Alba Layana Izurieta

Alba Layana Izurieta is a violin student from Ecuador born and raised in a multigenerational musical household. She is currently pursuing her Master of Music in Strings Performance at Northwestern University under Desiree Ruhstrat. She earned her undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University, where she studied with Espen Lilleslåtten. She is currently an Associate Member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. She recently performed as concertmaster for the recording ensemble in the independent film Down Below by Observatory Media and for Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel under The Metropolitan Opera conductor Patrick Furrer at Northwestern University. In 2021, she debuted on American television as a guest artist in the Louisiana Public Broadcasting educational puppet show Ziggy's Arts Adventures. In 2019, she appeared on Mexican television TVeo Canal Regional and TV Guanajuato Canal 8 as a member of the Orchestra of the Americas. Layana was a soloist with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Ecuador and Orquesta Sinfónica de Guayaquil from 2012-19. She served as a section violinist from 2017 through 2018. To honor the musical legacy of her cultural heritage, she performed Ecuadorian, Latin American, and other underrepresented music with her mother and sister on the piano in several music venues in Ecuador.