Yuri Hughes
Susan W. and Stephen D. Paine Resident Fellow, Boston Symphony Orchestra
About
New York City-based violist Yuri Hughes has performed throughout the U.S. as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the U.S.A. and with such ensembles as the Albany and Harrisburg symphonies. During her time in New York City, she produced various LGBTQ+ nightlife events in Brooklyn under her drag persona, Kirlia. As a violist, she has toured the globe with several festival orchestras, visiting Austria, Czechia, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Japan, Mexico, and the Netherlands, and performing with prominent conductors including Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, and Hugh Woolf. Yuri Hughes received her undergraduate degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, studying under acclaimed concert violist Kim Kashkashian until 2021. At NEC she participated in countless seminars and masterclasses with all four members of the Borromeo quartet, Merry Peckham, and Paula Robison. Shortly after her time in college, she worked at the Juilliard Store. Her love of music sprouted when she attended Greenwood Music Camp, a New England chamber music festival, where she worked in past summers of 2021 and 2022 as a staff counselor.