Kayla Bryan (she/her)
Kayla Bryan, violinist from Guilford, Connecticut, joined the Louisville Orchestra in 2024. Kayla earned her master’s degree in 2024 as a student of Ilya Kaler at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and she completed her Bachelor of Music degree at Lynn University Conservatory of Music where she studied with Elmar Oliveira. She began studying violin at The Hartt School Community Division at age four with Donna Ngai.
Kayla enjoys a varied career consisting of orchestral playing, chamber music, solo performing, and private teaching. She has soloed with multiple orchestras, winning the David Einfeldt Chamber Music Seminar Concerto Competition, Hamden Symphony Concerto Competition, Connecticut Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, American Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition, and Wallingford Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Kayla was the first-place recipient of the Musical Club of Hartford Competition and the Shoreline Arts Alliance Top Talent Award, and she was recently awarded the Scott Sullivan Prize for Post-1950s Piece at the Ronald Sachs International Music Competition. Her chamber ensemble of 2021-2022, the Obri Quartet, was one of the winners of the Lynn Chamber Music Competition, and the group performed on the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Chamber Music Series in Delray, Florida. Kayla has attended summer programs including the David Einfeldt Chamber Music Seminar, the Preludio program at Ithaca College, Greenwood Music Camp, the Cleveland Institute of Music ENCORE Program, the Vivace International Music Festival, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival Fellowship Program.
In addition to her violin career, Kayla was also a ballet dancer for fifteen years, and she loves hiking, baking, and long walks with her dog Gracie.