Rebecca Kia, full-time violinist with the Omaha Symphony, has played in the Omaha Symphony Orchestra since 1990. She was born and raised in the Chicago area, with family ties to Iowa where she now resides.

Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and a Master of Arts degree in violin performance from the University of Iowa. She has also taken advanced studies at the Mannes School of Music in New York City, and attended Master Classes with many world-renowned musicians, including Isaac Stern, Janos Starker and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.

Kia began her orchestra career with the Quad-City Symphony in the Rock-Island / Davenport area, and has played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and the Lincoln Symphony. She solos regularly with Mannheim Steamroller.

Rebecca is also very involved in teaching. She leads a string orchestra in Red Oak through the Performing Arts and Education Association of Southwest Iowa. Her professional teaching goes back to college, when Kia taught both violin and piano and was a half-time string teacher in the Iowa City public school system. She has also taught in the Omaha Public Schools as a string specialist, and was on the faculty at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan for three summers.

Kia is currently chairman of the "Community Outreach and Audience Development Committee" for the musicians of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

Related Links:
Performing Arts and Education Association of Southwest Iowa
Mannheim Steamroller
Mannes School of Music
University of Iowa School of Music
Inerlochen Center for the Arts
Augustana College
Lincoln Symphony
Quad-City Symphony