About

A native of Russia, Darya Tolok, began studying violin at the age of 5 and a few years later moved to the USA. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance at Sacramento State School of Music, CSU of Sacramento. Under the tutelage of Moni Simeonov, with full scholarship, she earned her Master’s Degree in Violin Performance at Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, CSU of Long Beach. Darya studied with multiple teachers from Russia and the US, some of which were Anna Presler, Igor Veligan and Moni Simeonov.

During 20 years of playing, Darya gained valuable experience in teaching and performing. Darya played in local symphony orchestras in Southern and Northern California, including Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera, Huntington Beach Symphony Orchestra, jazz bands, chamber groups, and church orchestras. She served as concertmaster at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music while pursuing her Master’s Degree, and coached multiple high school orchestras, while privately teaching violin, viola, and music theory. In her undergraduate studies, Darya served as a music theory tutor, and while in her graduate studies she was the student assistant of the BCCM symphony orchestra conductor and the chair of string studies. As a student, she performed at master classes for Carl Wiersma, Midori Goto, Benjamin Sung, Domenic Salerni and Solomiya Ivakhiv.

For over seven years Darya has been teaching violin, viola and music theory to children of ages 5 and up privately, in music schools and high schools. Every year she teaches, inspires, and gives talks at strings’ summer festivals. Darya also enjoys playing violin and viola in orchestras, chamber groups, and wedding ensembles throughout northern and southern California. Based in Sacramento, Darya’s goal as a teacher is to motivate her students to explore, enjoy, and share music with others, as well as develop their own learning skills and critical thinking.