Ariel Clayton Karas

Ariel Clayton Karas is a violinist and the founder and director of OPUS 216, the Cleveland ensemble she started in 2012. Classically trained but unbound by genre, OPUS 216 is mostly strings and plays everything from Bach and Beethoven to French cafe jazz, Irish fiddle, Top 40, hip hop and original music. It gave its first performance at the inaugural MIX at the Cleveland Museum of Art and has since played thousands of weddings, public and private events, at places like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Progressive Field and Holden Arboretum, and with partners including American Greetings, Piano Cleveland, Cleveland Ballet and the Tri-C Jazz Fest. Its musicians trained at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Juilliard and other conservatories.

Clayton Karas also directs Classical Revolution Cleveland, which presents free monthly concerts in non-traditional venues, and its JOIN series, which brings classical music to people in shelters, juvenile detention and social service programs. A longtime Musician in Residence at the Cleveland Clinic, she has given hundreds of performances in healthcare settings, and she was the first Musician in Residence for the Gordon Square Arts District. A Dallas native, she holds bachelor's and master's degrees in violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she has taught since 2020 and serves as senior career advisor and community engagement liaison.