The Idyllwild Arts Academy (IAA) has announced the arrival of new Music Department Chair Kai Potts-Smith. She is a world-class violist who has appeared as soloist and featured artist with orchestras across the U.S. and abroad, including the Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony and more. She was the first violist to become a First Place Laureate of the esteemed Sphinx Competition.

Potts-Smith has performed onstage and on albums with multiple artists including Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson and Celine Dion. She had a six-year residency with Dion in Las Vegas and continues to work with musicians such as Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish.

Potts-Smith is accomplished as a musician and innovative as an educator. Her own journey has led her to yoga and an emphasis on the balance between focus and wholeness. The Crier spoke with Ms. Potts-Smith via Zoom this week.

TC: “What is your origin story?”

KPS: “I was born in Los Angeles, California, moved to Las Vegas when I was about 6 or 7, grew up in Las Vegas, then went away to school to University of Cincinnati. I came back to LA to do my master’s degree at USC. This is kind of a homecoming for me, I’m a California girl at heart; whenever I have reached out and lived in other places I’ve always been drawn back. LA is a center of art and creativity and entertainment and that’s always been part of the fabric of my life.

“In Las Vegas, I started working in the entertainment industry as a violist in different shows from, I think, 15. Ever since then I’ve been on all sides of music making; the classical side, the shows, but also when I came back to LA the first time after my undergrad, I got into film and recording.

“The TV industry is there. I played for American Idol for many years. I did a lot of award shows in addition to being principal [violist] with Santa Barbara Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, touring with the Sphinx Virtuosi; having won the Sphinx competition I had the opportunity to perform as a soloist with a lot of the major orchestras throughout the United States.

Before I lived here, I lived in the DC/Baltimore area with my family. We were a military family; we did move around a lot. It is that multifaceted experience that I am really excited in bringing to Idyllwild. I’ve been up here a few times before, I guess, “winning” this position, and I was just always enthralled with how talented the students are, but also how creative this whole environment is for them. I would have loved to have an environment like this to grow up in. I kind of did with the Las Vegas Academy for the Arts [a magnet school] but I didn’t get to live there and be immersed in my art 24 hours a day like the kids are here.”

TC: “In addition to this wide-ranging musical background you are also a yoga teacher, or you use yoga in your teaching. You have created a number of programs integrating yoga and music?”

KPS: “You can put that all under the umbrella of the VIOLAibrational Method.”

In an article written for the National Youth Orchestra (she is an alumni and former faculty member), Potts-Smith contrasted the obsessive and sometimes damaging “practice, practice, practice” approach to musical training. She wrote about having “two near-career-ending injuries in two years” and how, during a period of recovery, she came to realize that musicians were often practicing the wrong way, and that if you are not balanced and whole, you can’t be “all in.”

KPS: “Artist injury is a subject that comes up more and more in our circles because more and more of us are realizing that we were never really taught how to treat our bodies, and therefore end up with a myriad of issues. So, when I injured my shoulder and then my back, I realized that what I was doing and the way I was living my life as a professional just wasn’t sustainable. The same goes for other professionals, too, who often focus so much on ‘getting things done’ without pause that health is the first thing that goes out of the window. I wanted to help people recover and thrive, and I’ve always wanted to use my instrument as a vehicle for transformation. This is why I developed the VIOLAibrational Method.

“I gave a VIOLAibrational workshop for students faculty and staff at Idyllwild Arts in the spring, and it was incredible to witness the change in the room in just a short 60 minutes. Everything — mind, body, spirit — opens up and relaxes, and the outside world and all of the tension that usually live on the body just melts away. The more you practice this combination of frequency, movement, meditation and vocalization, the easier it is to let go of the things that are holding you stuck. I love it for myself, too!”

TC: “People think of viola players as ‘team players.’ Does that fit you?”

KPS: “It totally does; we are absolutely team players, which is why the VIOLAibrational Method and all of the work I’ve done in that field has been based on the viola; it is the instrument that is the most attuned to the human voice, because of the range of the instrument. It’s a great vehicle for bringing people together and bringing people more into themselves. I’ve been using the method for half a decade or so with clients. The overarching effect is a sense of profound relaxation and reconnection to the things that really matter to you. It often opens the door to some of the things that people are working with like weight loss … I’ve worked with reproductive health clients … it helps to enable a lot of the movement that they need to have to be more healthy, more whole. I keep on coming back to this idea of wholeness with my clients; of wholeness as a person, wholeness as a musician, finding balance and also connection to the community and the things that they want to say in the world with their own voice. Those concepts are really important to me as a performer and as an educator.”

TC: “Being the chair of a department is another level: there is being a performer, then being an educator, then being a chair. It might take you away from your instrument or teaching, but it’s another level of opportunity …”

KPS: “It is a lot of management, being a chair, but it is a lot of bringing people together, and that is the thing that intrigued me the most about this position. It is an opportunity to take the voices of my department and amplify them in a way that highlights each one of their unique and authentic talents, but also brings us all together to form a whole vision of who we are and who we want our students to become when they go out into the world. To bring their hearts and their unique voices to the forefront in everything that they do. Yes, there’s a lot of work that goes into being the chair of a department, but it’s all in service of these ideas of connection and community and amplifying your authenticity.”

Potts-Smith feels there is an emerging emphasis on wellness in education that has taken hold at IAA. “As a music department, there is this idea of balance and being whole musicians and overall wellness brought into the creation of art that we are open to cultivate here, and, hopefully, within the academy as a whole. Community, connection, all those things that bring us together to cultivate joy, these are front and center for us as we continue to work and build together.”

TC: “How do you think IAA is evolving and how does your perspective fit in?”

KPS: “I think that at post-pandemic, not just Idyllwild, everybody was forced to take a really hard look at who they are, who we are as an institution. I think this is a really exciting time because everybody is on the same page, everyone wants to be their best, and try something new and look for a unifying vision of who we get to be after surviving a global trauma that affected all of us on a deep level. After being here a few days, I feel the energy of that change and also that celebration of all of the things we’ve done before that are energizing what we are able to do now.”

Potts-Smith also is experiencing some of the joy cultivated in the wider community. She wanted to share her enjoyment of her favorite local restaurant, Ferro. “I have been to Ferro, I think for the fourth time in three weeks, to hear the jazz performed by my colleagues and enjoy the delicious salmon. I am obsessed with the restaurant. Even when I was going through my interview process, I went there once and over the course of a couple days I was there three more times.” Even in a brief meeting with owner Frank Ferro she “could tell that he really, really cares about both the experience that he’s creating with the food and through all the lights and ambiance and the people who work there, I just really felt a certain energy. I am a foodie, too, and so I appreciate when people take a little bit of time to make each bite special. I am sure I’ll find lots of other places … I’ve been to the Brewpub; they were excellent as well.

“Part of what brought me here is the character of Idyllwild itself, this beautiful small town situated in the mountains, where as I meet more and more people who have come here and who work here, who all have such beautiful hearts and unique ways of looking at the world and supporting each other as a community.”