Heather Braun performs as first violinist of the prize-winning Arneis Quartet and as a member of the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music. Heather began teaching violin and chamber music at the Boston University School of Music in 2014, and joined the Saint Anselm College faculty in 2016. She has performed throughout the United States, Canada, China, and Italy, including venues such as the Beijing Modern Music Festival, Cabot Theater, Concord Free Library, Frederick Collection, Music on Main (Vancouver), Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Stanford University, Swarthmore College, University of Indianapolis, and Williams College. Heather has performed as a soloist with various orchestras in Boston, Milwaukee, Washington DC, and Manchester, VT. She has acted as visiting concertmaster for the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra and as a guest violinist with the Greenwich Chamber Players. Other chamber music and solo collaborations include performances with Tony Arnold, Randall Hodgkinson, Marc Johnson, Robert Levin, St. Lawrence String Quartet, and Shanghai Quartet.

Heather earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Boston University, studying with Peter Zazofsky. While a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow, she received the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize; other awards received include the Zulalian Foundation Award (BU), the John Lad Prize (Stanford University) and Silver Medal at the ICMEC Competition. Heather has coached chamber music and violin at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Point Counterpoint, Duxbury Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, Taconic Music Chamber Intensive and Festival, and Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music. Recordings include chamber music by John Wallace, as a violinist soloist and member of the orchestra for Bach Cantatas with soprano Kendra Colton, and on Elena Ruehr’s latest album, Icarus, released in the spring of 2022 and featured on NPR and BBC Proms.