Violist Ashley Stanfield is a founding member of The Opus 76 Quartet. An experienced chamber musician, she is a former and founding member of the Hampden String Quartet, with whom she won the Sir John Barbirolli Prize for Chamber Music at the Royal Academy of Music (London, UK). As violist of that Quartet, she performed regularly at the Oxford Proms and the Prom’s at St. Jude’s concert series, as well as at a ceremony to celebrate the London 2012 Olympics at St. James’s Palace for members of the British Royal Family. Reviews in numerous journals and magazines included The Financial Times (London, UK) who remarked: “I don’t think anyone was unmoved by the ardour and commitment with which this group delivered the soul harrowing slow movement of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” quartet and the exuberant finale of Beethoven’s op. 130.”

Outside of her recordings and performances with The Opus 76 Quartet, Ashley performs regularly with the Kansas City Symphony and Des Moines Symphony, Lyric Opera of Kansas City & Kansas City Ballet. She has also served as guest Principal Violist for both the Kinnor Philharmonic and the Saint Joseph Symphony. She has appeared as a guest artist with the Bach Aria Soloists, Spire Ensemble and the KC Baroque Consortium, and has also performed as a guest soloist with a number of orchestras, most recently with the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, playing Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante”. She has enjoyed performing with several rock/pop bands including Michael Buble, “Belle and Sebastian”, “Hanson” and Johnny Mathis.

Ashley is an alumni of both the Interlochen and Idyllwild Arts Academies and holds a Bachelors’ Degree in Viola performance as well as a Teaching Licentiate from the Royal Academy of Music, where she was a student of London Symphony Orchestra Principal Violist, Paul Silverthorne. Other teachers include  Miami String Quartet violist, Scott Lee, Evan Wilson, Donald McInnes, and Christine Grossman. As a part of her studies at the Academy, Ashley worked with many prominent conductors including Trevor Pinnock, Leif Segerstam, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Tadaaki Otaka, and Sir Colin Davis, with whom she recorded Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. 

A native of Kansas City and a passionate educator, Ashley enjoys teaching and has extensive experience at the beginner through to collegiate level. She currently teaches group violin (elementary level) in the Kansas City Missouri School district via the KC Harmony Project program and formerly served as a teaching artist on the faculty of Drake University. Many of her private students are members of the Kansas City Youth Symphony and the Kansas All-State and District Orchestras. She lives in Kansas City with her husband and son and their faithful Labrador, Miley, and in addition to her career as a violist, is pursuing a degree in Psychology at Harvard University.