Meet the Viola Studio

Students in the UNCSA Viola Studio range from high school to graduate-level studies. The studio is led by Jordan Bak.

Arina Komarova

Arina Komarova is a violist currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where she is expected to graduate in May 2025. Arina started her education in Moscow, where she completed a specialized education course in Moscow Frederic Chopin College of Music Performance and continued her studies in the renowned Moscow State P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory before transferring to UNCSA.

Throughout her musical journey, Arina has held leadership roles in prominent ensembles. She served as principal viola for the CINEMATICA Orchestra of Contemporary Music in Moscow, where she not only led her section in performances but also was involved in organizational processes. Performing in various ensembles and working as a versatile musician in different genres of music, she also served as an arranger, orchestrator and contributed to the creation of original compositions.

Arina enjoys collaboration and in the past year has worked with several contemporary composers, premiering their works featuring viola as a solo instrument or part of the ensemble.

Ava Hirko

Ava Hirko is a second year undergraduate student from Gainesville, Florida. Coming from a heavily music-centered family, Ava was immersed in music throughout her childhood. After having grown up attending her five cousins' recitals and chamber music rehearsals, she eventually was able to begin learning violin from her aunt when she was eight years old. She was introduced to the viola when she was ten, and it quickly became her focus. In middle school she began performing in chamber ensembles, and was accepted in the Alachua County Youth Orchestra when she was thirteen, where she later sat as the principal violist from 2021-2023. In 2020, she joined the Joey's Wings String Quartet and has performed with the group around Alachua County raising money for children's cancer research. Despite being diagnosed with a genetic connective tissue disease resulting in chronic pain, Ava works hard to adapt to and work around these limitations in order to pursue her passion and have a career in music.

Bailey Rickman

20-year-old violist Bailey Rickman began playing the violin at age 10, after being spellbound by a concert from the North Carolina Symphony, before switching to the viola five years later. Rickman studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy for two years with Renee Skerik. Rickman eagerly awaits learning with Jordan Bak for his undergraduate freshman year.

As an orchestral musician, Rickman has performed under world renowned conductors including Tito Muñoz, Leslie B. Dunner, Jung-Ho Pak, Cristian Măcelaru, Kenneth Kiesler, & Julius P. Williams. Rickman is an engaging chamber musician, participating in various festivals including International Chamber Music Academy of Ochsenhausen, Germany and The Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Vermont, and performing with renowned musicians, including hornist Zora Slokar and cellist Hillel Zori.

Rickman’s favorite musical artists include Julia Fischer, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Jörg Widmann, Tabea Zimmermann and Antoine Tamestit, and his favorite composers include Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Berg, Hindemith, Bartók, Rihm, Haas, and Widmann. Rickman dreams of being a viola soloist, chamber musician, and to be a well-known contemporary classical composer.

When not focusing on music, Rickman’s hobbies include video gaming (from retro Nintendo games to PlayStation games), acting, going to classical concerts, theater and operas, and watching movies/anime.

David Rankin

David Rankin, age 16, is a high school junior from Charlotte, North Carolina. He began playing the viola through his school’s orchestra program at the age of ten, and a year later, he started taking private lessons with Matthew Darsey. In 2022, David won the Arts+ String Solo Competition and earned the distinction of being a Debbie Abels Strings Scholar. He has served as principal and assistant principal violist of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra and principal violist of the Charlotte Symphony Youth Philharmonic. As a lover of chamber music, David attended the ENCORE Chamber Music Institute this summer, where he was fortunate enough to study with Lynne Ramsey, Ivo-Jan van der Werff, Abigail Rojansky, Eric Wong, and Kirsten Docter. While at ENCORE, he performed in a masterclass led by Ivo-Jan van der Werff. Outside of viola, David enjoys being with his family, friends, two basset hounds, and spending time in the mountains.

Isabella Okhotina

Isabella Okhotina is a high-school senior and has been playing the viola for five years. Born in Russia and raised in America, she began playing the violin at the age of seven. After five years of violin, she decided

to switch to the viola and has enjoyed playing it ever since. Isabella served as principal violist in Metropolitan Youth Concert Orchestra in Portland,

Oregon as well as Youth Orchestra of Charlotte here in North Carolina. She participated in the chamber music festival Portland Summer Ensembles in Oregon. Besides her musical interests, she also loves to read, to listen to music, and draw.

Italia Perez

Italia Perez is a high school senior from Greensboro, North Carolina. Born in Mexico and raised partly in America, she began playing viola in her middle school orchestra in the 7th grade. It quickly became her passion and she was able to make Junior Western Regional Orchestra that same year. At her old school, she participated in the Guilford All-County Orchestra, and the Repertoire/Honors Western Regional Orchestra. She was also selected to participate in the NC Honors All-State Orchestra 2025. She began studying viola under Catherine Box in 2023, and participated in the NC Governors School Program where she was able to study contemporary music. Currently, she is a member of the Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra (GSYO) and their Honors Quartet. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, practicing and going on walks.

Joshua Forbes

Joshua Forbes, Natural Born Violist, was raised in Durham, North Carolina. As a child he was always interested in music. At the age of 7 he started out as a singer for a music school called Cinitapp located in Raleigh NC. By being a part of this team it piqued his interest in the arts. His true passion for the viola began in middle school at Durham School of the Arts. He was first introduced to the viola by the music teacher Mr. Boyd Gibson. That is when Joshua fell in love with music. During 2017, Joshua decided it was time to pursue music as a career and began to study under Simon Ertz. In 2018, Joshua took a leap of faith and decided to attend UNCSA for high school. As a high school student, Joshua studied viola with Ulrich Eichenauer. He is currently an undergraduate violist at UNCSA in the Winston Salem North Carolina area. A native of Durham, North Carolina, Joshua began his studies on the viola at the age of eleven. He is pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming a soloist, and professional chamber musician. Since then, he has attended summer intensives across the United States: Northern Lights Chamber music festival, Green Mountain chamber music festival, and Landeskakademie für musizierende, and the Josef Gingold Chamber music festival of Miami. He’s also been able to play under several professional conductors. When not performing, Joshua spends his free time making tea and sight reading.

Sage Guice

Sage Guice is a passionate, dynamic classical violist from Tampa, Florida. An avid music lover since birth, Sage began their musical journey in the winter of 2012 as a budding and eager violinist. They went on to study violin for the next eight years, receiving many titles, accolades and experiences that they are inﬁnitely grateful for.

During this time, Sage was named Concertmaster of the 2018-19 Florida Honors All-State Orchestra and in 2018 was the featured concertmaster in a collaborative concert between Gaither High School Chamber Orchestra members and world-renowned fusion violinist Lindsey Stirling at the Straz Performing Arts Center.

After switching instruments in September 2020 and becoming enamored with the depth, darkness and nuance of the viola, Sage has not looked back. Studying under Dr. Christina Adams at the University of South Florida, Sage had the privilege of performing in masterclasses led by renowned musicians Lauren Burns Hodges and Derek Mosloff.

In the summer of 2022, Sage attended the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in the studios of Sheila Browne, Ann Marie Brink and Susan Dubois, while also getting to perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s 6th String Quartet. Additionally, they attended the Karen Tuttle Workshop in January 2023 and were able to perform for renowned pedagogues Sheila Browne, Karen Ritscher, Jeffrey Irvine and Michelle LaCourse.

Currently, Sage is a master’s student studying viola performance at UNCSA as a UNCSA/Winston-Salem Symphony Strings Fellow under the tutelage of renowned performer and Professor Jordan Bak. Sage loves to program works by underrepresented composers and has developed both a love and healthy respect for contemporary music. In their spare time, they love to play video games and can usually be found listening to music.

Yiming Zhao

Yiming Zhao, a Chinese viola musician. Second year of Master of Music in Professor Jordan Bak’s Studio in UNC School of the Arts.

She started her musical journey at the age of 17 with Professor Yanming Xu in Tianjin Conservatory of Music for viola performance from 2017-2021 for Bachelor’s degree. During that time Yiming gets lots of chances to work with local musicians and orchestra symphony. In Tianjin division of the Milan International Competition she clinched the first prize in the professional group with Forsyth g minor viola concerto. In the summer of 2019, she went to New York for the NY International Music Festival, where her outstanding skills earned her second prize in the festival competition.

After graduating from Tianjin Conservatory of Music, Yiming worked in Tianjin Symphony Orchestra Before she started MM in UNCSA. During that year she got lessons with Yin Pan, the principal violist of Tianjin Orchestra Symphony, and Honggang Li, a founding member of the Shanghai Quartet. All of those good ideas from them changed her understanding of music. After a while, she realized that she still wanted to go back to school for more knowledge of music and performance. In 2023 Fall, she started learning with Professor Jordan Bak.

Now Yiming has been able to achieve new heights in her performance. In October of 2023 she received 3rd place in the Music Teachers National Association North Carolina Competition.