Rita Monahan is a violist, drummer, and music educator, from Farmington, CT. She first began her viola studies in the Farmington public schools at age 8 under the fantastic guidance of Veronica Germain, later David Kramer, and finally Carl Shugart. She attended the Farmington Summer Suzuki String Academy twelve years as a student, volunteer, and counselor. Rita began her private viola studies at age 14 with Lu Sun Friedman, widow of Erick Friedman (allegedly Heifetz's favorite student). Throughout high school she pursued both viola and vocal performance at the All-State level, and eventually received the Connecticut Association of Schools Scholarship for outstanding musicianship. She performed an original rendition of the national anthem with viola accompaniment for the award ceremony before saxophonist Jimmy Greene.
Rita’s lifelong passion for music has brought her to the Eastman School of Music where she earned a bachelor’s degree in viola performance under the guidance of George Taylor. She is projecting completion of a dual major Master's of Music in viola performance (under the guidance of George Taylor and Phillip Ying), and Music Teaching & Learning with a New York State Teacher's Certification by May 2025.
At Eastman she has enjoyed studying classical, romantic, and baroque styles, and enjoyed playing complete film scores as principal viola for the Empire Film and Media Ensemble's production of La La Land. Aside from the viola, Rita enjoys exploring a variety of musical prospects including jazz drumming, classical guitar, singing, and song writing. For the past two years, Rita has been drummer and bandleader for Rochester's one and only all-woman jazz combo, the Fallopian Grooves. tiny.cc/fallopiangrooves Rita was inspired to create this group after witnessing the immense gender disparity within the jazz world; during her first year at Eastman in 2018, there were just two women in the entire Jazz department (including faculty). She has recruited women musicians from Eastman, University of Rochester, Nazareth University, and the local area to join her band and play at venues such as The Little Theatre, the Westside Farmers Market, Fairport Canal Days Festival, Abilene, Boulder Coffee, the Memorial Art Gallery, nearby libraries, and the George Eastman Circle Banquet Dinner.
As a believer that the core of all art is centered in community, she is honored and excited to be a part of the community at ROCmusic.
