Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Heather began playing the violin at age 7 after two years of convincing her parents she was ready. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree with a Spanish minor from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester and a Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Heather has performed as soloist with orchestra, as chamber musician and orchestral player, as well as a touring pop musician and recording artist.

Heather is a tenured member of both Portland Opera Orchestra and Oregon Ballet Theatre Orchestra and is a substitute musician for Oregon Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Heather’s journey began early, with her first concerto performance with orchestra at age 11, and includes solo performances of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor and Dvorak’s Romance in F Minor, among others. Heather has performed with Reno Philharmonic and is former Associate Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, (WA). Heather has served as concertmaster for the Eastman Philharmonia, the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, the Brainerd Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota All-State Orchestra. Heather's love for travel and music has taken her across the globe, performing with the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA) in South America. Other music festivals include the Oregon Coast Music Festival of Coos Bay, Mendocino Music Festival, Interharmony, Lakes Area Music Festival and Madeline Island Music Camp.

Her love for chamber music ignited in middle school playing with her string quartet several mornings a week before school and continuing through high school. Notable experiences include performing in a masterclass for the Turtle Island String Quartet, spending a summer studying intensely with the Pacifica Quartet at Madeline Island and being invited to perform Mendelssohn’s Viola Quintet alongside Eastman faculty for Rochester’s Foodlink Benefit. Heather is also a founding member of the Northwest Piano Trio, where she performed frequently on All Classical Portland Public Radio.

Heather’s versatility extends to other genres as well. She has toured the country with Five For Fighting, cellist Dave Eggar, recorded with artists such as Phillip Phillips on his album Collateral, and performed as Concertmaster for Helen Jane Long as well as contracting the orchestra for Long’s San Francisco tour. She has shared the stage with Andrea Bocelli and Mannheim Steamroller.

In addition to performing, Heather is a passionate educator. Heather serves as violin faculty at Willamette University, where she teaches private lessons to music majors, coaches chamber music and orchestral sectionals, and performs in faculty recitals. Her teaching career began as a middle schooler under the mentorship of Grant Wilcox, Director of Orchestras through Community Education in Brainerd, Minnesota. Under Wilcox’s program, she continued to teach lessons through high school in order to pay for her own violin lessons, and then through college and beyond. As a classroom violin teacher, Heather taught at Beach Elementary School in Portland, a dual immersion elementary school where she taught in Spanish to second through fifth graders and in San Francisco at Presidio Middle School and Starr King Elementary. She has served on audition committees for Portland Opera and on adjudication panels for state festivals in Oregon.

Heather resides in Portland, Oregon with her husband and classical guitarist, Mario Diaz, their son, daughter and twin sons. Her principal violin teachers include Axel Strauss, Juliana Athayde, Frank Huang and Lynn Blakeslee. Heather brings warmth, passion, and a deep commitment to every aspect of her musical life, inspiring students and audiences alike.