Our Conductors and Musicians

Juliana Athayde

Joined the RPO in 2005

Appointed concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005 at the age of 24, Juliana Athayde became the youngest person and first female to hold the position since the orchestra’s founding in 1922. She has appeared as guest concertmaster with the Houston, San Diego, Kansas City, and Santa Barbara symphonies, as well as the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa, Ontario. She has also performed with The Cleveland Orchestra in the United States and Europe.

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Ms. Athayde made her solo debut at the age of 16 performing with the San Francisco Symphony and has been praised by critics for her “power and precision,” “melting lyricism,” and “larger than life” performances. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Athayde’s numerous solo appearances with the RPO have covered a wide range of composers and include multiple world premieres: Allen Shawn’s violin concerto (2010), Jeff Tyzik’s Jazz Concerto for Violin (2016), and Roberto Sierra’s violin concerto (2022), all commissioned by the RPO and written specifically for her. Athayde has also performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States and is in demand as a chamber musician. Notable collaborations include Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Vadim Gluzman, Michael Tilson Thomas, Paul Neubauer, Anton Nel, Orion Weiss, Shai Wosner, Joseph Silverstein, Orli Shaham, Jon Nakamatsu, William Preucil, Jon Kimura Parker and Anthony McGill. Together with her husband, RPO principal oboist Erik Behr, Ms. Athayde demonstrates her commitment to fostering a thriving classical music scene in the community and serves as Co-Artistic Director of the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester.

A dynamic teacher, Ms. Athayde is Associate Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of and serves on the faculty at music festivals throughout the United States, including Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra and the National Orchestral Institute + Festival with Music Director Marin Alsop. She has held visiting faculty positions at both the Cleveland Institute of Music and Cornell University, and has guest taught at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Ms. Athayde holds a B.M. from the University of Michigan where she studied with Paul Kantor, and both M.M. and A.D. degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with former Cleveland Orchestra Concertmaster, William Preucil, where she was the first graduate of CIM’s Concertmaster Academy. A fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School for six years, Ms. Athayde was awarded the prestigious Dorothy DeLay fellowship in 2005 and was invited to deliver the festival’s convocation speech in 2010.

Summer festival residencies include San Diego’s Mainly Mozart Festival and the Sun Valley Music Festival in Idaho where Ms. Athayde is a frequently featured soloist and chamber musician. She can be heard on multiple RPO recordings for the Harmonia Mundi label and is also featured on a recording of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with the Eastman Virtuosi. Ms. Athayde performs on a J.B. Vuillaume violin and a Jean Dominique Adam bow.

Photo Credit: Kate Lemmon

Timothy Peters

Timothy Peters joins the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as Associate Concertmaster after spending ten seasons as Principal Second Violin of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been invited to perform as a titled guest with many of the world's leading orchestras, including Concertmaster with the Norrlandsoperan Symfoniorkester (Sweden); Principal Second Violin with the Dresden Philharmonic, Aalborg Symfoniorkester (Denmark), and Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and Sub-Principal Second Violin with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. He has additionally performed with the Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, and the Houston, San Diego, San Antonio, and Charleston Symphony Orchestras. He has served as the Concertmaster of the Spoleto USA Festival Orchestra and the National Orchestral Institute, where his performance of Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben" was praised by the Washington Post.

Mr. Peters' many solo performances include recital appearances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Houston, Texas, and an appearance as a soloist on Garrison Keillor’s popular radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion”. His recent concerto appearances include performances with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and the Maggini Ensemble (Houston,Texas). His live recital performances have been broadcast live on WFMT-FM (Chicago), WCLV-FM (Cleveland), and KUHF-FM (Houston).

As a member of the Brutini String Quartet, Degas Quartet, and Young Eight Octet chamber ensembles, Mr. Peters was a prizewinner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and has performed in many of America's prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Tishman Hall in New York City, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (on the 1699 “Ward” Stradivarius), the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, on the Raleigh and Chicago Chamber Music Society Series, the Jewel Box Series in Chicago, the Music Mondays Series in New York City, and on the Amatius Concert Series in Austin with the Grammy-nominated Enso Quartet.

A dedicated educator, Mr. Peters has given masterclasses at the University of Houston, Seattle University, the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Appalachian State University, and the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, as well as in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates. He has coached many young students in the Houston Youth Symphony and Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and was a featured presenter at the Suzuki Association of the Americas National Conference in 2010 and 2012 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Mr. Peters was a student of William Preucil at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Kenneth Goldsmith at Rice University.

Shannon Nance

Joined the RPO in 1993

Shannon Nance, Assistant Concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, has been a member of the RPO violin section since 1993. She holds two degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Catherine Tait and Zvi Zeitlin. Shannon has appeared as soloist with the RPO, the SUNY Geneseo Orchestra, the Masterworks Festival Orchestra, the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra (NE), the Greece Symphony (NY), and the Greater Rochester Women’s Philharmonic. Shannon has also served as Associate Concertmaster of the Arizona Musicfest in Socttsdale, AZ.

An active chamber musician in the Greater Rochester and Finger Lakes region, Shannon frequently collaborates with colleagues from the RPO and faculty members of the Eastman School of Music on the recital series of Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, Morning Chamber Music at Eastman, the Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble, the Canandaigua Lake Chamber Festival, and WXXI’s Live from Hochstein series. Shannon plays a 1798 Joseph and Antonius Gagliano violin.

In addition to a busy performing career, Shannon is also a dedicated violin teacher, and has students of varying ages currently in her private studio. She has directed the String Intensive Study Program at the Masterworks Festival for several years, and has been a frequent faculty member since the festival’s opening in 1997. Shannon also coaches advanced chamber groups for the Hochstein School.

Shannon is married to RPO trumpeter Wesley Nance, and together they have enjoyed exploring the interesting repertoire of chamber music for violin and trumpet. They have raised four children and have recently discovered the joys of grandparenthood!

Tigran Vardanyan

Tigran Vardanyan

Joined the RPO in 1998

Tigran Vardanyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia. At a very young age, Vardanyan won First Prize at the 1991 and 1993 Armenian National Competitions, the Gold Medal at the 1992 Amadeus Competition for Young Artists, and performed as a soloist with the Armenian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, the Armenian Chamber Orchestra, and the Armenian TV and Radio Orchestra.

Vardanyan is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (2000) and has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 1998. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in various concert venues in his native Armenia, Europe, Central America and North America. He has presented numerous recitals live on WXXI, and was featured as a soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto under the direction of Christopher Seaman. He performs on a Francesco Gobetti violin (Venice, ca. 1720).

Vardanyan is on the faculty of Nazareth College, and is a co-founder of TheArcRest, Inc., a company that makes violin and viola shoulder rests. In 2009, Vardanyan became a U.S. citizen and lives in Rochester with his wife and two sons.

Photo credit: Kate Lemmon

Thomas Rodgers

Joined the RPO in 2012

Thomas Rodgers, a native of Anderson, Indiana, joined the RPO in March 2012 as a member of the first violin section. During the 2014-2015 season, he served as principal 2^nd violin. He holds a Master of Music degree in violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with William Preucil, concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (graduated summa cum laude), where he studied with Alexander Kerr, former concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and current concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Rodgers began studying the piano at age five with his father and started violin lessons at the age of six. During high school as a member of the Indiana University Violin Virtuosi directed by Mimi Zweig, Rodgers performed with the group in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. He is the winner of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Concerto Competition and Kuttner Chamber Music Competition, the Indianapolis Symphony Side-By-Side Concerto Competition, the MTNA Jr. High String Competition, the Chamber Music Fellowship sponsored by the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and is the winner of various young artist competitions in Indiana.

Rodgers has attended a number of summer festivals including the Pacific Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, the National Arts Centre Young Artists Programme directed by Pinchas Zukerman, Encore School for Strings, and Meadowmount. He has participated in masterclasses by Joshua Bell, Pamela Frank, Mauricio Fuks, Ruggiero Ricci, Peter Salaff, and Donald Weilerstein. In the fall of 2012, Rodgers joined the faculty of the Kanack School of Musical Artistry in Rochester.

photo credit: Roger Mastroianni

Molly Werts McDonald

Joined the RPO in 2013

Molly Werts McDonald, a native of Fairway, Kansas, joined the RPO in October of 2013 as Acting Assistant Principal Second Violin. She has been playing in the first violin section since September 2014. With a Bachelor of Music degree and a Certificate in World Music, McDonald was one of RPO Concertmaster Juliana Athayde’s first students at Eastman. McDonald then continued on to complete a Master of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music with William Preucil, concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra.

McDonald grew up playing music with both of her parents, and gained exposure to chamber music and orchestral playing through local festivals in Kansas City. In the coming years she attended many other summer festivals including the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Castleman String Quartet Program, the Round Top Festival Institute, the National Repertory Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, and the Tanglewood Institute. Prior to the RPO, she was Assistant Principal Second Violin of the Canton Symphony Orchestra, and she has made appearances with the Kansas City Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the New World Symphony.

During her education, McDonald explored Early Music, Balinese Gamelan, folk, and many other styles of music. She is passionate about teaching and playing chamber music, and continues to do both in addition to her position with the RPO.

Perrin Yang

Joined the RPO in 1991

Since joining the RPO in 1991, Perrin Yang has served as acting principal second violin and associate concertmaster. Originally from San Francisco, Yang is a high honors graduate of Oberlin College and received his Master's of Music from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, where he has appeared as soloist and concertmaster on several occasions. He also performs chamber music, mostly with his string quartet, and has appeared as guest artist at the Fortissimo!, Aspen, Peter Britt, Roycroft, Skaneateles, and Boulder Bach festivals.

Over the past few years, he has expanded his musical palette by venturing outside of the "traditional" classical music genre. He has performed original and cover music of all kinds including folk/blue grass, blues, rock, and pop. Audiences at a variety of Rochester's festivals and musical venues - from the Rochester International Jazz Fest to the Dinosaur BBQ, have enjoyed the variety of sounds produced by his purple electric violin and collection of effects pedals. He has recorded full CDs with several local Rochester groups such as "Birds On A Wire," "Right Turn Racer," and "Significant Other." Outside of his musical activities, you can usually find him participating in some sport, most likely tennis, or spending time with his two energetic cats-Winky and Bandit.

An-Chi Lin

Joined the RPO in 1997

Violinist An-Chi Lin comes from a family of musicians and began playing the piano at the age of five and the violin at age six. An-Chi Lin received a Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance from Soochow University in Taipei, Taiwan and a Master of Music in Violin Performance and Literature from Eastman School of Music. Lin has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 1997. She has also performed with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Rochester Oratorio Society, and the Skaneateles Festival Orchestra.

Violinist An-Chi Lin comes from a family of musicians and began playing the piano at the age of five and the violin at age six. An-Chi Lin received a Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance from Soochow University in Taipei, Taiwan and a Master of Music in Violin Performance and Literature from Eastman School of Music. Lin has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 1997. She has also performed with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, the Rochester Oratorio Society, and the Skaneateles Festival Orchestra.

From 2002 to 2008, Lin performed in the RPO’s Educational String Quintet, a group dedicated to bringing classical music to the elementary school children of the Rochester City Schools. As a chamber musician, she has appeared on "Live from Hochstein" with the Hochstein String Quartet and with Gibbs and Main (formerly known as Quartsemble). She is currently in a violin-guitar duo, Red Creek Duo, which took them to western New York, Illinois, and California.

Lin is currently on the violin faculty of the Roberts Wesleyan College, Hochstein School of Music, and Nazareth Community School. She joins the faculty of InterHarmony International Music Festival in 2014. She is also an accomplished pianist and accompanist, and performs regularly with her students and colleagues.

Jeanelle Thompson

Jeanelle Thompson joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as Principal Second Violin in May of 2022. Prior to joining the RPO she performed as a substitute with the Cleveland Orchestra throughout the United States, Europe and Asia and was a member of the Preparatory Chamber Music faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Jeanelle has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra and has appeared as guest concertmaster of the Bangor, Youngstown, Cleveland Institute of Music and Lexington Bach Festival orchestras. She has attended the Aspen Music Festival, Brevard Music Center, Perlman Music Program, Strings Music Festival and the Verbier Festival.

A native of Arizona, Jeanelle made her solo debut with the Phoenix Symphony at the age of 16. In 2016 she received her undergraduate degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with William Preucil and was awarded the Dr. Jerome Gross Prize in Violin.

Daryl Perlo

Joined the RPO in 1984

Daryl Perlo studied violin with Joseph Silverstein and Raphael Druian at Boston University, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree. Originally from the Rochester area, she joined the RPO as one of the youngest musicians, just out of college, and is the Assistant Principal Second Violin. She has performed with violinist Cho-Liang Lin in a quintet in New York City and also played in Lyle Lovett’s band on PBS’ Austin City Limits. She also has performed solo with the RPO and in concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Rochester, Skaneateles Music Festival, and the Penfield Symphony.

Patricia Sunwoo

Joined the RPO in 2003

Patricia (Pattie) Sunwoo, originally from Vancouver, performed on stages around the world for five years as a member of NYC-based Whitman String Quartet, winner of the Walter Naumburg Award. She has also been a member of contemporary music groups Continuum and Sequitur, Metamophosen Chamber Orchestra in Boston, the Bard Festival String Quartet, and more recently performed the complete Beethoven Quartet Cycle with the Amenda Quartet here in Rochester. She received her doctoral degree from The Juilliard School studying with Sally Thomas, and taught at SUNY Binghamton before joining the RPO full-time in 2008. When not on stage, she is most likely managing her Park Ave businesses Bodymind Float Center and Hemp it Up, chauffeuring her daughter Lillian, or advocating for local climate action. She lives in the beautiful Highland Park neighborhood with her husband, business partner and violinist David Brickman.

John Sullivan

Joined the RPO in 1979

Hometown: Grand Rapids, MI

Music School attended: Cleveland Institute of Music

Most inspirational teachers: Charles Avsharian, Julius Stulberg, David Cerone, Bernhard Goldschmidt, John Celentano.

First music-related memory: Seeing and hearing the Grand Rapids Symphony, where my parents were principal clarinet and oboe.

What other orchestras have you performed with? Grand Rapids Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Finger Lakes Opera Orchestra, and Rochester Chamber Orchestra.

What I enjoy most about the Rochester area:  The scope and variety of the scenery and cultural venues. For scenery, there’s Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes. For culture, there’s the Dryden Theatre, Eastman School, a myriad of concert series by a variety of organizations, GEVA a well as many other live theatre venues, many museums and historical places to visit.

Hobbies: Beer brewing, vegetable gardening, American History, and black powder gunds.

Pets: one cat, Orange Tabby Ronan.

People would be surprised to know: That I make all my fires (wood stove and charcoal grill) by flint and steel.

The RPO is essential to Rochester because... The most culturally advanced cities always seem to have a first-class symphony orchestra. Arts institutions also help drive their local economies.

Lara Sipols

Joined the RPO in 2002

Lara Sipols has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 2002. During the summer, she is also a member of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, where also serves as principal orchestra librarian. Previously, she held positions with the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra, American Sinfonietta, Greenwich (CT) Symphony, Jupiter Symphony, Utah Festival Opera Orchestra and Colorado Music Festival in Boulder.

She has performed chamber music locally as a guest of both Society for Chamber Music in Rochester and Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble.  She has been active in the musical programs of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, including the organization and performance of a benefit concert for Rochester Area Interfaith Hospitality Network (RAIHN), supporting local, homeless families. Sipols is currently a violin instructor at the Eastman Community Music School and has also completed 10 years' instruction as the RPO Liaison and Adjunct Lecturer at SUNY Brockport.

She holds both a B.M. and M.M. in violin performance from the Mannes College of Music in New York City, and she was a New World Symphony fellow from 1993-1995. Sipols was a violin student of Mischa and Hortense Mischakoff, Sally Thomas, Anne Setzer, and David Cerone. She studied chamber music with Paul Doktor, Karen Ritscher, Timothy Eddy, Lucie Robert, Yizhak Schotten and Baroque violin with Nancy Wilson.

Sooyeon Kim

Violinist Sooyeon Kim, a native of Korea, joined RPO in September 2022. Previously, Sooyeon held a position as Assistant Concertmaster of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and is a member of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. In the summer, she has performed as a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra, and the Aspen Music Festival Orchestra. Sooyeon also has held principal positions with the Juilliard Orchestra and the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra.

Sooyeon holds a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the Juilliard School where she studied with Naoko Tanaka. Currently, she is pursuing her Doctoral of Musical Art Degree at Stony Brook University under the tutelage of Hagai Shaham as a recipient of the Stallar Award scholarship and holds a teaching assistantship position. An avid chamber musician, Sooyeon was a former participant in the Honors Chamber Music program at Juilliard and the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar. Her quartet gave performances throughout New York City, including Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and has taken part in Juilliard's 2018 Focus! Festival featuring contemporary compositions. Sooyeon has also appeared in Juilliard’s ChamberFest and with the Taos School of Music in New Mexico.

Sooyeon has won top prizes in the Music Teachers National Association Competition, the Friday Woodmere Music Club Young Artists Competition, and the New York Music Competition. She has made solo appearances in Japan, Korea, and Switzerland and has given numerous solo recitals at Lincoln Center.

Liana Koteva Kirvan

Joined the RPO in 2001

Violinist, Liana Koteva Kirvan is originally from Bulgaria and moved to the U. S. when she was 15 years-old to pursue advanced musical studies. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Harid Conservatory in violin performance studying with Sergio Schwartz, and then continued her studies at the Eastman School of Music for a Masters degree under the tutelage of Zvi Zeitlin.

She has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and Europe. She has been a featured soloist with many orchestras, including the Harid Philharmonia, Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Boca Symphonic Pops Orchestra, and ISOMATA Chamber Orchestra.

She has won numerous solo competitions including Grand Prize of the Wallenstein Violin Competition, Grand Prize of the Boca Pops Competition, and top prizes in the NSAL Competition, and the Escandido International String Competitions. She is the recipient of the Most Promising Young Artist award from Bulgaria in 2001. She has attended the Santa Barbara music festival and participated in the prestigious New York String Seminar. She has also recorded the complete Brahms Violin Sonatas that can be found locally and online at www. CDBaby.com. She performs on a modern violin by a renowned maker, Kurt Widenhouse.

To visit this musician's personal web site, please click here.

Margaret Leenhouts

Joined the RPO in 1994

Margaret Leenhouts is currently on the faculty of Nazareth College, in addition to her work at the RPO. She earned a bachelor of arts magna cum laude in European History from Yale University and a doctorate in violin performance and literature with Charles Castleman at the Eastman School of Music. She performed in master classes with Josef Gingold, Henryk Szeryng, and Glenn Dicterow. Additional musical studies included work at the Mannes College of Music and the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay.

A frequent performer, Dr. Leenhouts has appeared regularly with Eastman faculty in the Kilbourn Hall recital series and returned to her native Arizona several times to give benefit concerts for the Sedona Chamber Music Society and the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. The recipient of the First Prize for Chamber Music at the American School of Arts in France, Dr. Leenhouts appeared with Amadeus Trio members Marian Hahn and Jeffrey Solow and has performed chamber works at the British Arts Center of Yale, at the Eastern Festival of Music and in Eastman School of Music's Virtuosi Series with RPO concertmaster Ilya Kaler.

In addition to her solo and chamber music work, Dr. Leenhouts has been a member of the Honolulu Symphony, the Grand Rapids Symphony, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra. She toured throughout Germany with the American Sinfonietta.

Dr. Leenhouts has taught extensively at all age and ability levels. Collegiate faculty appointments include Hope College, Mansfield University, and Nazareth College. She spent 13 years teaching at the Eastman School of Music’s Community Music School where she directed the Summer Chamber Music and Middle School Strings Workshops and served as chair of the string department.

Heidi Brodwin

Joined the RPO in 2009

Heidi Brodwin was raised in Ballston Spa, NY. She began playing the violin at the age of five. At age 14, she was a semi-finalist in the Seventeen Magazine competition. After completing her schooling at Indiana University, she moved to Miami Beach to become a member of the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. She then became a member of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, in Charleston, SC, often performing as assistant concertmaster. In 2002, Brodwin moved to Rochester and is now a member of the RPO. She enjoys spending her summers at Chautauqua Institution where she performs with the Chautauqua Symphony.

Ellen Stokoe

Joined the RPO in 2018

Ellen Sonnenberg, a native of Wisconsin, joined the RPO in 2018. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the Eastman School of Music in 2016, studying with Federico Agostini. She continued her studies at Eastman with RPO Concertmaster Juliana Athayde, graduating with her Master of Music degree in 2018. During her time at Eastman, Ellen served as a graduate teaching assistant and spent several years as a Concertmaster, leading the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, the Eastman Opera Orchestra, and the Eastman Philharmonia. Before joining the RPO, Ellen was a member of Symphoria in Syracuse, NY.

Ellen began her violin studies at age five, after her mom saw an advertisement in the paper for a violin teacher. She continued her musical studies with former Assistant and Associate Concertmasters of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Jerome Franke and Samantha George. Ellen is now a devout violin teacher in the Rochester area, having completed courses in Suzuki Teacher Training at Ithaca College. She maintains a large private studio and serves as a Suzuki Instructor at St. Peter’s Community Arts Academy in Geneva.

Ellen participated in several summer festivals, including the National Repertory Orchestra, the Orford Academy of Music, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts, where she was an Emerson Scholar. She also participated in the Collegium Musicum Summer Academy at Weissenstein Castle in Pommersfelden, Germany, serving as principle second violin and soloing with the chamber orchestra.

Joshua Newburger

Josh Newburger is the newly appointed principal violist of the Rochester Philharmonic. Formerly the assistant principal violist of the Pacific Symphony, Josh has performed as a guest principal with the Fresno Philharmonic and the Santa Barbara Symphony, and subbed in the sections of the LA Phil, San Diego Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and Buffalo Philharmonic.

During his time in the Los Angeles area Josh recorded for numerous feature films and television productions, working with renowned film composers including John Williams, James Newton Howard, and Ludwig Göransson. Among other credits, he can be heard on the soundtracks for movies from the Star Wars, Lego Movie, Creed, Charlie’s Angels, and IT franchises, and TV series including The Mandalorian, The Orville, and American Dad.

Josh has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia as a member of the Verbier Festival Chamber orchestra, and a guest musician with Ivan Fischer’s Budapest Festival Orchestra. He was twice selected as the assistant principal violist of the New York String Orchestra and studied as a fellow at the Music Academy of the West and the Verbier Festival.

This season Josh also joins the faculty of the Eastman School of Music as an assistant professor of orchestral repertory.

Josh received his Bachelor’s degree in violin from the New England Conservatory as a student of Nicholas Kitchen. Under the guidance of Rochester native Michael Klotz, Josh found his voice with the viola and ultimately obtained his Master’s degree in viola from Yale, where he studied with Ettore Causa.

Marc Anderson

Joined the RPO in 2005

Marc Anderson enjoys a versatile career as an orchestral violist, chamber musician and teacher. Assistant Principal viola since 2015, Mr. Anderson has been with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 2005 and was also principal violist of the Rochester Chamber Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Anderson frequently collaborates with his RPO colleagues and Eastman School of Music faculty in many of the area’s classical concert series. Mr. Anderson holds performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with George Taylor (B.M.) and John Graham (M.M.). While at Eastman Mr. Anderson received the coveted Performer's Certificate and Orchestral Studies Diploma.  As a teacher, Mr. Anderson has been on the string faculty of Roberts Wesleyan College, the Eastman Community Music School, and the Eastman School of Music.

Rebecca Christainsen

Rebecca Christainsen is from Palo Alto, California and graduated from Williams College in 2021, majoring in chemistry and music. While at Williams, Rebecca studied with Ah Ling Neu and played in the Berkshire Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Williams, I/O New Music, and many chamber music ensembles. She also worked as the music librarian for the Berkshire Symphony. Rebecca performed the Bartok Viola Concerto with the Berkshire Symphony in 2022, having won the concerto competition in 2020. As a member of the Axxea Quartet, founded at Williams, Rebecca attended the Music Mountain Academy for two years and performed at Lincoln Center and Bargemusic. She was awarded the coveted Hubbard Hutchinson Fellowship in music during her senior year at Williams.

In her early years, Rebecca took lessons with Susan Bates at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has spent previous summers performing at the Aspen Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, and Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival. After graduating from college, Rebecca worked as an options trader in New York City before joining the RPO. She plays on a 1980 viola by Hiroshi Iizuka.

Olita Povero

Joined the RPO in 1989

Originally from Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, Olita Povero received her bachelor’s degree from the New School of Music, an orchestral studies conservatory in Philadelphia founded by her teacher Max Aronoff, and whose faculty included the Curtis String Quartet and Philadelphia Orchestra members. Povero continued her studies with Kim Kashkashian, and obtained her master’s degree from Southern Methodist University as a student of Ellen Rose. Before joining the RPO, she played in the Dallas Opera, Ballet and Chamber Orchestras.

Neil Miller

From Long Island NY, Neil Miller holds both a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance, and a Master of Music degree in viola performance from the Eastman School of Music. He was awarded the coveted Performer's Certificate and was also the recipient of the Robert L. Oppelt Viola Prize which is presented annually to an outstanding violist at Eastman.

Summer festivals have included the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckinridge Colorado where he performed in over 20 concerts playing 120 orchestral works.  Conductors included Karina Canellakis, Andrew Litton, Peter Oundjian and Michael Stern. Neil has also participated in LyricaFest in Boston as well as Charles Castleman’s Quartet Program both in Boulder, CO, and Fredonia, NY.

Neil has studied with Shirley Givens, Lynn Blakeslee, Renée Jolles, Carol Kushner, Barbara Weber, and was most recently a viola student of George Taylor.

Melissa Matson

Joined the RPO in 1983

Melissa Matson is well known to Rochester audiences as the principal violist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as a versatile chamber musician. She has been a frequent performer since 1987 with Chamber Music Rochester and the Skaneateles (NY) Festival. She is the artistic director of First Muse Chamber Music, a series of concerts at First Unitarian Church of Rochester (FirstMuse.org). Matson is a member of the Amenda Quartet (with violinists David Brickman and Patricia Sunwoo, and cellist Mimi Hwang) whose “Project Ludwig” aims to study and perform all of the Beethoven string quartets (AmendaQuartet.org).

Previous solo appearances with the RPO include Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (with violinist David Brickman), Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, Bruch’s Romanze, and on the Pops series, Jeff Tyzik’s original Blue Adagioand his arrangement of Autumn Leaves. Ms. Matson has premiered works written for her by Rochester composers Verne Reynolds, David Liptak, and Jeff Tyzik.

As a founding member of the Chester String Quartet (1978-83), she performed throughout the U.S. and won top chamber music awards at the Munich and Portsmouth (England) international competitions. The quartet was on the faculty of Indiana University at South Bend, and recorded works of Warren Benson, Karl Weigl, and Ernest Chausson. After her tenure with the Quartet she joined the RPO and also the faculty of the Eastman School of Music. Her current duties as an associate professor at Eastman include teaching viola orchestral repertoire classes, for which she has written numerous guides to preparing orchestra excerpts. Matson presented two sessions on orchestral excerpts and audition preparation at the 2004 ViolaFest in Binghamton, NY. She also mentors the violists of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

Originally from northern California, she was raised in a music-loving family - they played recorders together, her three siblings studied string instruments, and her mother built a harpsichord. Matson received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastman, where she studied with Martha Katz and was awarded the coveted Performer’s Certificate. She also studied with Heidi Castleman and Karen Tuttle. Her chamber music training includes work with the Cleveland and Juilliard Quartets, as well as study at The Quartet Program and the Aspen Center for Advanced Quartet Studies. Matson has been a chamber music participant in the Aspen, Norfolk, and Grand Teton summer festivals. For three years she was the principal violist and on the faculty of Eastern Music Festival, where she appeared as soloist with bassist Gary Karr and performed chamber music with violinist Franco Gulli and pianist Andre-Michel Schub.

Yein Son

A native of South Korea, violist Yein Son studied with Jin Won Yoon at Kyung Hee University and completed her undergraduate studies. She received her Master of Music Degree from Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Professor Ettore Causa and Professor Steven Tenenbom. Currently, Ms. Son is a candidate of Doctor of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University under tutelage of Lawrence Dutton and Matthew Lipman.

Yein Son has performed at music festivals internationally and domestically including the masterclasses given by Thomas Riebl and William Coleman; Heifetz International Music Festival with full scholarship; Montecito International Music Festival with fellowship where she performed with a renowned musicians including Lynn Harrell, Sam Fischer, and Régulo Martínez-Antón.

Son has joined RPO this summer as a B-contract violist and before coming here, she was a substitute violist with Albany Symphony, Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

David Hult

Joined the RPO in 1984

David Hult, winner of the Viola Virtuoso Prize at the Hudson Valley International String Artist Competition, balances an active career as a guest soloist and recitalist, a chamber and orchestral musician, and a teacher and adjudicator. A frequent guest of National Public Radio, his performances on the violin and viola have taken him all over the United States and Europe. He has served as both Concertmaster and Principal Viola for numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles.

Hult has performed extensively as solo violist for the Juilliard Chamber Players and the New York Chamber Orchestra. For four seasons he was Assistant Principal viola in the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra. As violist with the Hampshire String Quartet and SUNY Geneseo's resident Tremont String Quartet, he commissioned and premiered numerous compositions which have been recorded on the Opus 1, Musical Heritage Society, and Centaur record labels.

As a violinist, Hult has been the Concertmaster of many orchestras including the United Nations Symphony and the Rochester Chamber Orchestra. He has been Concertmaster for numerous Broadway musicals which have featured many of the world's best-known stars. He has also played with Carnegie Hall’s American Symphony Orchestra, the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra.

A high school graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, Hult received his bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, and both his master’s and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Juilliard School, all on scholarship. His former teachers include Ivan Galamian, Millard Taylor, Paul Doktor, and coaching with Josef Gingold, and the Cleveland and Juilliard String Quartets.

Currently, Hult is the Coordinator of Strings at Nazareth College of Rochester where he has been a member of the faculty for the past 17 years. He is also Concertmaster of the Rochester Oratorio Society and has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 1986 and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra since 1979. For the past 6 years he has been Principal Viola of the Anchorage Festival of Music orchestra. In addition, Hult is a founder and member of two critically acclaimed ensembles - Rhapsodie (a flute, viola, and harp trio) and the Chautauqua Chamber Music Society, where he also serves as the Artistic Director.

Ahrim Kim

Joined the RPO in 2015

Ahrim Kim is an accomplished soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader who recently joined the RPO as principal cellist in the fall of 2015. She was awarded the Cassado Prize at the Gaspar Cassado International Cello Competition in Japan and top prizes in numerous other competitions, including the Houston Symphony's Ima Hogg Young Artists Competition, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, the Five Towns Music Competition, and the Corpus Christi International Competition. She has performed solo and chamber repertoire at Boston's Symphony Hall, The Juilliard School, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, the Sarasota Music Festival, Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, the Kennedy Center, and the Salzburg Mozarteum. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Boston Pops, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Hudson Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, and others. She was a member of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the 2014-15 season as acting principal cellist, and she has also played in the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In 2016, she taught and played at the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Kim began her cello studies at the age of six. She moved to the U.S. in 2002 and studied cello through Juilliard’s Pre-College Division for young musicians. She holds a master’s degree in cello performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she also earned her bachelor’s degree under the tutelage of Laurence Lesser and Natasha Brofsky.

Kim was awarded the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association as the cellist of the Klimt Trio. As a chamber musician, she has participated in festivals such as Yellow Barn, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and Marlboro.

Lars Kirvan

Cellist Lars Kirvan grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, where he began his cello studies with Loran Stephenson of the National Symphony Orchestra. He later earned his bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he was a student of the Cleveland Orchestra’s renowned principal cellist, Stephen Geber.

Kirvan was a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland and the Verbier Chamber Orchestra where he served as a principal, and also was a member and principal of the New World Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Kirvan has traveled all over the world performing in its most prestigious concert halls and has been fortunate to collaborate in chamber music performances with artists such as Maxim Vengerov, James Buswell, Leonidas Kavakos, Dimitry Sitkovesky, Heinrich Schiff, Laurence Lesser, Jon Kimura Parker, and many more. He was recently invited to join the World Orchestra for Peace, conducted by Valery Gergiev.  Most recently, Kirvan became the assistant principal cellist of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

Kirvan joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008 and was appointed its third chair cello. In the 2014-15 season, he served as principal cellist of the RPO.

Christopher Haritatos

Joined the RPO in 2009

Cellist Christopher Haritatos holds degrees from the University of Chicago, the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Alan Harris, and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Mr. Harris and with Steven Doane. Before joining the RPO in 2009, he had been a member of numerous other orchestras including the Austin Symphony, Austin Lyric Opera Orchestra (including as Acting Principal and Interim Principal cellist), and the Aspen Chamber Symphony, and taught at Texas State University-San Marcos. As a baroque cellist, he studied with Jaap ter Linden as a Fulbright Scholar at the Akademie für Alte Musik in Bremen, Germany, and has played with numerous early music groups throughout Northern Europe and North America. He is Co-director of Publick Musick and cellist of the baroque chamber ensemble Fioritura.

Benjamin Krug

Joined the RPO in 2008

Praised for his “directness of expression” (Rochester City Newspaper), Benjamin Krug is a tenured cellist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as well as an active Suzuki and traditional teacher at the Hochstein School and Kanack School of Musical Artistry. In recent summers, he has performed with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, and the Finger Lakes Opera. As a chamber musician, Benjamin is a devoted member of the Salaff Quartet (with RPO musicians Thomas Rodgers, Molly McDonald and Aika Ito) performing concerts throughout the Rochester community and serving as Outreach Ambassadors for the Society For Chamber Music in Rochester from 2017-2019. Most recently, Benjamin can be heard on WXXI 91.5 Classical for his performances with SCMR and was featured on WXXI’s HomeStage in September 2020 with organist Peter DuBois. Most recently, he and his harpist wife, Grace Browning formed the Browning-Krug Duo that had its debut on WXXI 91.5 Classical “Live From Hochstein” in the Fall of 2021. Prior to his position in the RPO, Benjamin was a member of both the Akron and Canton Symphonies and participated in summer festivals including the National Orchestral Institute, Aspen Music Festival, and Tanglewood Music Festival.

Beyond performing, Benjamin is a dedicated pedagogue, having recently completed Suzuki Books 1-4 teacher training and studying the method from the age of four. He also recently finished Creative Ability Development training with Alice Kanack. As a student of Stephen Geber, Benjamin graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music with his Master’s Degree and Professional Studies Diploma, after receiving his Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance with departmental distinction from St. Olaf College. Prior to his cello career, Benjamin was a celebrated boy soprano and graduate of the American Boychoir School, touring throughout the country and internationally from the age of 11 and performing and recording with world-class orchestras. Benjamin’s voice can be heard in the movie “Interview with the Vampire” (1994) during the opening credits.

Jennifer Carpenter

Jennifer Carpenter is an experienced performer in a diverse range of musical styles and ensembles. As a dedicated chamber musician, she has performed at festivals such as The Perlman Music Program, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival fellowship program, Orford Musique, and the Castleman Quartet Program. Additionally, she has given numerous chamber music and solo performances at The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory, where she earned Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees, respectively. Her past teachers include Natasha Brofsky, Laurence Lesser, Darrett Adkins, Eric Kim, and Ellen Shertzer.

As an enthusiast of historical performance, she studied baroque cello with Phoebe Carrai at Juilliard and viola da gamba and baroque cello with Catharina Meints at Oberlin. While at Oberlin, she performed in the Oberlin Baroque Orchestra. Also an advocate of new music, she has appeared with New Juilliard Ensemble and Oberlin Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble.

Carpenter joined the RPO in 2018. Other orchestral experiences range from performances in the Juilliard Orchestra, where she served as principal cellist, to the Aspen Music Festival, where she served as a fellow in the conducting academy orchestra.

An enthusiastic educator, Carpenter shares her joy for music with her students at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance.

Ingrid Bock

Joined the RPO in 1979

RPO cellist Ingrid Bock is also the principal cellist of the Rochester Chamber Orchestra. She loves to teach, and has a class of inspired, and inspiring, private students. She is a founding member of the Cello Divas, a boundary-stretching cello quartet which provides her the opportunity to perform unusual and challenging music and to develop her arranging skills. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and the Performer’s Certificate, from the Eastman School of Music.

Cory Palmer

Joined the RPO in 2017

Cory Palmer was appointed principal bass in May 2017. Prior to joining the RPO, he was principal bass of the Canton Symphony Orchestra from 2012-16. He has also held positions with the Sarasota Opera and the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Summer engagements include performances with the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Artosphere Festival Orchestra in Fayetteville, Arkansas; Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan; Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina; and the Pierre Monteux School in Hancock, Maine.

While growing up in Atlanta, Palmer was a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and studied with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra principal bassist Ralph Jones. After high school he continued his studies at Michigan State University, Peabody Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, and Carnegie Mellon University. His major teachers were Ralph Jones, Jack Budrow, John Hood, Orin O’Brien, and Jeff Turner.

Michael Griffin

Joined the RPO in 1994

Michael Griffin has played in the RPO since 1994 and holds degrees from Indiana University-Bloomington. Griffin has played in the Syracuse Symphony, Albany Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and St. Cecilia Chamber Orchestra, and has taught bass students at Ithaca College.

In addition to performing with the RPO, Griffin owns and operates Luthier's Care, specializing in hand making violin family instruments in the Cremonese tradition. He builds on models of Stradivari, Giuseppe Guarneri “del Gesu”, Amati, and his own design. His forty-plus years' experience includes restorations and repairs of violin family instruments and their bows.

Learn more about the RPO's Gagliano Bass

Fred Dole

Joined the RPO in 2012

Fred Dole is currently Section Double Bass in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and also performs with the Richmond Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and West Virginia Symphony Orchestras, and the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble (ACE), of which he was a founding member. He also has been Professor of Double Bass at Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William and Mary. Previously, he was a freelance musician throughout the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area, and has played in numerous orchestras and chamber groups in the area. In 2003, Dole was chosen as a Peabody String Fellow, which allowed him to travel to Singapore to help open the Young Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and to perform with the Singapore Symphony. He received his Masters of Music from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Md., where he studied with Paul Johnson and had additional studies with John Hood and Rob Kesselman. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with Michael Cameron and had additional studies with Catalin Rotaru.

Jeff Campbell

Joined the RPO in 1994

Jeff Campbell is an Associate Professor of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media at Eastman School of Music. He is widely recognized for his versatile skills as performer and teacher of double bass and is active as a musician with the RPO, Eastman Jazz Quartet and Trio East. He has performed with Marian McPartland, Gene Bertoncini, Rich Perry and Harold Danko and released a new CD, West End Avenue, featuring John Hollenbeck. He is jazz editor for Bass World and serves as Jazz Program Director for Birch Creek Music Center in Door County, WI.

Eric Polenik

Joined the RPO in 2005

Bassist Eric J. Polenik was drawn to the instrument’s low sound at age 16 after hearing Beethoven for the first time. While studying at Duquesne University, he served as principal bass of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. In Rochester, Polenik continued his studies with former Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra principal bassist Robert Zimmerman, and has since joined the RPO’s bass section. He was a founding member of the NEO Chamber Orchestra, a student-operated ensemble based in Rochester.  He is also a member of Gibbs & Main, a chamber music ensemble performing in Rochester, N.Y.

Rebecca Gilbert

Joined the RPO in 1996

Rebecca Gilbert joined the RPO as principal flute (The Charlotte Whitney Allen Chair) in the 1996-97 season. As a regularly featured soloist, her expressive and versatile playing has illuminated the RPO’s Philharmonics and Pops Series performances. She has performed as acting principal flute of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and guest assistant principal flute with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood. Previous appointments include principal flute of the Charleston Symphony and second flute of the Dayton Philharmonic

As an active soloist/recitalist, she has performed solo and chamber music concerts with the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, First Muse (Rochester), Live from Hochstein, Skaneateles Festival, Charleston’s Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Charles Ives Center for the Arts Contemporary Music Festival, and the Chautauqua Chamber Players. She has performed concerti with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Philharmonia Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and the Penfield Symphony Orchestra.

From 2000-01, Gilbert served as visiting artist in residence at the Juilliard School (Jeanne Baxtresser International Flute Masterclass), and has given masterclasses in orchestral flute playing across the U.S. Her interest in the similarities between orchestral playing and chamber music playing was the subject of a program entitled “The Chamber Music of Orchestral Teamwork” that she presented with the RPO flute section for the National Flute Association.

She has served as lecturer in flute performance at Ithaca College, and adjunct faculty flutist at the College of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio), as well as the College of Charleston. She has served as vice president and program coordinator of the Rochester Flute Association and maintains an active teaching schedule with her private flute studio and as coach/mentor with the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

A Wisconsin native, Gilbert began playing the flute at age nine. She earned a master’s degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and attended the Centre International De Formation Musicale in Nice, France. Her principal flute teachers include Jeanne Baxtresser, Randolph Bowman, Kyril Magg, and Gwen Powell.  She lives in the Highland Park neighborhood with her husband Gavin Rigg, their two boys Julian and Malcolm, and their Rhodesian Ridgeback Nala.

Sean Marron

Sean Marron joined the Rochester Philharmonic in 2022 as 2nd Flute and Piccolo. He is currently a student at the Eastman School of Music, where he studies with Bonita Boyd and Anne Harrow. In 2022, Sean attended the Aspen Music Festival, where he was a finalist in the woodwind concerto competition. While in Aspen, Sean was invited to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival. Sean has also attended the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute, and he was the piccolo fellow at the 2021 Virtual Flute Music Festival. He has worked with conductors such as Robert Spano, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Lionel Bringuier, Marin Alsop, Stephane Deneve, and Xian Zhang, among others. Outside of the orchestra, Sean has given numerous recitals at Eastman, and his woodwind quintet, the Barbershop quintet, has appeared on Eastman’s Honors Chamber Music Recital as well as at numerous other venues in the Rochester area. A native of Ridgewood, New Jersey, Sean studied with Bart Feller at the Juilliard Pre-College Division.

Sean Marron

Sean Marron joined the Rochester Philharmonic in 2022 as 2nd Flute and Piccolo. He is currently a student at the Eastman School of Music, where he studies with Bonita Boyd and Anne Harrow. In 2022, Sean attended the Aspen Music Festival, where he was a finalist in the woodwind concerto competition. While in Aspen, Sean was invited to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival. Sean has also attended the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute, and he was the piccolo fellow at the 2021 Virtual Flute Music Festival. He has worked with conductors such as Robert Spano, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Lionel Bringuier, Marin Alsop, Stephane Deneve, and Xian Zhang, among others. Outside of the orchestra, Sean has given numerous recitals at Eastman, and his woodwind quintet, the Barbershop quintet, has appeared on Eastman’s Honors Chamber Music Recital as well as at numerous other venues in the Rochester area. A native of Ridgewood, New Jersey, Sean studied with Bart Feller at the Juilliard Pre-College Division.

Erik Behr

Joined the RPO in 2007

Erik Behr has held the position of Principal Oboe at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 2007, after serving as Principal Oboe at the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet. He has also served as a guest principal with several orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Nashville Symphony. During the summer season, Behr is the principal oboe of the Sun Valley Music Festival and played for many years with the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra. Additionally, he has performed at the Edinburgh International, Casals, Maribor, and Spoleto festivals.

Behr's extensive repertoire includes a variety of concerto performances, including the premiere of Allen Shawn’s Oboe Concerto in 2018, which was commissioned for Behr and the RPO. Behr and his wife, RPO Concertmaster Juliana Athayde, serve as Co-Artistic Directors of the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester. In 2017, Behr premiered Guggenheim Fellow Adam Roberts’ Oboe Quartet, commissioned for Behr and SCMR. Behr recorded this work with the JACK Quartet and it was released by New Focus Recording in late 2021. Behr is committed to promoting new music, having works written for him by composers such as Jeff Tyzik’s Dance Suite for oboe and orchestra (2020) and Jim Willey’s Oboe Quartet (2021).

Behr's musicianship has garnered praise from critics, who have described his playing as "bold and graceful" (Washington Post), "immaculate" (Sunday Tribune), and commended his "tremendous musicianship and sense of style" (Irish Examiner), as well as his "ease and eloquence" (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle).

Currently, Behr serves as an Adjunct Professor at Roberts Wesleyan College, and has served as a guest oboe teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Rice University. Behr has also held a position on the oboe faculty at the University of Houston and served as a visiting lecturer at Cornell University. During the summer, Behr teaches at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival and Carnegie Hall's NYO-USA, as well as giving masterclasses internationally. Behr holds a B.M. (cum laude) from Arizona State University, a M.M. from Temple University, and a D.M.A. from Rice University, having studied with Robert Atherholt, Richard Woodhams, and Martin Schuring.

Anna Steltenpohl

Joined the RPO in 2008

Anna Steltenpohl is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.  Her teachers have included Elaine Douvas, Pedro Diaz, Nathan Hughes, Richard Woodhams, and Jonathan Fischer. She has performed as principal oboe with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and New Jersey Symphony.  She has attended the Pacific Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival and School.  In addition to being featured on National Public Radio’s nationally syndicated “From the Top,” she and her twin sister Lisa, a violist, have starred in the educational video series “Musical Encounters” and on Philadelphia television.

Anna Steltenpohl

Joined the RPO in 2008

Anna Steltenpohl is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.  Her teachers have included Elaine Douvas, Pedro Diaz, Nathan Hughes, Richard Woodhams, and Jonathan Fischer. She has performed as principal oboe with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and New Jersey Symphony.  She has attended the Pacific Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival and School.  In addition to being featured on National Public Radio’s nationally syndicated “From the Top,” she and her twin sister Lisa, a violist, have starred in the educational video series “Musical Encounters” and on Philadelphia television.

Kenneth Grant

Joined the RPO in 1987

A Buffalo native, Kenneth Grant joined the RPO in 1987 as principal clarinet after almost 15 years in the same position with the Columbus Symphony.

Solo appearances with the RPO include works by Mozart, Weber, Copland, and Debussy. In 1994, he premiered Sydney Hodkinson’s Concerto for Clarinet with the Rochester Philharmonic under the direction of David Effron. Other premieres with the RPO include Sonata for Clarinet and Piano and the Fantasy Etudes, composed by Verne Reynolds, former professor of horn at the Eastman School of Music. Grant also has appeared as soloist with the Finger Lakes Symphony, the Penfield Symphony, the Geneseo Symphony, and the University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra. He also has performed as part of the Rochester Society for Chamber Music since 1989.

In 1990, Grant toured Europe with The Cleveland Orchestra as assistant principal clarinet and participated in that orchestra’s recording of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony. In 1994, he won critical acclaim in Japan as soloist with the Eastman Wind Ensemble on the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and has returned to Japan on several occasions to provide lessons and master classes.

In addition to performing, Grant is associate professor of clarinet at the Eastman School of Music since 1988 and also has taught at Barker (N.Y.) Central Schools, Capital University (Ohio), Tidewater Music Festival (Md.), Otterbein College (Ohio), and Ohio Wesleyan University.

In the summers, Grant teaches at the Aria International Festival at Mt. Holyoke College (Mass.), and teaches and performs at the Marrowstone Festival at Western Washington University. He also was part of the Festival at Roundtop in Texas for the past 11 summers.

Grant received his education at the Eastman School of Music. His principal teachers were Donald Mattea, James Pyne, and D. Stanley Hasty. He pursued additional studies with Frank Cohen and Theodore Johnson of The Cleveland Orchestra.

Kamalia Freyling

Kamalia Freyling joined the Rochester Philharmonic as Second/E-flat Clarinet in 2019. A native of San Diego, California, she holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree with a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Kamalia has been a fellow at many festivals around the world, including the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Round Top Festival Institute, Spoleto Festival USA, Tanglewood Music Center, Texas Music Festival, and Verbier Festival. She has been honored to work under renowned conductors such as Alan Gilbert, Andris Nelsons, David Robertson, Fabio Luisi, Herbert Blomstedt, Jaime Laredo, Manfred Honeck, and Valery Gergiev, among others. As a soloist, Kamalia has performed with the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado College Festival Orchestra. Her principal teachers include Jon Manasse, Frank Renk, and Robert Carter. In addition to her love of music, Kamalia is an outdoors enthusiast and enjoys hiking and running.

Andrew Brown

Joined the RPO in 2006

Andrew Brown joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006 as the Third/Bass Clarinetist. He also regularly performs with the Buffalo Philharmonic and has appeared with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, and the Albuquerque Philharmonic.

As a chamber musician, Brown has performed around upstate New York and in New Mexico’s “Church of Beethoven.” As a member of The Eastman Broadband Ensemble, a new music ensemble based at Eastman, he has toured Europe and Mexico, participated in two recording projects, one of which was a Pulitzer-Prize Finalist, and performed in the Zankel Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Brown earned his Bachelor of Music Degree from The Ohio State University and master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music. He spent four summers at the Aspen Music Festival. His principal teachers have been Bob Lehner, James Pyne, and Kenneth Grant.

In addition to his performing activities, Brown also maintains an active studio as Instructor of Clarinet at the Eastman Community Music School.

Kamalia Freyling

Kamalia Freyling joined the Rochester Philharmonic as Second/E-flat Clarinet in 2019. A native of San Diego, California, she holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree with a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Kamalia has been a fellow at many festivals around the world, including the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Round Top Festival Institute, Spoleto Festival USA, Tanglewood Music Center, Texas Music Festival, and Verbier Festival. She has been honored to work under renowned conductors such as Alan Gilbert, Andris Nelsons, David Robertson, Fabio Luisi, Herbert Blomstedt, Jaime Laredo, Manfred Honeck, and Valery Gergiev, among others. As a soloist, Kamalia has performed with the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado College Festival Orchestra. Her principal teachers include Jon Manasse, Frank Renk, and Robert Carter. In addition to her love of music, Kamalia is an outdoors enthusiast and enjoys hiking and running.

Andrew Brown

Joined the RPO in 2006

Andrew Brown joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006 as the Third/Bass Clarinetist. He also regularly performs with the Buffalo Philharmonic and has appeared with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, and the Albuquerque Philharmonic.

As a chamber musician, Brown has performed around upstate New York and in New Mexico’s “Church of Beethoven.” As a member of The Eastman Broadband Ensemble, a new music ensemble based at Eastman, he has toured Europe and Mexico, participated in two recording projects, one of which was a Pulitzer-Prize Finalist, and performed in the Zankel Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Brown earned his Bachelor of Music Degree from The Ohio State University and master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music. He spent four summers at the Aspen Music Festival. His principal teachers have been Bob Lehner, James Pyne, and Kenneth Grant.

In addition to his performing activities, Brown also maintains an active studio as Instructor of Clarinet at the Eastman Community Music School.

Matthew McDonald

Joined the RPO in 2013

Matthew McDonald was appointed Principal Bassoon of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in September 2013. Before his appointment there, he was Principal Bassoon of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Co-Principal Bassoon of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio. McDonald has performed as soloist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra, and The Cleveland Orchestra, as well as at the International Double Reed Society conference. He has appeared with festival orchestras such as the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center.

Born in Huntsville, Alabama, McDonald began studying with Hunter Thomas, and later with Benjamin Kamins. A graduate of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music, McDonald had other teachers including Barrick Stees, Bernard Garfield, and Daniel Matsukawa. Along with soprano Susanna Phillips, McDonald co-founded Twickenham Fest, a chamber music festival in Huntsville, Alabama, which had its inaugural summer in 2010. credit: Lydia DiMonte

Karl Vilcins

Joined the RPO in 2011

A Long Island native, bassoonist Karl Vilcins graduated from The Ohio State University in 2002 with a bachelor's in music performance, studying with Christopher Weait. In 2004 he received his master's in orchestral performance from the Manhattan School of Music, with Frank Morelli.  Since graduating, he has participated in the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Attergau Festival (Salzburg), where he worked with members of the Vienna Philharmonic.

From 2005 through 2011 Vilcins was principal bassoon of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. During the 2011-12 season, he served as principal bassoon for the RPO. In January of 2014, he joined the faculty of Long Island University’s Post Campus as adjunct professor of bassoon.

For the past 5 years, he has enjoyed a steadily thriving career as a New York City freelance musician, playing with many groups including the Orchestra of St. Lukes, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, American Ballet Theater, and the American Composers Orchestra. In 2014 he was asked to join Orpheus on a two-week tour of Japan, playing in twelve of the nation’s most prestigious concert halls, including Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.

Martha Sholl

Joined the RPO in 1988

Karl Vilcins

Joined the RPO in 2011

A Long Island native, bassoonist Karl Vilcins graduated from The Ohio State University in 2002 with a bachelor's in music performance, studying with Christopher Weait. In 2004 he received his master's in orchestral performance from the Manhattan School of Music, with Frank Morelli.  Since graduating, he has participated in the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Attergau Festival (Salzburg), where he worked with members of the Vienna Philharmonic.

From 2005 through 2011 Vilcins was principal bassoon of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra. During the 2011-12 season, he served as principal bassoon for the RPO. In January of 2014, he joined the faculty of Long Island University’s Post Campus as adjunct professor of bassoon.

For the past 5 years, he has enjoyed a steadily thriving career as a New York City freelance musician, playing with many groups including the Orchestra of St. Lukes, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, American Ballet Theater, and the American Composers Orchestra. In 2014 he was asked to join Orpheus on a two-week tour of Japan, playing in twelve of the nation’s most prestigious concert halls, including Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.

Nikolette LaBonte

Joined the RPO in 2016

Nikolette LaBonte, a native of South Florida, has quickly emerged as a distinguished performer in the field of orchestral horn playing. In 2015, LaBonte was appointed acting assistant principal horn of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. While living and working with the orchestra in Honolulu, she also served as the associate principal horn of the Hawaii Opera Theater and Oahu Choral Society. In addition to the RPO and HSO, she has had the opportunity to perform with orchestras across the country including the New York Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, and Syracuse-based Symphoria.

LaBonte will be returning to Rochester not only as a performer, but also to complete her undergraduate degree coursework at the Eastman School of Music, under the direction of RPO Principal Horn W. Peter Kurau. Outside of the concert hall, LaBonte is active in promoting classical music throughout the community. During her time in Honolulu, she maintained a private studio, served as the education coordinator of the Hawaii Symphony, and was a recorder and ukulele instructor with “Kalikolehua,” an El Sistema program. She has served as a member of a variety of chamber ensembles including the Spring Winds and Eastman Brass Band and is the co-creator and coordinator of “Olympic Overtures”, a multimedia project designed to spread awareness of classical music through collaboration with Olympic athletes.  Away from the horn, she enjoys hiking and scuba diving, although she’ll likely have to reserve the latter for her visits to more tropical climates.

Maura McCune Corvington

Joined the RPO in 2015

Maura McCune Corvington, Second Horn of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, has distinguished herself as a virtuosic artist through her expressive playing. Prior to joining the RPO in July 2015, Ms. Corvington performed as Acting Principal Horn of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and Hawaii Opera Theatre Orchestra, as well as throughout the Hawaiian Islands as the hornist of the Honolulu Brass Quintet. She previously served as Acting Associate Principal and Third Horn of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and Hawaii Opera Theatre Orchestra. Ms. Corvington has also performed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, Houston Chamber Choir, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, Rochester Chamber Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and as Guest Principal Horn with the Rochester Philharmonic. She has spent summers performing with the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, Marrowstone Music Festival, The International Festival-Institute at Round Top, and the Skaneateles Festival Orchestra.

Recent recording projects include Wagner: Orchestral Music from Der Ring des Nibelungen on the Naxos label with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of JoAnn Falletta and American Rapture on the Azica Records label with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Ward Stare.

Devoted to the art of music education, Ms. Corvington is presently an Instructor of Horn and an Arts Leadership Program Course Instructor at the Eastman School of Music, the Instructor of Horn at the Eastman Community Music School, a Horn Mentor for the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and the Adjunct Lecturer in Horn Studies at SUNY Geneseo where she has been a featured faculty soloist and performs regularly as a member of the Geneseo Wind Quintet. Her horn students have been invited to play at leading music festivals, pursue elite level collegiate studies across the country, and perform as featured soloists with orchestras including the Rochester Philharmonic. Ms. Corvington previously served as Adjunct Professor of Horn at Rochester’s Roberts Wesleyan College as well as the Lecturer of Horn at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. A passionate and engaging teacher, she has mentored students as a featured clinician at Cornell University, the Roberts Wesleyan College International Music Camp, New Trier High School, and the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Sunday Series at Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall.

Notably, Eastman’s acclaimed Arts Leadership Program course schedule includes, “Studio Teaching: An Essential Career Component,” an annual offering by Ms. Corvington designed to illuminate innovative, impactful, and essential studio teaching strategies for future music educators who face a continually evolving professional mentorship landscape.

A graduate of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Ms. Corvington completed her Master’s Degree in Horn Performance under the tutelage of William VerMeulen. At the Eastman School, Ms. Corvington completed her Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance as a recipient of the Performer’s Certificate under the instruction of RPO Principal Horn, W. Peter Kurau. She also graduated as a Secondary Piano Major, studying with Daria Rabotkina and Albert Kim, and she recently accompanied friend and horn mentor, Bill VerMeulen, in recital at Eastman. Originally hailing from Wilmette, Illinois, Ms. Corvington was inspired at an early age by the renowned Chicago Symphony Brass, and she studied regularly with Chicago Symphony Orchestra hornists, Dale Clevenger and Alice Render.

An avid racket sport athlete, Ms. Corvington enjoys visits to her favorite courts, both sunny and snowy, in Rochester. She is thrilled to reside in the vibrant Rochester community where she lives with her husband Patrick Corvington, a professional trumpet player.

Stephen Laifer

Joined the RPO in 2012

Horn player Stephen Laifer was born in Honolulu, Hawaii into a military family, eventually settling in Syracuse, New York. Laifer began playing the horn relatively late as a sophomore in high school, deciding at the last minute to shelve a career in graphic design and pursue music instead. He studied horn at Ithaca College with John Covert, relocating to the West Coast after graduation to play in the U.S. Air Force Band, where he studied with David Krehbiel, former principal horn of the San Francisco Symphony. In 1990 he was named Co-Principal Horn with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra in South Africa, a position he held for 12 years. He also spent a year with the orchestra in Barcelona, Spain.

Laifer has worked with orchestras around the globe, touring and performing across Africa, Eastern and Western Europe, Singapore, and China. He was a member of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra from July 2005 until the orchestra’s closure in 2011. He joined the horn section of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as 4th Horn in September 2012. He is also an active educator, serving as an adjunct on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music as well as maintaining a regular private studio. Past clinician visits have included master classes given at Louisiana State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Laifer is currently a regular substitute player with the Charlotte Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also performed and toured extensively with the Albany Symphony, Singapore Symphony, and the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in Spain’s Canary Islands. Outside of music, Laifer is a devoted dog dad, keen hiker, mountain biker, and kayaker, grows more than 200 orchids, and is a busy freelance writer and editor.

Douglas Prosser

Joined the RPO in 1997

Douglas Prosser is a native of Kansas, born in Topeka in 1963. He received his collegiate musical training at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School of Music from 1981-1987 under the tutelage of Barbara Butler Charles Guyer, formerly of the Chicago Symphony and Mark Gould, principal trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera of New York. Prosser began his career in 1987 as the RPO’s third trumpet and was shortly thereafter named the principal trumpet of the City of Barcelona Symphony Orchestra in Barcelona, Spain. From 1987 to 1995, Prosser toured widely with the Barcelona ensemble throughout Europe and Asia and was featured frequently as a soloist with performances of trumpet concerti by Tomasi, Haydn, and Hummel. In 1995 he returned to the U.S. to rejoin the Rochester Philharmonic as principal trumpet, and in 1997 was appointed to the faculty of the Eastman School of Music as associate professor of trumpet and brass chamber music.

Most recently, Prosser served as acting associate principal trumpet with the Philadelphia Orchestra during their 2007 summer residency at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and has continued to perform with them as a guest musician on numerous occasions including two recent tours of China and Pope Francis’ recent visit to Philadelphia. Prosser has toured worldwide as an orchestral musician, chamber player, recitalist, and clinician, including performances in Tokyo, Osaka, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Leipzig, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Marseille, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Toronto, New York City, Boston, Miami, and Campeche, Mexico. Prosser’s orchestral and chamber performances can be heard on recordings of EMI Classics, harmonia mundi, and Eastman in Concert.

Wesley Nance

Joined the RPO in 1986

Wesley Nance holds the position of Second Trumpet with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and is in his 29th season, having won a position with the orchestra in 1986 at the age of 17. In addition to his section duties in the orchestra, he is frequently called on to play Principal Trumpet, and has been featured as a soloist with the orchestra on several occasions. Also a composer, he has had several pieces commissioned and premiered by the RPO over the last several years under the batons of Jeff Tyzik and Michael Butterman.

Nance holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer. For over 20 years he has been on the faculty of the Eastman Community Music School, where his trumpet studio is highly regarded, and he directs a trumpet ensemble made up of the finest pre-college players in the area.

An active chamber musician, Nance is a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Brass Quintet, and a frequent musical collaborator in the Rochester area. He has performed with the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, the Skaneateles Festival, and the Canandaigua Lake Chamber Music Festival, and  the Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble.

Nance is also the director of the music programs at the Charles Finney School in Penfield.

Outside of music, Wesley Nance enjoys espresso, wine, tennis, sailing, salsa dancing with his lovely wife (RPO Assistant Concertmaster Shannon Nance), and a good movie downstairs in the home theater, where he’s likely to be joined by Shannon and their four children.

Herbert Smith

Joined the RPO in 1991

Herb Smith is third trumpet with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a graduate of The Eastman School of Music and began playing in the orchestra after graduating in 1991.

He works with students through the Young Audiences of America and Rochester City School District Artist in Residence program. Smith travels all over upstate N.Y. doing workshops and presentations on classical music and the accessibility of this music for non-musicians. He also is a regular presenter on world music and jazz.

Smith also plays many gigs with his jazz quartet and is a frequent substitute player for the Chautauqua Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic orchestras. He is trumpet instructor for the Eastman Community Music School, and teaches trumpet from his home studio. He has played with many notable artists, including Al Jarreau, Natalie Cole, Doc Severinsen, and The O’Jays.

He also has played for many commercial jingles recorded in Rochester, N.Y. Other ventures include composing music for silent films, writing musical arrangements for local bands in the area, and a recent collaboration composing a full-length ballet for Garth Fagan Dance.

Paul Shewan

Paul Shewan has been a member of the RPO trumpet section since 1998. He also is a frequent guest conductor with the RPO, including the RPO’s inaugural side-by-side concert with community members in February 2014. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music education from Roberts Wesleyan and a master’s degree in trumpet performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music. He completed the doctoral degree in conducting from the Eastman School in 2004 where he has returned as a visiting associate professor of conducting and ensembles.

As professor of instrumental music at Roberts Wesleyan College, he conducts the orchestra and wind ensemble, and teaches trumpet and instrumental conducting. At the Eastman School, Shewan studied conducting with Mendi Rodan, Neil Varon, Donald Hunsberger, and Mark Scatterday. He has conducted the Varna Philharmonic Orchestra (Bulgaria), Concordia Santa Fe (New Mexico), the Syracuse Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

Shewan has performed frequently with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Solo appearances include performances of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto with the Equinox Symphony, J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 with members of the RPO and live broadcasts on WXXI Classical 91.5 FM radio’s Noontime at Hochstein (trumpet and conducting).

David Bruestle

Joined the RPO in 2016

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, David Bruestle joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in May, 2017 as Principal Trombone, after serving as Acting Principal Trombone since October, 2016.

David previously studied at the Eastman School of Music where he received a Bachelor of Music with High Distinction and was awarded the Performer’s Certificate. At Eastman, David had the privilege of studying with Dr. John Marcellus, international recording artist and former principal trombone of the National Symphony Orchestra. He then received his Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he studied with Dr. Per Brevig, a 26-year member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.\

David returned to Eastman to pursue the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts, studying with Mark Kellogg, his predecessor as principal trombone of the RPO, completing his course of study in May 2015. Before joining the RPO, David held the position of second trombone with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and principal trombone with the Erie Philharmonic. He has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Symphoria (Syracuse). David is honored to have participated in multiple recordings with the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

David resides in the Browncroft neighborhood with his wife Katie, an Eastman graduate in horn performance, who is currently pursuing an MD/PhD degree at the University of Rochester. In addition to playing the trombone, David enjoys cooking, birding, and cycling.

Lisa Albrecht

Joined the RPO in 2009

Lisa Albrecht joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2009 and also serves as and Principal Trombonist of Opera Saratoga.  She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where she received the Remington Scholarship and Performer’s Certificate. Albrecht also has held positions with the Minnesota Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, and Honolulu Symphony. For several years she served as Assistant Principal Trombonist of the New York Philharmonic. She has performed with several orchestras around the world, among them the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Metropolitan Opera, Czech National Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, St. Louis Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie.  Her Early Music credits include performances with Rebel Baroque Orchestra, New York Collegium, Spiritus Collective, and Early Music New York.  She has also enjoyed musical collaborations with the modern dance companies of Martha Graham, Mark Morris, and Eric Hawkins as well as with the American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet. Her opera credits include Glimmerglass, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera. Albrecht has also toured with several chamber groups, including the Summit Brass and Burning River Brass.  In 2012 she founded the Hohenfels Trombone Quartet.  During HTQ’s 2014 tour to Germany and Austria, she served as a cultural ambassador to Rochester’s International Sister City of Würzburg, Germany, featuring collaborations with organists and composers.

Her solo album, Sound & Resound (with organist Amanda R. Mole and Hohenfels Trombone Quartet) is now available from Apple Music, Amazon, cdbaby, Spotify, and via her website, www.albrechttrombone.com

A New York-based freelancer for 15 years, Albrecht performed in over 20 Broadway productions, among them: Candide, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, The Lion King, The Music Man, Hairspray, Urinetown, Nine, Fiddler on the Roof, The Three Penny Opera, A Chorus Line, and Spamalot.  Other commercial credits include performances with such legendary performers as Sarah Vaughan, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Barbara Cook, Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell, Cassandra Wilson, The Manhattan Transfer, Wynton Marsalis, Elvis Costello, Barry Manilow, Jack Lemmon, Bernadette Peters, Julie Andrews, Ute Lemper, Chita Rivera, Audra MacDonald, and Eartha Kitt.

As a recitalist and clinician, Albrecht has been a soloist with the Jupiter Symphony Players, the International Trombone Festival, Lieksa Brass Week (Finland), Eastern Trombone Workshop, New York Brass Conference, and the Eastman Summer Trombone Institute.  She has served on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and now maintains a private studio.  She is also the founder of Oktoberbones, whose spirited Volksmusik performances can be heard at an Oktoberfest venue near you!

Jeffrey Gray

Joined the RPO in 2011

Jeffrey Gray joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011 as a bass trombonist.  He previously held the same position with the Grant Park Orchestra of Chicago from 2003-2014, and the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra from 2000-2011.  Born and raised in Shelby, Ohio, Mr. Gray received a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Bowling Green State University in 1999.  He went on to pursue graduate study at The Juilliard School.  His teachers include Paul Hunt, Dennis Smith, and Don Harwood.

Mr. Gray has performed with the country’s top symphonic orchestras including those in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, Alabama, and Toledo.  He can be heard on multiple recordings with many of those orchestras, as well as the Juilliard Wind Ensemble.  He was also a member of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado in 2000.

Jeff made his solo debut with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in February of 2016 performing Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Bass Trombone with conductor Gunther Herbig.

In 2000, Mr. Gray was the winner of two international competitions; the Lewis Van Haney Philharmonic Prize and the Donald Yaxley Solo Competition, both sponsored by the International Trombone Association.  He is one of only a few trombonists to win both international competitions for bass trombone in the same year.  He was a featured soloist at the 2000 International Trombone Festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Mr. Gray serves on the faculty of Roberts Wesleyan College and the Eastman Community School.  He has also taught at Ithaca College and LeMoyne College.

Jeff and his wife, Julie, live in Brighton with their three children, Aurora, Noah, and Micah.

Jeffrey Gray

Joined the RPO in 2011

Jeffrey Gray joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011 as a bass trombonist.  He previously held the same position with the Grant Park Orchestra of Chicago from 2003-2014, and the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra from 2000-2011.  Born and raised in Shelby, Ohio, Mr. Gray received a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Bowling Green State University in 1999.  He went on to pursue graduate study at The Juilliard School.  His teachers include Paul Hunt, Dennis Smith, and Don Harwood.

Mr. Gray has performed with the country’s top symphonic orchestras including those in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, Alabama, and Toledo.  He can be heard on multiple recordings with many of those orchestras, as well as the Juilliard Wind Ensemble.  He was also a member of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado in 2000.

Jeff made his solo debut with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in February of 2016 performing Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Bass Trombone with conductor Gunther Herbig.

In 2000, Mr. Gray was the winner of two international competitions; the Lewis Van Haney Philharmonic Prize and the Donald Yaxley Solo Competition, both sponsored by the International Trombone Association.  He is one of only a few trombonists to win both international competitions for bass trombone in the same year.  He was a featured soloist at the 2000 International Trombone Festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Mr. Gray serves on the faculty of Roberts Wesleyan College and the Eastman Community School.  He has also taught at Ithaca College and LeMoyne College.

Jeff and his wife, Julie, live in Brighton with their three children, Aurora, Noah, and Micah.

W. Craig Sutherland

Joined the RPO in 2004

W. Craig Sutherland, a native of Clarence, N.Y., was appointed to the position of Principal Tubist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004. Prior to joining the RPO, he served as tubist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, in Charleston, S.C. Shortly after receiving his bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Michigan, Sutherland served as Principal Tubist with the Hofer Symphoniker and Rekkenze Brass Quintet, in Hof, Germany. Upon returning to the States, Sutherland was awarded a full scholarship to attend The Juilliard School where he earned his master's degree. In addition to his tenure with the RPO, he has also performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Seattle Symphony. Sutherland also spends his summers in Santa Fe, N.M. as a performing member of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.

Sutherland is an active music educator in the Rochester area, currently serving as Adjunct Professor of Tuba & Euphonium at Roberts Wesleyan College, and for the Greatbatch School of Music at Houghton College. He is also a faculty member at the Eastman Community Music School and the RPO low brass mentor for the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. In past summers, he has served on faculty at the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga, N.Y., in conjunction with performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and as a performing faculty member at the Brevard Music Center, in Brevard, N.C.

Charles Ross

Joined the RPO in 2003

Charles Ross has been the principal timpanist of the Rochester Philharmonic since 2003. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, he has performed, toured, and recorded as timpanist with many orchestras in the U.S. and abroad; among them include the Philadelphia Orchestra, La Scala Opera, Baltimore Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, RAI (Radio Orchestra) of Torino, (Italy), Chatauqua Festival Orchestra, and the Moscow and Philadelphia Chamber Orchestras, as well as with acclaimed Baroque ensembles, New York Collegium, VOX Amadeus, and the Philadelphia Classical Symphony.

Ross is on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music and the Brevard Music Center. He has also taught at the Curtis Institute of Music, Drexel University, and has given clinics and master classes for the Percussive Arts Society. His primary teachers have been Ken Belding, David Fein, Gerald Carlyss, Michael Bookspan, and Fred Hinger, as well as additional studies with Cloyd Duff, Saul Goodman, and Alan Abel.

In January, 2010, Ross gave his debut as timpani soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic, premiering a concerto written for him by Grammy Award-winning composer, producer, and conductor, Jeff Tyzik. Since then, he has given numerous performances of the piece, including one for public radio. In December 2015, he performed and recorded the concerto with the Eastman Wind Ensemble.

An accomplished jazz vibraphonist, Ross has performed a number of times as vibe soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic. As well, he actively performs in collaboration with Eastman colleagues, Michael Burritt, Howard Potter, and Jeff Campbell as the “Mallet Time Quartet”; additionally with his percussion colleagues of the Philharmonic, making up the “RPO Marimba Band”.

He is also the creator and manufacturer of RossTimp Kettledrum Mallets, currently used by professionals and students throughout the world. He is an affiliate artist and clinician with the Pearl/Adams Corporation, Evans/Daddario, JG Percussion, and Mike Balter Mallets.

Ross can be contacted for clinics, masterclasses, and lessons at [email protected], as well as through Tonerow.com.

Jim Tiller

Joined the RPO in 1995

Jim Tiller was appointed Principal Percussionist and Assistant Principal Timpanist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 1995. He joined the music faculty at SUNY Geneseo in 1996, where he directs all percussion studies and is conductor of the Geneseo Percussion Ensemble. He has also served as conductor of the Geneseo Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Tiller is director of the Percussion Ensembles Program at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance. He received his formal music education at the University of South Carolina and the Eastman School of Music. He earned the Master of Music degree in Percussion Performance and Literature, and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from Eastman in 1990, where he was a percussion student of John H. Beck and conducting student of David Effron. He completed the Bachelor of Music Education degree and Performer’s Certificate from the University of South Carolina in 1988, where he was a percussion student of James Hall.

Active in virtually all musical genres, Tiller has performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia. As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed for professional conventions and festivals, including those of the Percussive Arts Society, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, American Harp Society Conference, International Viola Congress, and International Double Reed Society, among others. He has been featured on WXXI’s Live from Hochstein, Eastman’s Faculty Artist Series, Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, Friends of Music, and Fortissimo! Tiller has recorded for harmonia mundi usa, Sony Music, NAXOS, ADMLive, Capstone, and other labels. He has also performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, South Carolina Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, and Binghamton Symphony, among others.

Jim Tiller

Joined the RPO in 1995

Jim Tiller was appointed Principal Percussionist and Assistant Principal Timpanist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 1995. He joined the music faculty at SUNY Geneseo in 1996, where he directs all percussion studies and is conductor of the Geneseo Percussion Ensemble. He has also served as conductor of the Geneseo Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Tiller is director of the Percussion Ensembles Program at the Hochstein School of Music and Dance. He received his formal music education at the University of South Carolina and the Eastman School of Music. He earned the Master of Music degree in Percussion Performance and Literature, and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from Eastman in 1990, where he was a percussion student of John H. Beck and conducting student of David Effron. He completed the Bachelor of Music Education degree and Performer’s Certificate from the University of South Carolina in 1988, where he was a percussion student of James Hall.

Active in virtually all musical genres, Tiller has performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia. As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed for professional conventions and festivals, including those of the Percussive Arts Society, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, American Harp Society Conference, International Viola Congress, and International Double Reed Society, among others. He has been featured on WXXI’s Live from Hochstein, Eastman’s Faculty Artist Series, Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, Friends of Music, and Fortissimo! Tiller has recorded for harmonia mundi usa, Sony Music, NAXOS, ADMLive, Capstone, and other labels. He has also performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, South Carolina Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, and Binghamton Symphony, among others.

Brian Stotz

Joined the RPO in 1977

Brian Stotz was appointed Second Percussionist with the RPO in 2000, and has been a member of the Orchestra since 1977. A Rochester native, he was timpanist/percussionist for numerous Broadway musicals performed at the Auditorium Theatre for many years, and was a member of the Pangaia Steel Drum Band. He is also owner/operator of Repaircussions, one of the world's leading percussion instrument service businesses. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he studied with long-time RPO Timpanist John Beck.

Kyle Peters

Kyle Peters is the percussion instructor at the Eastman Community Music School. He received his Master’s of Music in Performance and Literature, as well as the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, from the Eastman School of Music and his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam.

As a performer, Kyle has gained recognition as a well-rounded percussionist. Kyle is a member of the Rochester Philharmonic percussion section, guest principal percussionist with the Orchestra of Northern New York, timpanist of the Finger Lakes Opera (’18) and guest percussionist at the Skaneateles Music Festival. He has been a featured soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Marimba Band, Eastman Percussion Ensemble, Crane Symphony Orchestra, and Crane Wind Ensemble. As a chamber musician, Kyle is a member of the Leach - Peters Duo currently performing new works and arrangements for percussion - featured recently on the Eastman Summer Concert Series. He is also a member of the Morizio/Peters Duo, performing and commissioning new works for percussion and saxophone. Kyle was recently a featured performer in Bejing, China at the National Centre for the Performing Arts for a sold-out performance playing alongside Professor Michael Burritt.

Kyle’s education credits include teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level at SUNY Potsdam and director of percussion at Crane Youth Music. At the Eastman School of Music, Kyle held a teaching assistantship where he conducted the Chamber Percussion Ensemble, mentored undergraduate students, and taught the percussion methods courses at ESM. He is also the percussion instructor for the New Horizons program through ECMS.

Kyle has been a featured clinician at both the NYSSMA conference and New York State Band Directors Association symposium and presented masterclasses at the Eastman School of Music and the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.

His principal teachers have been Michael Burritt, James Ross, Chip Ross, Jim Petercsak, Sean Ritenauer, Ross Karre, Catherine Meunier and Ed Reifel.

Kyle is a Yamaha/Sabian Performing Artist.

Jillian Pritchard

Joined the RPO in 2000

Jillian Pritchard has played with the RPO percussion section since the 2000–01 season. She also performs with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed with the New World Symphony, Erie Philharmonic and the Chautauqua Symphony. Pritchard currently serves on the percussion faculties of Roberts Wesleyan College and Finger Lakes Community College and is a member of the RPO Marimba Band. She holds degrees from Northwestern University (MM) and the Eastman School of Music (BM), where she was also awarded the Performer's Certificate. Her primary teachers have included Michael Burritt, James Ross, and John Beck.

Grace Browning

Praised for her “superb technical acumen and sensitive musicality” (South Florida Classical Review), Grace Browning has quickly established herself as a versatile ensemble harpist, dynamic soloist, and passionate teaching artist. Equally at home with both symphonic and operatic repertoire, Grace was appointed Principal Harpist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017 and the Santa Fe Opera in 2015. She can be heard on both ensemble’s GRAMMY award-winning albums: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and American Rapture.

Her love for opera began in 2014 when Grace won her first position as Principal Harpist of The Dallas Opera. In 2018, she made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera, performing Puccini’s Tosca, Bizet’s Carmen, and Wagner’s Siegfried. During her time in Texas, she regularly pe

rformed with the Dallas Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and was invited to perform as Guest Principal during the Houston Symphony’s 2018 European Tour. She has participated in music festivals around the globe, including the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival USA, Aspen Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, and the National Repertory Orchestra.

A natural and charismatic presence on stage, Grace has performed as a soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, New World Symphony, and the National Repertory Orchestra.  In 2015, she won the Young Texas Artist’s First Prize for Winds, Brass, Percussi

on & Harp, as well as the Aspen Music Festival Harp Concerto Competition. After completing her three-year fellowship at the New World Symphony in 2014, Grace was invited to return as both soloist and coach and had the honor to perform as a featured alumna for the Michael Tilson Thomas 70th Birthday Gala.  As a chamber musician, she collaborates regularly with the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Chatter ABQ.

Originally from Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, Grace received her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School in 2011, following two years at the University of Michigan (B.M. 2009) and two years at the Eastman School of Music. In her spare time, Grace enjoys practicing yoga, singing in the Third Presbyterian Church choir, and spoiling her sweet rescue dog, Annie.

Rosanna Moore

Often described as a quirky and engaging performer, who is fully at home on stage both as a harpist, and as a storyteller and actor, Rosanna Moore, has made it her aim to combine theatre and music wherever possible. She has recently had success in multiple international competitions such as being first harpist to be a finalist at the Gold Medal Competition at RNCM (the highest accolade offered for solo performance), won the Stan Baker award for jazz improvisation, was a semifinalist in the Dutch Harp Competition and placed third at both the Welsh International Jazz and Pop Harp Competition and Tierra47’s International Pedal Harp Competition.

In addition to performing with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Rosanna can often be seen with ensembles such as Ensemble Signal, Slee Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Symphoria and Buffalo Philharmonic. She was invited to give the opening solo recital at the Sentmentat International Harp Festival in 2018. In 2020, she will appear for the fourth year as principal harp with the Lake George Music Festival, NY.

As an actress, she has worked as a narrator for orchestras and ensembles in addition to doing voice over work. In a combination of both art forms, she has worked with trombonist/actor John Kenny, was awarded honorable mention in the Eastman Lecture Recital Prize for her research and performance into the choreography used in R. Murray Schafer’s Crown of Ariadne and created a Vaudeville harp show entitled ‘Roll Up, Roll Up’, presenting theatrical harp works and storytelling, which won her a spot in the Dutch Harp Competition’s semifinal in 2018 . Her research into the relationship between music and theatrical performance practices will be published in Contemporary Music Review in 2020 and presented at the World Harp Congress in Cardiff, 2020. Rosanna also provides workshops to musicians on stage presence and etiquette and the use of acting techniques from theatre practitioners to further musical expression.

As a passionate advocate for new music, Rosanna pesters composers until they write for her! This has lead to two world premieres of concerti, the US premiere of David Horne’s Splintered Instruments and Amy Victoria Nam’s Somewhere to Elsewhere, a show entitled God Complex with her percussion and harp duo Sticks&Strings , an upcoming recording project with her flute, viola, harp trio, Trio Alexander , and new theatrical commissions with her Hats+Heels bassoon and harp duo . Since 2017, she has served as a harpist consultant for the Future Blend Project, an innovative and collaborative composition competition. She also served in a number of roles on the executive board of OSSIA New Music collective, including as President in the lead up to the organization's 20th anniversary season. In addition to performing, Rosanna is also Professor of Harp at Nazareth College and the Harp Instructor at the Eastman Community Music School. In these roles, she works to bring the harp to as many students as possible and teaches students of all ages and abilities. She was recently elected as President of the Rochester Chapter of the American Harp Society.

Rosanna recently completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree with the Performer’s Certificate, an Arts Leadership Certificate and a minor in theatre at the Eastman School of Music, supported by the Eileen Malone Scholarship. She previously studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music. Her wonderful mentors throughout the years have been Kathleen Bride and Eira Lynn Jones.

Chiao-Wen Cheng

A versatile musician and educator, Taiwanese pianist Chiao-Wen Cheng has performed as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician in major venues throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Cheng has become a sought-after collaborative partner through her sensitive playing, vibrant sound colors, and detailed voicing. Cheng has performed with violinist Juliana Athayde, Yoojin Jang, Renée Jolles, and Robin Scott, cellist Steve Doane, Guy Johnston, and Astrid Schween, and members of many major orchestras. She has also performed at the Aspen Music Festival, the Atlantic Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, the International Bass Convention, International Trombone Festival, International Viola Congress, society for Chamber Music in Rochester, Seattle Symphony Chamber Music Series, Seattle Trombone Workshop, and the Southeast Trombone Symposium. Since 2019, Cheng has been an Artist-Faculty Piano Collaborator at the Perlman Music Program. In 2022, she was hired as the Collaborative Pianist for the U.S. premier of Tan Dun’s trombone concerto.

Cheng’s solo engagements include concerto performances with the Fort Worth Symphony, Greece Symphony, and Taiwan Shin-Min Orchestra, as well as solo recitals in major venues. Cheng has won numerous piano competitions and awards, including the Clara Ascherfeld Award in Excellence in Accompanying at Peabody Institute (2009); the Excellence in Accompanying Award at the Eastman School of Music (2010); and first prizes in the the Piano Texas International Academy and Festival Concerto Competition (2010) and the Schubert Club Competition (2012).

Cheng began piano lessons with her aunt at the age of four. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as a student of Frank Weinstock, where she received a Van Cliburn Scholarship. She completed her master’s degree at Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University as a student of Benjamin Pasternack, where she received a full scholarship. Cheng holds a doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she was a student and teaching assistant of Barry Snyder. At Eastman, Cheng was also the recipient of a graduate assistantship as a collaborative pianist and large ensemble pianist. Cheng is currently an Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Eastman School of Music. She joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra as a Principal Keyboard in 2022.

Cary Ratcliff

Joined the RPO in 1973

A native of California, Cary Ratcliffe settled in Rochester after attending the Eastman School of Music, where he studied composition with Joseph Schwantner and Samuel Adler, contemporary piano with David Burge, and accompanied in the voice studio of Jan DeGaetani. He served for three seasons as conductor for Eastman’s Musica Nova program and Graduate Chamber Orchestra. For 10 years, he served as Composer-in-Residence at the Strasenburgh Planetarium, where he created orchestral soundtracks for the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.

Ratcliffe’s original compositions include the opera Eleni (selected by New York City Opera for the 2008 VOX concert showcase) and Mice and Beans (an opera for children’s chorus). Recordings include Kathryn Lewek sings Cary Ratcliff (an album of artsongs), and Mitzie Collins’ widely-selling album Rejoice, Virtuosic Carols for Flute, Harp, and Hammer Dulcimer.

His oratorio Ode to Common Things (set to poetry by Pablo Neruda) is currently in recording for the harmonia mundi label. Chamber works include Gitanjali Dances for Flute and Piano, and Grasshopper Dances for Saxophone and Strings. His Viola Concerto won the ASCAP Nissim Prize for Best New American Orchestral work.

Ratcliff is Artistic Director of Madrigalia chamber choir, based in Rochester NY, and currently serves as Music Director for Bethany Presbyterian Church. In 2014, he released two albums with the Madrigalia chamber choir which will include his new EE Cummings Madrigals.

He and his wife Marjorie Relin enjoy biking, folk dancing, gardening, traveling, and spending time with their seven grandchildren.

For more information, visit RatcliffMusic.com and EleniTheOpera.com.

Fred Dole

Joined the RPO in 2012

Fred Dole is currently Section Double Bass in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and also performs with the Richmond Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and West Virginia Symphony Orchestras, and the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble (ACE), of which he was a founding member. He also has been Professor of Double Bass at Virginia Commonwealth University and the College of William and Mary. Previously, he was a freelance musician throughout the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area, and has played in numerous orchestras and chamber groups in the area. In 2003, Dole was chosen as a Peabody String Fellow, which allowed him to travel to Singapore to help open the Young Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and to perform with the Singapore Symphony. He received his Masters of Music from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Md., where he studied with Paul Johnson and had additional studies with John Hood and Rob Kesselman. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with Michael Cameron and had additional studies with Catalin Rotaru.

Kim Hartquist

Joined the RPO in 1996

Kim Hartquist has just completed her 10th year as Music Librarian for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She is also the Librarian for RPO Principal Pops Conductor, Jeff Tyzik. Born and raised in Rochester, she considers herself extremely fortunate to be librarian for her hometown orchestra. Her librarian experience started in the 7th grade, thanks to a teacher who saw an organized student, and continued throughout grade school and into college. With a bachelor's degree in music education/trombone from SUNY Fredonia, Hartquist went on to teach briefly before finding her true calling as Music Librarian for the RPO.

Adventures along the way also include working at various music stores selling everything from instruments to print music, and years of experience as a professional music copyist. Hartquist is also an active member of the Major Orchestra Librarians' Association (MOLA). In her spare time, you can find her kayaking or hiking while searching for interesting birds.