Contact:  Meg Whalen, Director of Public Relations
E: megw@charlottesymphony.org
P: 704-714-5114
W: www.charlottesymphony.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                           April 22, 2011

Four Charlotte Symphony Musicians to Retire this Season
Principal Second Violinist Wolfgang Roth was orchestra’s first full-time salaried player

Four longtime Charlotte Symphony musicians will retire from the orchestra at the end of the 2010-2011 season: Cellist Dorothy Cole, Principal Violist Ali Kavadlo, Principal Harpist Bette Roth, and Principal Second Violinist Wolfgang Roth.

A native of Seattle, Washington, Dorothy Cole began playing the cello in elementary school and studied cello at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. She joined the Charlotte Symphony in 1977. New Mexico native Ali Kavadlo studied at the University of New Mexico and the University of Southern California. She and her husband, CSO Principal Clarinetist Gene Kavadlo, came to the Charlotte Symphony in 1975.

Bette Roth grew up in rural Missouri near Kansas City and studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. In 1968, she joined a tour of the North Carolina Symphony, where she met Wolfgang, who had been born and educated in Germany. The two were married in 1969 and came to Charlotte in 1971, when Wolfgang was hired as the Charlotte Symphony’s first full-time musician and Bette as a per-service musician with the orchestra. In 1983, Bette also became a full-time musician with the Charlotte Symphony.

“These four musicians have dedicated their professional careers to this community, not only as faithful members of the Charlotte Symphony, but as teachers and performers in multiple capacities,” said Charlotte Symphony Executive Director Jonathan Martin. “They are fine examples of the extraordinary contributions that our orchestra members make to Charlotte. The Charlotte Symphony honors them for their years of excellent service.”

The musicians will be recognized in special presentations at the season’s final Classics series concerts on May 6 and 7. They will officially retire at the end of the summer season following the July 3 concert at Symphony Park.

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