About this Artist

Arian Cázares is a 17-year-old Los Angeles-based composer and violist who is currently enrolled at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where he plays in the symphony orchestra and string ensemble. Since the age of 10, Arian has pursued his musical studies at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, where he studies viola under Andrew Picken. His training includes programs such as Sphinx Performance Academy at Curtis and at Juilliard where he studied with Paul Laraia and Dana Kelly, and the Interharmony Music Festival under Patricia McCarty and Basil Vendryes, with whom he continues his studies. He has also been selected to play in masterclasses with Guy Braunstein, HsinYun Huang, and Teng Li. Arian has been a member of the chamber music program at PCM since 2016, where he has performed and competed in statewide competitions such as VOCE as well as national competitions such as the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition. In May 2022, he will attend Fischoff National Chamber Music Association Competition. Arian is a fellow in the LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program since 2021. Previous experience in composition includes the Pasadena Master Chorale’s program Listening to the Future with Jeffrey Bernstein and Saunder Choi. His most recent work includes a piece for SATB choir titled The Green King and an arrangement of the Mexican bolero “Muñequita Linda,” both written for PMC during the pandemic. In his free time, Arian enjoys playing basketball and soccer, reading and drawing comic books, and expanding his collections of vinyl records and music scores.