Freelance violist Clio Tilton delights in the diversity and excitement in her career. Seeking to share her gifts both through teaching and performing, she can be heard around the Bay Area in a wide range of groups: early music ensembles, symphony orchestras, chamber groups, and rock bands.

Clio has performed with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra as a core member for over a decade, and has worked with ensembles throughout the Bay Area in her time there. She has enjoyed performing with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Contemporary Players, Oakland Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Magik Magik Orchestra, and the American Bach Soloists. Sought after as a chamber musician, Clio has performed with the Friction Quartet, Ives Collective, is a founding member of  the Chamber Music Society of San Francisco, and is a frequent Candlelight Concerts contributor. She has recorded for Time Warner with the Camerata de Lausanne, and has also recorded with numerous ensembles in genres ranging from classical to film scores to pop.

A bit more background - Clio was named for the Greek muse of history and music. She started piano at age six, picked up a viola in fourth grade, and the rest was … history. She completed Oberlin's double degree program in viola performance and comparative literature, writing a senior thesis on the Japanese poet Ishigaki Rin. After earning her master's at Juilliard, she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study orchestral and baroque performance in Switzerland. During her two years studying in Lausanne and Geneva, Clio performed with Swiss ensembles such as l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sinfonietta de Lausanne, and the Camerata de Lausanne.

Chamber music has always been, and continues to be, a central part of Clio's musical pursuits. She spent three formative summers at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Maine during college, and has coached chamber music with the Juilliard String Quartet, Misha Amory of the Brentano Quartet, and Sylvia Rosenberg. During her time at Juilliard she was a member of the award-winning Calla Quartet. In Europe she performed at the THY festival, and most recently has become passionate about finding ways to share chamber music with audiences on a deeply personal level through her work with the Chamber Music Society of San Francisco.