GRAMMY® nominated violinist and violist Aaron Westman was a “metal-head” growing up in Santa Rosa. He now plays the electric guitar of the 17th-century. Described as “expressive and virtuosic” (—San Francisco Classical Voice) and a “brilliant virtuoso violinist” (—Early Music America Magazine), he has performed since 2005 as a chamber musician, principal player, or soloist with most of the major gut string ensembles in California, and toured throughout the world. As a principal player or chamber musician, Aaron has worked with AGAVE, American Bach Soloists, Ars Minerva, Bach Collegium San Diego, California Bach Society, El Mundo, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Musica Angelica, New Hampshire Music Festival, Navarro Trio, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (since 2006), and he has toured extensively with Orchester Wiener Akademie.

Aaron co-directs the chamber ensemble AGAVE, whose most recent album American Originals is a nominee for the 64th Annual GRAMMY® Awards in the Best Classical Compendium category. AGAVE regularly performs and records with several star singers including soprano Michele Kennedy and countertenor Reginald Mobley, with whom they have three albums. Gramophone Magazine calls American Originals “brilliant and knowing,” BBC Music Magazine says it’s “wonderfully cheeky,” The Whole Note lauds AGAVE’s “vivid colors and stylish phrasing,” and Early Music America’s EMAg notes that it features “a stunning playlist of neglected works by composers of color.” Aaron is also Associate Director of the Live Oak Baroque Orchestra, and violist in the Sylvestris Quartet, which will continue its residency at Hawaii Performing Arts Festival in the Summer of 2022. Aaron holds a MM from Indiana University. His principal teachers were Stanley Ritchie, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Geraldine Walther, and Alan de Veritch. Aaron recently joined the faculty of Sonoma State University.