ASO's Miller surprised by second Grammy FacebookTwitterEmail 2of6 Richard O'Neill, the Violist who performed the winning pieceRichard O'NeillShow MoreShow Less 3of6 4of6 5of6 6of6 David Alan Miller didn’t think he would win a Grammy. The music director of the Albany Symphony was out food shopping and was walking back to his parked car when his daughter yelled to him from it that the symphony had won the Grammy in the best classical instrumental solo category. The piece that won was a viola concerto composed by Christopher Theofanidis, and performed by violist Richard O’Neill. “I'm thrilled. And I was quite stunned by it because I had really emotionally prepared myself not to win for a number of reasons,” said Miller, who had been nominated for a Grammy six times before, winning only once before this. Second among his reasons for not expecting to win was being up against some of the most celebrated orchestras in the world, including the Boston Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.