Maria Arrua

Adjunct Instructor of Violin
Office: Room 212
Phone: (309)-556-3028
Email: marruago@iwu.edu
Violinist Maria Arrua leads an active career performing and teaching in the Greater
Chicago area. She currently serves as Concertmaster in the Champaign Urbana Symphony
Orchestra as well as Section violin in the Elgin and Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestras.
She is an Adjunct Instructor at Illinois Wesleyan University where she teaches violin.
Arrua has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Paraguay, the
Orchestra of the Congress of Paraguay, the Symphony Orchestra of the City of Asuncion,
the Chamber Orchestra of the Municipality of Asuncion, the University of Chicago Chamber
Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the State College Summer Orchestra, and the Penn
State Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed with the symphony orchestras
of Paraguay, Illinois, Grant Park, Mississippi, Baton Rouge, Champaign, and Acadiana,
as well as Sinfonia da Camera and the Louisiana Sinfonietta.
Born in Paraguay, Ms. Arrua began her musical training at the age 10 at the National
Conservatory of Music of Paraguay. During her studies at the Conservatory, Ms. Arrua
served as Assistant Concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra. In 2011 she
graduated Summa Cum Laude from Louisiana State University, where she earned a Bachelor
of Music in Violin Performance studying under Dr. Lin He. Following that, she continued
her graduate studies in performance at Pennsylvania State University working with
Prof. James Lyon. She is currently pursuing her doctoral studies at the University
of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, studying under Prof. Nelson Lee and the Jupiter String
Quartet.
She has performed in several music festivals, including the David Kim Orchestral Institute, Pine Mountain Music Festival, Grant Park Music Festival, Brevard Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, Castleman Quartet Program and Festival Nas Montanhas.