Musician Spotlights - Mitso Floor, Viola

Rounding out the month of January, we’ve got a spotlight on Mitso, who just joined RVS this season as our Assistant Principal Viola.

I grew up in Seattle and went to college at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of Miami, where I finished my master’s degree last May. Since then I have moved back to San Francisco and started playing with RVS, freelancing, and taking orchestra auditions whenever I can.

Like many violists, I started on violin, switching to viola when I started high school. Part of the attraction was because I had recently become obsessed with and started playing cello, so with the addition of viola I could (attempt to) record a string quartet by myself. But when I started playing, it was the rich sound of the lower strings and the interesting inner musical lines, particularly in chamber music, that really made me fall in love with the instrument.

My favorite composer without question is Antonín Dvořák, and a few of my favorite pieces are his Piano Quintet, String Quartet No. 10, and Symphonies 8 and 9.

The people—everyone I have met, whether other musicians, administration, stage crew, or anyone else, has been lovely to interact with, and it is clear that everyone is here for a love of music.

Although it’s still music-related, my main interest outside of performing is making videos. I like to make covers of video game music with fun video editing elements, such as putting miniaturized clones of myself in a fridge to play music on various objects. You can see them at youtube.com/Beanzo!

Frequent readers of these musician spotlights may know that my instrument has a sibling in the orchestra—Principal 2nd Violin Hannah Willard and I both have instruments made by Indianapolis luthier Ted Skreko! I bought my viola a little over a year ago and I absolutely love it. It’s a beautiful instrument in both sound and appearance, and every day it’s even more satisfying to play.