orchestral Institute and Miami Music Festival in which he served as principal viola. Cristian has also received positions and opportunities to perform with The Colburn Orchestra and American Youth Symphony. In addition, Cristian was also one of the founding members of HEXTET, a premier chamber ensemble at the Peabody Institute dedicated to performing works for string sextet for communities in Baltimore. His studio professors include violists Choong-Jin Chang and Jason Bonham. Additionally, Cristian holds over seven years of private teaching experience and currently teaches violin and viola at Moonlight Music Academy in Brea, CA. Many of his current and past students have gone on to be first chair in their school orchestras as well as winning positions with their local youth orchestras.