Leslie Van Becker · viola

Leslie Van Becker has been Principal Viola of the Grand Rapids Symphony since 1978. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Yale University School of Music. As a chamber musician, Ms. Van Becker has appeared with the DeVos and New World String Quartets, Trio Nouveau, Ghandarva Piano Quartet, Clifford Music Group, Castalia Quartet, and on the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck. She has appeared as a soloist with the Grand Rapids Symphony on its Casual Classics Series in 1987, 1989, 1995 and 2005 and was featured in Don Quixote in 1998 and 2011. She participates each year as principal viola in the Cabrillo Music Festival in Santa Cruz, California—whose mission is to perform orchestral and chamber music exclusively from the 20th century and beyond. As an educator, Ms. Van Becker serves on the faculties of Calvin College and Grand Rapids Community College and also maintains an active studio at her home. She and her husband Ed Clifford have two grown children, Matthew and Genevieve, who live in Brooklyn, New York. They now share their 100-year-old home in Heritage Hill with their cat Scraps.