Charlotte Symphony Orchestra

Assistant Principal Violist Sacha Barlow arrived in October '06 from London, England, where she had been freelancing with a number of British orchestras. Sacha studied at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School in the UK and holds a Bachelors degree in violin performance from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Her studies on viola have included private lessons with Robert Vernon, Principal Violist of the Cleveland Orchestra. After receiving her undergraduate degree, Sacha returned to England and pursued a Masters degree in psychotherapy and Counseling.

She is a licensed therapist in the UK. Her leisure time activities include skiing, trekking (hiking, to us Yanks!), friendly gossip, eating sushi and making friends with stray dogs in the park. When asked about her favorite piece of music
performed with the CSO, she said, "Christmas Medley!.....Just kidding."

Principal percussionist Peyton Becton grew up in Morehead City and is one of the very few native North Carolineans in the Charlotte Symphony.

He was interested in the drums from a very young age and began playing
at the age of eleven. Music was always a very strong interest for Peyton, but it wasn't until college that he really began to develop an interest in symphonic music.

Peyton earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree from East Carolina University. He has been the CSO's Principal Percussionist since 1977. Other orchestras with which Peyton has performed include the Eastern Philharmonic, the Greensboro Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony. His favorite composers include Mahler, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Copland. In his free time Peyton enjoys astronomy, cycling and tropical fish.

Alan Black is in his twenty-fourth season as Principal Cellist with the Charlotte Symphony. His performance experience covers the complete spectrum of music; from classical music including chamber music, solo recitals, and concertos with the Charlotte Symphony, to appearing on stage as a soloist and chamber musician with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, Bobby McFerrin, Van Cliburn Gold Medal pianist Jon Nakamatsu, and fiddler Mark O’Connor. He has performed all over the Southeast, including chamber music concerts at famed Spivey Hall near Atlanta, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. In addition, he has performed recitals and concerts in Europe with violinist Liviu Prunaru, Concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and recording artist and pianist Dana Protopopescu, on the faculty of the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles in Brussels. From 2006-2008 Alan coached and performed with Liviu and Dana in the Corso Internazionale di Musica da Camera in Tuscania, Italy. In December 2006, Alan traveled to Belgium to play a four recital tour with Dana that was sponsored in part by a Regional Artist Project Grant from the Arts & Science Council of Mecklenburg County.

Alan has been actively involved in many highly successful musical projects in North Carolina. He founded Chamber Music at St. Peter’s in 1996, and four years ago started a very successful summer Teen Chamber Music Workshop that now resides at Christ Episcopal Church. He also coaches and performs in the Chapel Hill Chamber Music Workshop for Adults each May, previously has conducted and coached the orchestra for the Charlotte Community School of the Arts Band and Orchestra Camp in July, and currently teaches at Gardner-Webb University and Davidson College.

In Charlotte, Mr. Black has received many awards, including the prestigious $5,000 Mecklenburg County Arts & Science Council Fellowship in 1997 and an Emerging Artists Grant in 1990. In 2001 he was honored by the Charlotte Observer's year-end review for his contribution to the arts community as Founder of Chamber Music at St. Peter’s, and he also received the 2001 Spirit Award, a yearly award given by the Charlotte Mint Museum and Royal & SunAlliance to recognize those whose involvement and commitment to the arts have made a significant impact on the quality of life in the Charlotte community.

Alan graduated in 1980 from UCLA, and received a Masters Degree from Indiana University in 1983, where he was a teaching assistant to Fritz Magg. Other teachers include former Principal Cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Ronald Leonard, Jeffrey Solow, Gary Hoffman, and most recently, David Hardy, Principal Cellist of the National Symphony in Washington D.C. As a student he also appeared in masterclasses with such notable musicians as Leonard Bernstein, James Buswell, Bernard Greenhouse, and Janos Starker.

Mr. Black performs on a 1995 Moes & Moes cello, originally built for and owned by
Yo-Yo Ma.

Violinist Evelyn Blalock is a true native, having been born and raised in Charlotte! She began her violin studies in the Charlotte public schools after being inspired by a Charlotte Symphony Education concert.

She was in the fourth grade when she heard the CSO. She chose to play
the violin specifically because her grandfather was a violinist. Evelyn graduated from East Mecklenburg High School and attended Winthrop College. Her violin studies were at the North Carolina School of the Arts. As a college student she played part-time with the Charlotte Symphony then took a hiatus before returning to the orchestra in the early 80's. When Evelyn returned, she won a national audition for a full-time position in the violin section.

Evelyn has been married to Bob Blalock, the CSO's fourth Horn Player, for twenty-two years and she has a son, Bill who is a UNC Chapel Hill graduate. The Blalock's have two therapy dogs who go with Evelyn and her violin when she volunteers for Hospice.

Robert Blalock began his musical career as a fifth grade band student in the Charlotte public schools. His first instrument was the trumpet, but in the sixth grade he heard the beautiful French horn solo of Stravinsky's "Firebird" Suite, performed at an education concert by the Charlotte Symphony, and was "hooked". He switched to the horn within one week. Bob was further inspired when he began studying privately with the then principal trombonist of the CSO, Joe Belk. The great training he received and the fun he enjoyed playing in the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra led him to pursue a degree in Music at East Carolina University where he studied with James Parnell.

After graduating from college, Bob did further studies on the horn with Ernani Angelucci, who was the fourth horn player with the Cleveland Orchestra. He was lucky in winning a Horn position with the Charlotte Symphony in 1974. In 1985 Bob married CSO violinist Evelyn Blalock, which he says is, "the best thing I have ever gotten out of this job."

He currently teaches private horn lessons at his home after teaching for many years at Limestone College, Davidson College and at Winthrop University. He is a founding member of the Brass Charlotte quintet, along with several other CSO musicians, and serves as the Symphony's fourth hornist.

She holds degrees from Boston Conservatory and Northwestern University and has played with the London Philharmonic, the Milwaukee Symphony, and the Civic Orchestra Chicago, among others.

Festivals include Tanglewood, Aspen, Spoleto, and most recently, the Lucerne Music Festival. She enjoys cooking and yoga and has performed with rapper Kanye West, outfitted in a tiny hot pink vinyl dress and matching hi-top reebok sneakers!

Susan Blumberg has been a member of the Charlotte Symphony violin section since 1987. She grew up in the DC area and is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland. She was a recipient of the full tuition Liberace Scholarship in 1981-1982. Her principal teacher was Charles Libove. Other teachers included Felix Galimir, Herbie Greenberg, Jacques Israelievitch, and Karen Lawrence. Her chamber music coaches have included Berl Senofsky, American String Quartet, Alexander and Mischa Schneider and Jaime Laredo. Susan has participated in music festivals such as the Schneider Seminar and Spoleto in Charleston, South Carolina and in Italy. She has played with the Baltimore, National and North Carolina Symphonies. Earlier in her career, she played in the OFUNAM Orchestra in Mexico City. She has been a member of Carolina Chamber Players since 1988 and teaches privately.

Since 1993, Susan has been designing a program to teach violin to special needs children and works with the students at the Metro School in Charlotte. Her favorite pastimes include reading, knitting and reading chamber music with friends. She loves spending time with her friends, playing with her dogs Skyler and Libby and, most of all, getting clobbered in chess by her 12-year old son Sean.

Violinist Monica Boboc was born in Roumania in 1968. She gave her first performance as a soloist with a professional orchestra at the age of 14 and completed her musical studies at the Bucharest Music Conservatory, where she was later appointed Assistant Professor in Chamber Music. As a member of the Lipatti String Quartet, Ms. Boboc won fourth prize in the London International String Quartet Competition, Second Prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in South Bend (IN) and was silver medalist in the D. Shostakovich
International String Quartet Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. The quartet was invited by the Dimitri Shostakovich Foundation to perform in Paris for the 90th anniversary of the composer's birth. Ms. Boboc toured extensively in the US and collaborated with artists such as Lynn Harell, Jon Nakamatsu, Andres Cardenes, Itzhak Schotten, Wolfgang Laufer, the Fine Arts Quartet and Desmond Hoebig.

In the summer of 1998, Ms. Boboc became a member of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. She was Associate Concertmaster and later Concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra from 2000 until 2002, and a member of the Montclaire String Quartet from 2003 until 2004. She joined her husband, Concertmaster Calin Lupano, in the
Charlotte Symphony in 2004.

Jane Hart Brendle has been a member of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra since 1995. She is also the associate librarian of the Charlotte Symphony.

Jane is known for her ability to perform a variety of music styles in many ensemble settings, and she is sought after by area recording studios for impromptu performances and for her string arrangements of diverse styles of music. Some of her work released on CD includes Claire Ritter’s Waltzing the Splendor; From the Bottom, with folk/rock composer and singer Rick Spreitzer; All One World, and Watching for Rain, with pianist Anne Trenning; Walk a Different Line, with the folk/alternative rock group Tesser; and A Queen City Christmas with Carolina Strings.

Jane holds Master of Music, Bachelor of Music, and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she studied with David Moskovitz.

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, Second Trombonist Thomas Burge has been a member of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra since February 2006.

Tom has played with many orchestras in the United States and Australia, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Melbourne and Sydney Symphony, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Tom received his BM from the Australian National University, where he also worked as Professor of Trombone and Head of the Brass Department. He also has a MM degree from Juilliard, and is on faculty at Davidson College.

Tom has been a conductor of choirs and bands in his 'previous lives' and is involved with music from every angle. When he isn't performing, conducting, or speaking about music he is 'riding the waves' on either coast.

Violinist Emily Chatham learned to play the violin as a Suzuki kid in the Louisville, KY area, where she was born and raised. She was a student of Elaine Richey at the NC School of the Arts , where she earned a Bachelors degree in Violin Performance. She has made Charlotte her home since 1996. Emily is a passionate Baroque violinist as well. She has studied and performed with Tafelmusik in Toronto, The Vancouver Early Music Programme in Vancouver BC, the Amherst Baroque Music festival, the Oberlin Baroque Music Program and in 2007 was awarded an Arts and Science performance grant to study and perform at the Longy International Baroque Institute in Boston, Massachusetts.

Another of Emily's interests is cooking for friends and family. She always hosts a big CSO Thanksgiving dinner every year, claiming that her "Therapy " is to stuff people with lots of food! Additionally, Emily has studied Belly dancing with Zarifa for 7 years and hopes to take up Flamenco in the future. Emily volunteers with several organizations through Temple Beth El and is also a Math and Literacy tutor at Lansdowne Elementary. She and her husband, David Hansen, have 3 children, Alexandra, Gabriel, and Sophia. Visit Emily's site--CAROLINA CHAMBER PLAYERS www.ccplayers.com

New to the Charlotte Symphony as of November is oboist Erica Cice from
Natick, Massachusetts. She comes from a musical family and has played
the piano longer than she has played the oboe. Erica's early oboe studies were with Ron Kaye and Wayne Rapier.

She did her undergraduate studies at Temple University where she studied with Louis Rosenblatt and she has interrupted her graduate studies with famed oboe teacher Richard Woodhams to come to Charlotte after winning the CSO's national oboe auditions last summer.

So far her favorite piece played with the CSO is Bartok"s "Concerto for Orchestra". Her leisure time activities include playing the piano, cooking, skiing and aural music theory.

Erica is the newest (and probably the youngest) member of the Symphony.
This is her first full-time orchestral position. Welcome to Charlotte, Erica!

As a young child growing up in Seattle, Dorothy was enchanted with the cello. She began taking lessons and by high school was a member of the Seattle Youth Symphony. Following graduation, she caught the train to Rochester, New York and continued her cello studies at Eastman School of Music.

Early professional work was with orchestras in Colorado and New York state. After moving to North Carolina, she performed with the Eastern Music Festival and the Greensboro Symphony before joining the Charlotte Symphony in 1977. Charlotte has been her home ever since. A high point of her Charlotte Symphony tenure was a performance of the Brahms' Second Piano Concerto in which she played the famous cello solo.

Dorothy plays an English cello made by Benjamin Banks in 1778. When not performing with the CSO, Dorothy is likely to be making pottery at Clayworks or volunteering at Hospice. Dorothy has two grown children; Matthew, a paramedic for Durham County and Rebecca, a cellist with the Virginia Symphony (formerly principal cellist of the Charlotte Youth Symphony) and mother of Benjamin, Dorothy's extraordinary grandson.

David Daugherty, originally from Kingsport, TN, received his undergraduate training at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and earned a Master of Music in Performance degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. David is the Associate Principal Trumpet player with the Charlotte Symphony, and has been a full time member of the orchestra since 1976. Additionally he was Orchestra Personnel Manager for CSO from 1983 through 1996 and has performed with various ensemble groups in the area.

David and his wife Jan first met as musicians in the Charlotte Symphony, where she also performed as their Assistant Principal Violist for more than ten years. They have three daughters: Sarah, Allison, and Juliana who is currently a second year student at UNC Chapel Hill. David and Jan live in Saluda, NC where Jan owns and operates Top of the Mornin' Music. She is also the Assistant Principal Violist with the Asheville Symphony and teaches numerous violin and viola students as a certified Suzuki instructor. David and Jan are both active runners and enjoy an occasional hike in the NC
mountains.

Cellist Susan Davis is a rarity in the CSO, as she's a native Charlottean and an alumnus of our Youth Orchestra. She is an honors graduate of the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and did additional studies with highly acclaimed 'cellist Gabor Rejto at the Music Academy of the West.

Additionally, Susan was a recipient of a fellowship award for 'cello studies at the Boston Symphony's Tanglewood Institute.

Before coming to the CSO, she was the Principal 'cellist of the Charleston Symphony and played in the Savannah Symphony. Susan's favorite work played with the CSO is the Verdi "Requiem" and her hobbies include surfing, swimming and designing web sites.

Drucilla DeVan joined the Charlotte Symphony in 1985. While receiving her Bachelor of Music degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Dru studied with Alan Balter, the principal clarinetist of the Atlanta Symphony. Afterward, she studied in Belgium with the prominent European clarinetist, Walter Boeykens, and received a Diplome D’Honneur in chamber music from the International Academy of Music in Nice, France.

Before joining the Charlotte Symphony, Dru served as regular extra clarinet for the Atlanta Symphony, principal clarinetist for the Atlanta Lyric Opera, and as a member and soloist for the Savannah Symphony. She also taught clarinet at several institutions including Davidson College, Queens University and Community School of the Arts.

Currently, Dru is also a member of a reed trio called TreVent, which performs regularly in the Charlotte area. The group has also recorded a CD of previously unrecorded reed trio music, offering fans the opportunity to hear music by French composers of the twentieth century.

In her spare time, Dru enjoys swimming and fishing off the North Carolina coast, crossword puzzles, bicycle riding, and golfing. She also teaches private clarinet lessons.

Double bassist Pete Duca was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio and began playing the bass in high school.

He went on to study music at Youngstown State University where he received a Bachelors degree in Music Education and a Masters degree in Bass performance.

Pete's primary teacher was David Perlman, principal Bassist with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Pete joined the Charlotte Symphony in September 1975. He was ordained
a Permanent Deacon by the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte inn 1988. He and his wife, Martha have three grown children.

Violinist Tara Fensom grew up in Rochester, New York and began playing violin at the tender age of three. This was largely due to the influence of her mother, a performing pianist and teacher. She went on to study at the renowned Juilliard school of music in New York City where she earned both bachelors and Masters of Music degrees.

At Juilliard she studied with Dorothy Delay and with Hyo Kang. Before coming to the CSO in the fall of 2003, Tara was a member of the New World Symphony and the Virginia Symphony.

She is currently a regular "sub" with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Tara says that as to her favorite works played with the CSO it would be any piece by Bach, Brahms or Richard Strauss.

She particularly enjoyed playing Strauss' "Don Juan" and his "Four Last Songs" done with Renee Fleming. In her leisure time, Tara enjoys reading, swimming, studying Art History, golfing (which she says she "needs to practice more!") watching movies and spending time with her husband Chris, who is a trumpet player.

A native North Carolinian, Ellen Ferdon has been a section violist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra since 1984. She is also currently a member of Carolina Strings.

Previously, Ellen played with the Piedmont Chamber Symphony; the Winston-Salem, Greensboro and North Carolina Symphonies; and spent summers playing at the Aspen Music Festival and the International Music Program. She has also played baroque viola with Ensemble Vita Nova.

Ellen received her Bachelor of Music degree from the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston Salem and studied with Sally Peck. She also attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for a year before transferring.

Some of her favorite pieces performed with the Charlotte Symphony include collaborations the Orchestra has done with the North Carolina Dance Theater and the Charlotte Repertory Theater, such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, and Carmina Burana.

In her spare time, Ellen enjoys yoga and beading as well as “Food TV” and “Lost.” She is also married to Jeff Ferdon, who is a bass player with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. They have one son, Alden.

Charlotte Symphony double bassist Jeff Ferdon began his musical studies with Donald Hergert and Ole Nelson in his hometown of Duluth, Minnesota. While in high school he was a member of the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra and spent his summers studying at the Symphony School of America. In 1979 Jeff was a finalist in the Minnesota Orchestra’s WAMSO competition and, as a finalist, was awarded a scholarship position at the North Carolina School of the Arts for studies with Lynn Peters. He received NCSA’s Vittorio Giannini Prize in 1983 and graduated in 1984. While a student at NCSA he was a bassist with the Greensboro and Winston-Salem Symphonies.

Jeff joined the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in 1985 and in 1998 was named to the position of "3rd chair/non-rotating bassist." The unusual title means that while he generally plays in the bass section he also takes on the responsibilities of Principal and Assistant Principal Bass as the need arises.

Since joining the CSO Jeff has remained active throughout the region as a chamber musician and soloist. He regularly appears on the concert series of Providence United Methodist Church and Chamber Music at St. Peter's. He has also given numerous performances as a featured soloist with the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Jeff's love for music of the Renaissance and Baroque led him to study viola da gamba with Martha Bishop and Brent Wissick. He plays viola da gamba and Baroque double bass as a member of Ensemble Vita Nova and has appeared with other early music ensembles including Wild Rose, Blue Castello and Carolina Pro Musica. This past year he has teamed up with CSO musician Tom Burge, who is a wonderful tenor, to perform songs by John Dowland and Henry Purcell.

In addition to his work as a performer Jeff also teaches privately, is a Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra coach and an adjunct instructor of double bass at Davidson College.

Jeff's wife, Ellen, is a violist in the Charlotte Symphony and they have a wonderful son, Alden. Away from music Jeff is an assistant cross country coach for East Mecklenburg High School and enjoys running, reading and working word puzzles.

Violist Cindy Frank came to the CSO in 1996 and is in her tenth season. Her family was originally from Wisconsin, but she was born in California and moved frequently during her childhood. She was mostly raised in New England but also lived in Texas for twelve years. Cindy began her music studies at the New School in Philadelphia along with her two sisters and a brother.

Together they made up a quartet. She finished high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts and holds a Bachelors degree from Boston University and a graduate degree from Rice University. She has spent many summers at Meadowmount and at Tanglewood and has played in the Corpus Christi Symphony, the Houston ballet, the Houston Opera, the Savannah Symphony and the Fort Worth Symphony.

She has frequently "subbed" with the Houston Symphony and spends her summers playing with the Chautauqua Symphony in western New York State. Cindy says it's difficult to choose a favorite piece played with the CSO. She loves big Romantic pieces by composers such as Brahms, Mahler and Tchaikovsky and, of course, the classics by Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn. When she has free time, Cindy enjoys all water sports, especially swimming and boating. She owns her own boat! She also likes to hike in the mountains with her family and her Border Collie, Romeo. She loves to travel, particularly to historic places and is an amateur potter.

Flutist and piccolo player Erinn Frechette joined the Charlotte Symphony in 2002. Previously, she has also performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Kentucky Symphony and the Charleston Symphony.

Erinn began playing the flute when she was nine and went on to attend Broad Ripple Performing Arts High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. After high school, Erinn completed a Bachelor of Music degree at Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She is currently finishing a Doctoral degree at the University of Cincinnati as well.

Other accomplishments include winning third place in the Flute Talk Competition and becoming the only person in the history of the National Flute Association to win first place in both the Young Artist Flute Competition and Piccolo Artist Competition.

When she is not playing with the Symphony, Erinn enjoys reading, travel, cooking, biblical archeology, history, watching The Young and The Restless, and spending time with her husband, Martin House, and their dogs, Ginger and Moxie.

A native of Michigan City, IN, Martha Geissler began studying violin and piano thru the public school system. She attended Valparaiso University (Valparaiso, IN), where she studied with Betty Gehring and received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1976. From there, she went on to the Savannah Symphony (1976 - 79); Augusta, GA, Symphony (concertmaster, 1979 - 81) and, since 1981, section violin with the Charlotte Symphony.

Ms. Geissler, also a violist, currently plays as an extra musician with SC Philharmonic:, Greenville, SC, Symphony; Asheville Symphony and North Carolina Symphony in addition to her work with the CSO.

She is an avid chamber music player and in addition to her musical career, also is a licensed (LMBT #1347) massage therapist, having received her degree from Southeastern School of Neuromuscular and Massage Therapy in Charlotte in 1999.

Ms Giles began violin studies as a Suzuki kid at the age of five. Her love of music led to summers at Brevard Music Center with Mary Daniels, and High School and College degrees under Elaine Richey at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Following a desire for adventure and chamber music, she then pursued a Masters Degree in Chamber Music at the San Francisco Conservatory. During her years in San Francisco she was privileged to work and perform with many wonderful musicians including Mark Sokol, Ian Swensen, and Robert Mann.

A meeting and performance with Minnesota Concertmaster Jorja Fleezanis lured her away from California to the frozen Midwest, where she spent several years studying with Mrs. Fleezanis, as well as performing with the Minnesota Opera, and freelancing with the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Ms Giles joined the Charlotte Symphony as assistant Concertmaster in the 2006-2007 season. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and baking, spoiling her cats, and horseback riding.

Richard Goldfaden, second horn player for the Symphony, joined the orchestra in September of 1985.

While earning his Bachelor of Music-Performance from the University of Michigan, Richard played the horn in the Toledo Symphony and continued playing with them after graduating in 1978. After leaving Ohio in 1979, Richard joined OFUNAM in Mexico City, where he remained until he became a member of the Charlotte Symphony.

Besides performing with the Symphony, Richard enjoys a wide variety of outdoor activities including running, bicycling, hiking, kayaking and relaxing by the lake in Northern Ontario. He also sings tenor and plays the hand bells at Selwyn Avenue Presbyterian Church, where his wife, who is also a musician, is the director of music.

Mary Beth (Betsy) Griglak, principal bassoon, earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and is a winner of ESM's Performers Certificate. While attending Yale University as a graduate assistant and performing with the New Haven Symphony, she was appointed Principal Bassoon with the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Costa Rica. After joining the Charlotte Symphony, she competed and was a semifinalist in the International Bassoon Competition in Toulon, France. Betsy has performed as soloist with the American Wind Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the OSN of Costa Rica, as well as numerous appearances with the CSO. She has been a faculty member of Winthrop University and Davidson College, has taught privately for many years, and is active in the local chamber music scene.

Having previously served a one-year appointment with the CSO, Richard Harris returns to serve as Second Trumpet, a tenure-track position won through national audition.

A graduate of Texas Tech University (BM) and Southern Methodist University (MM), Rich has played with the Dallas Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, and the Seoul Philharmonic, among others.

Jennifer Humphreys

Cellist Jennifer Humphreys grew up in a musical family in Owensboro, Kentucky and began taking cello lessons at the age of 6. After graduating from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, she went on to study at Rice University, where she received her bachelors and masters degrees as a student of Lynn Harrell. Jennifer has enjoyed serving as principal cellist of the National Repertory Orchestra and the National Orchestral Institute, and she has played in many orchestras around the country including the Huntsville (AL) Symphony, Charleston Symphony, New World Symphony and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.

In 2004, she traveled to Graz, Austria to participate in the American Institute for Musical Studies. An active chamber music performer, Jennifer was a member of the Lechuza String Quartet in residence at the Grand Teton Music Festival and frequently performs with Charlotte Chamber Music and on the Providence Chamber Music Series. She joined the Charlotte Symphony in 2008 as assistant principal cello and has loved making Charlotte her new home! Outside the world of music, Jennifer enjoys reading, pilates, ultimate frisbee, crossword puzzles, and spoiling her two cats, Carrie and Rick Doug.

Violinist Kathleen Jarrell was born and grew up in South Bend, Indiana, where she began her violin studies as a second grader. Her first lessons were with members of the International String Quartet, in residence at the University of Indiana at South Bend. As a high school student, she was the first violinist of the winning string quartet in the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Kathy earned her Bachelor of Music degree at Eastman School of Music in 1990, having studied with Peter Salaaf of the Cleveland Quartet and with Lynn Blakeslee. Following her undergraduate studies, Kathy spent a year at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music working towards her Master's degree. At Rice, she studied with Camilla Wicks. Kathy finished her Master of Music degree in 1993 at Northern Illinois University where she was a student of Shmuel Ashkenasi of the Vermeer Quartet.

Immediately after earning her MM degree, Kathy won her position of Assistant Principal Second Violinist of the Charlotte Symphony. This is Kathy's fourteenth season with the CSO. Since 1995, Kathy has been a coach with the CSO Youth Symphony. She enjoys performing chamber music in the Music at St. Peter's series when not performing with the Symphony.

Kathy is married to CSO stage manager, John Jarrell, whom she met after coming to Charlotte. The Jarrells have three young children.

Violinist Tatiana Karpova came to the Charlotte Symphony in 1999. She was born in Ekaterinburg, Russia and when she arrived in Charlotte with her young son, she spoke only a smattering of English.

She studied violin at the Ural State Conservatory with Vladimir Milstein. She also earned a DMA degree from the Moskow Gressin Institus of Musik. Her teacher there was Holida Ahtjamoug. In 1989 Tatiana won second prize in the Oistrakh Violin Competition.

Her favorite piece of music played with the CSO?.....Rachmaninoff Symphony #2. She enjoys gardening and playing chamber music in her free time. (She's also been practicing her English, as evidenced by her greatly improved command of the language!)

Principal violist Ali Kavadlo is a native of the great state of New Mexico. She was born in Santa Fe, grew up in Farmington (in the four corners area) and lived in Albuquerque for six years until she graduated from the University of New Mexico with a BME degree, magna cum laude. Her violin teacher at UNM was Kurt Frederick, of blessed memory. At UNM, Ali was elected to Pi Kappa Lamda, national music honor society and Phi Kappa Phi, national scholastic honor society and was a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, women's music fraternity. Ali earned her MM degree in violin performance from the University of Southern California with high distinction. At USC, her violin teacher was Eudice Shapiro and her string quartet coach Gabor Rejto. She held a graduate fellowship as the second violinist of USC's highly acclaimed graduate string quartet.

During graduate school, Ali played violin for several summers in the Festival Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, where she met her husband, Gene, who is the CSO's Principal Clarinetist. From LA, Ali moved to New York City, where she spent two years teaching elementary school music and studying viola with Michael Tree of the Guarneri String Quartet and with William Lincer of the Juilliard School. It was in NY that Ali and Gene were married. The Kavadlo's moved to Jacksonville, Florida in 1972 to assume principal positions in the Jacksonville Symphony, Ali on viola. During the summers, Ali and Gene taught at a music camp in the Berkshires. Three years later they both won principal positions in the Charlotte Symphony, where they have been since 1975. During her years in Charlotte, Ali has performed in numerous chamber music concerts, performed at many local churches and taught hundreds of violin and viola students. She and Gene play together in their ensemble, Viva Klezmer! which specializes in Jewish music and which has won critical acclaim for its many performances throughout the Southeast.

Ali and Gene have two children. Peter is a writer and lives in Los Angeles and Ilana aspires to open her own craft boutique and lives in Brooklyn. When time permits, Ali enjoys gardening, reading, walking, hiking and all manner of crafting.

Principal Clarinetist Gene Kavadlo joined the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in 1975, after leaving his position as principal clarinetist with the Jacksonville Symphony in Jacksonville, Florida.

Gene received his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Queens College in New York and his Master of Music degree with High Distinction in Clarinet Performance from Indiana University. He was also awarded Performer’s Certificate for Outstanding Recital Performance.

Some of Gene’s special interests include spending time with his family, taking road trips, seeing movies, performing klezmer music, and installing commodes. His klezmer band, Viva Klezmer!, can be found on the Web at ww.vivaklezmer.com.

Martha Koljonen is currently a violinist in the Charlotte Symphony and serves as Artist Associate in Violin at Davidson College.

Martha has been active as a teacher and performer of orchestral and chamber music in the Charlotte and Davidson areas since 1980. At that time, she served as Concertmaster of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and violinist of the Nikos Piano Trio. She joined the Davidson College Music Department in 1996 as Artist Associate in Violin. She has taught at Southern Park Music School and has maintained a private violin teaching studio. In addition to the Charlotte Symphony, her extensive orchestral experience includes the Savannah Symphony (as Concertmaster), the Alabama Symphony, the Virginia Symphony (Assistant Concertmaster), the Philadelphia Lyric Opera, and as an extra with the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Many of her summers have been spent performing with the Santa Fe Opera, Eastern Music Festival, St. Paul Opera, and Chautauqua Festival Orchestras.

Ms. Koljonen is also in demand as a violist, having taught viola at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, while playing viola in the New Cadek Piano Quartet.

Other chamber music groups have included the Chamber Soloists of Savannah, the Akashic Ensemble, the Birmingham Musica Antiqua, the Columbine Quartet, Nikos Piano Trio, Chamber Music at St. Peter’s, and most recently, Martha Koljonen and Friends, an ensemble comprised of violin, cello, clarinet, and piano.

Ms. Koljonen is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, having studied violin there with David Cerone. Chamber music coaching at the Cleveland Chamber Music Seminar included sessions with Joseph Gingold, Arnold Steinhardt, David Soyer, and Robert Newkirk. Martha also attended Temple University and the New School of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied with Jascha Brodsky and enjoyed chamber music coaching from Edgar Ortenberg, Geoffrey Michaels, and Michael Haran.

In more recent years, Martha has become a practitioner of EFT, the Emotional Freedom Technique, an innovative self-help technique which enables the user to overcome obstacles to success. For more information about this new twist on self improvement, visitthejoyouspath.com.

Martha’s idea of fun is walking in the mountains with her (now elderly) Samoyed, Lois Mae.

Felicia M. Konczal began her musical studies on the violin at the age of 8 through the Fairfax County public school system in native Northern Virginia. During her sophomore year of high school she began playing the double bass and later came to the realization that she wanted to pursue a career in music. Felicia graduated Summa cum laude from the James Madison University with a Bachelor of Music and from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University with a Master of Music. Her principal teachers are Harold Robinson and John Hood of the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 1997, Felicia auditioned and landed a section position in the Charlotte Symphony. This 2006-2007 season marks her 10th year with the orchestra.

In addition to playing, Felicia is very active in music education and enjoys working with young people through the CSO Youth Orchestras, the Charlotte Mecklenburg schools, and her studio for private instruction.

A true fitness enthusiast her favorite pastimes are cycling and running. Felicia is also the proud owner of retired racing greyhound, Sadie and cat, Sophie.

Elizabeth Landon grew up on an apple orchard in Canton, Pennsylvania. After graduating in 1997 from Wyoming Seminary, where she studied flute with Nancy Sanderson, Liz left for Chicago to pursue her bachelor’s degree at Northwestern University. There she studied with Walfrid Kujala and Richard Graef, both flutists with the Chicago Symphony at that time. After graduation, she attended the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona as the first American student of Vicens Prats, principal flutist of the Orchestre de Paris. Her flute/guitar duo (Landon/Nogúes Duo) performed throughout the region under the sponsorship of “Ribermúsica Fundació”.

Upon returning from Spain, Liz attended the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2003 and again in 2004, performing under the baton of such notable conductors as Kurt Masur, Robert Spano, John Williams, Raphael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Seiji Ozawa and Christoph von Dohnanyi. As a student of Leone Buyse, she received her master’s degree from Rice University in 2005. That summer she performed with the Houston Symphony as a substitute. With her mother, violinist Betty Landon, Liz also performed with the World Youth Orchestra in memorial concerts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. From 2005-06 she was a member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, an active teacher and free-lance musician in the Chicago area, and an enthusiastic waitress at Mexican restaurant, La Amistad. Elizabeth began as principal flutist of the Charlotte Symphony in September, 2006.

Coming to Charlotte from the Savannah Symphony, she has played in the CSO first violin section since 1979, serving one season as Assistant Concertmaster and one season as Associate Concertmaster.

Judith has also performed with numerous summer festival orchestras, including those at Brevard, Tanglewood, Spoleto, and Aspen and was first violinist of the Carolina String Quartet for ten years.

Elina Lev

Elina Lev is serving a one-year contract as Acting Associate Concertmaster. A native of Russia, she began playing the violin at the age of five and studied at the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory and the Chicago College of Performing Arts, where she served as the college orchestra’s concertmaster.

Elina is a fellow of the New World Symphony in Florida and has played with orchestras across the country, including the Kalamazoo Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, and the Grand Rapids Symphony. Her favorite composer is Brahms.

Nancy Levine

Violist Nancy Levine grew up in Mishawaka, Indiana where she began her musical career learning to play the violin. She earned a BA degree from Ball State University. Half way through her undergraduate studies Nancy switched from the violin to the viola and finished her degree as a violist.

Nancy went on to earn a Master's degree from Rice University in Houston, following her brother, who is also a musician. After graduating, Nancy played for one season with the Savannah Symphony in Georgia. In 1981 she joined the Charlotte Symphony and has made Charlotte her home since then. Her favorite composers are Mahler and Prokofiev and is always happy to play their music.

In her leisure time, Nancy enjoys reading, gardening, going to the movies and, of course, spending time with her husband, Eric and children Rachael and Ethan. Her dog, George takes her for a walk every day.

Calin Ovidiu Lupanu, Concertmaster

Born in 1968 in Timisoara, Romania, violinistCalin Ovidiu Lupanu will serve as Concertmaster of the Charlotte Symphony for his third season in 2006-07. Lupanu completed his undergraduate studies at the Music Academy in Bucharest, where he served as Concertmaster of the conservatory’s Chamber Orchestra. During his summers as a student, Lupanu performed in festival orchestras in Lanciano, Italy as Assistant Concertmaster and the Young Soloists Orchestra “Fiori Rari” in Lugano, Switzerland as Concertmaster. Upon graduation, Lupanu was appointed Assistant Professor at the Music Academy.

While in Bucharest, Lupanu joined the newly formed Lipatti String Quartet as First Violin, continuing in that capacity for ten years. Lupanu’s wife, Monica Boboc, was also a member of the Lipatti Quartet and is a member of the Charlotte Symphony as well. In 1995, following an international audition, the quartet was named Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, where Lupanu earned a Performance Certificate in Chamber Music, studying with Ralph Evans, Efim Boico, and the members of the Fine Arts String Quartet. During its studies at UWM, the quartet was featured as ensemble in residence with the Pabst Theater. The Quartet has accumulated numerous honors, including Fourth Prize in the London International String Quartet Competition, and Second Prizes in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the Dmitri Shostakovich Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. Further, the Dmitri Shostakovich Foundation invited Lupanu and his colleagues to participate in the celebration of the 90th anniversary of the composer’s birth with a performance in Paris. In 1997, the Quartet became Quartet-in-Residence at Northern Illinois University, working with the renowned Vermeer Quartet. While there, Lupanu completed his Masters degree and earned the soloist’s Performance Certificate, studying with Shmuel Ashkenasi and Mathias Tacke. Additionally, the Lipatti Quartet has performed master classes with many of the world’s most respected chamber ensembles, including the Amadeus, American, Borodin, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, Orion, Takacs, and Tokyo String Quartets. The Lipatti Quartet toured extensively in the USA, Germany, Great Britain, France, and Romania.

Lupanu’s awards as a soloist include the First Prizes of the International Violin Competition in Stresa, Italy, and the National Violin Competition in Suceava, Romania. Prior to winning the national audition for the Charlotte Symphony position, Lupanu served as Assistant Concertmaster of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, Concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic, principal player in the Alabama Symphony, and concertmaster of the West Virginia Symphony. In addition to his season-long responsibilities in Charlotte, Lupanu maintains a busy summer schedule, participating in such festivals as Bach and Beyond, Aspen, Lower Saxony, Strings in the Mountains, and the Colorado Music Festival, the latter of which he has served as Concertmaster since 2004.

Lupanu has collaborated with the Fine Arts Quartet, Angela Cheng, Jon Nakamatsu, Andres Cardenes, Lynn Harrell, Desmond Hoebig, and was featured as a soloist with the Evansville Philharmonic, Alabama Symphony, Green Bay Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. Lupanu is currently on the faculty of Gardner-Webb University.

Terry Maskin

Terry Maskin, English hornist of the Charlotte Symphony since 1986, has held English horn positions with the Richmond Symphony, the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Grand Teton Music Festival and at Eastern Music Festival. He has also performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Maskin has appeared as a soloist with the Charlotte Symphony on both oboe and English horn, including performances of Persichetti's "English Horn Concerto" on the CSO's Classics series. His Eastern Music Festival performance of Copland's "Quiet City" was featured on National Public Radio.

Terry Maskin is a graduate of Harvard, where he studied Economics and served as captain of the table tennis team.

Mr. Maskin is a member of Mensa International, and he was one of the winners in the 2007 Charlotte Observer Sonnet Contest. He is married to
Jennifer Sperry, the founder of Brightstar Music Festival and a former member of the CSO oboe section. Jenny and Terry have two children, Rachel and Sharon.

David Mills

Principal Tubist David Mills joined the Charlotte Symphony in 1977 and became the Orchestra’s Principal Librarian in 1993. A native of Albemarle, N.C., he received his Bachelor of Music from the University of Miami, Florida and did further studies at UNC Chapel Hill, the University of Miami, Manhattan Conservatory, and the Institute of Advanced Musical Study in Montreux, Switzerland. His teachers included Constance Weldon, Toby Hanks, Joe Novotny, Abe Torchinsky, Paul Krzywicki, Mel Culbertson, Robert Tucci, Denis Wick, and Jean Douay. His library studies were with Alexander Broude.

In addition to his primary roles with the CSO, David has performed with the Orchestra as narrator on numerous occasions, most notably in the award-winning Mill Village Project. He and his wife, Stacey (a trumpet player and band director), have two sons – John David (who plays trumpet) and Tucker (who plays trombone) – and together the four of them perform at Covenant Presbyterian Church as the Mills Family Brass. David is also a member of the brass quintet, Brass Act.

David enjoys biking, swimming, bogie golf, and drinking coffee with the Jeremiah Coffee Club.

In recognition of David’s fine service to the CSO, he received the first-ever Sally Ann Hall Spirit of the Symphony Award in 2007, an annual award given to an “unsung hero” of the Charlotte Symphony. Just four days after the Sally Ann Hall Spirit of the Symphony Award ceremony on June 7, 2007, David travels to Aspen, Colorado, where he will serve as Librarian for the Festival Orchestra of the prestigious Aspen Music Festival.

Deborah Kauffman Mishoe

Deborah Mishoe, a section cellist for the Charlotte Symphony, formed her interest in the arts during childhood when she began playing the piano and clarinet as well as taking dance lessons and participating in school choruses. She was also a participant of the AFM-sponsored Congress of Strings. It was only during adolescence, however, that she discovered her love for the cello.

Deborah went on to study cello, graduating from both the New School
of Music in Philadelphia and cum laude from the SUNY at Buffalo, where she was a winner of the Baird Concerto Competition. Her teachers at these schools were, respectively, Orlando Cole, Paul Katz, and Luca DiCecco. She also studied privately with Sammy Mayes, Robert Sylvester and Elsa Hilger.

With her love for music and education, Deborah attended several Kato Havas New Approach workshops in Oxford, England. She also received her teaching certification from the Suzuki Institute at Ithaca, NY.

Previously, Deborah was the Director of Music and the Arts at Holy Covenant UCC in Charlotte and an adjunct professor at Queens University.

Currently, Deborah teaches privately from home and at the Master Works School of the Arts in Davidson. She is also a member of the Laurel Trio and recently founded a publishing company called Mariner Music Productions (www.waterwaypress.com).

In her spare time, Deborah enjoys playing with her tuxedo cat, Sheba; arranging, writing, playing and recording music with her husband, Randall; Tai Chi and meditation; dancing; reading mystery novels; and running and kayaking.

Mr. Mosley began his musical studies as a teenager in Ft. Worth, Texas
where he studied jazz guitar. After high school, he attended Hardin-Simmons University double majoring in Theory-Composition and Music Education.

Following a year of public school string teaching, he attended graduate school at Indiana University where he studied Music Theory and Double Bass. Before moving to Charlotte in 1971, he taught for three years at Kentucky State University. Mr. Mosley is currently on the faculty at UNC-Charlotte where he teaches Theory, Guitar and Double Bass.

Additionally he has served as co-principal bassist with the Charlotte Symphony since 1971.

When he is not teaching or performing, Mr. Mosley enjoys cooking, growing herbs, reading and tending his 1968 MG.

A member of Charlotte's Symphony and musical community for over 25 years, Janis Nilsen is known as a performer, teacher and advocate of music.

As an orchestral musician, she has performed in Philadelphia, Savannah, Birmingham and Minneapolis-St. Paul, with summers at Santa Fe Opera and the Eastern Music Festival.

Janis has made over two hundred chamber music appearances across the southeast, highlighted by 15 years with the Nikos Trio.

She has taught cello and chamber music at Davidson College and Queens College, and maintains an active private studio - Cellissimo! She is a graduate of Philadelphia's New School of Music where she was a pupil of Orlando Cole.

Violinist Ernest Pereira is a native of South Africa where he first
studied the violin. He was originally from Willowmore, but spent most
of his youth in Pretoria. In 1977 he earned both a Performer's
Licentiate and a Teacher's Licentiate from the University of South
Africa. He then came to the United States to further his education. In
1981, Ernest earned a BA degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music
and in 1982 earned a Master of Music degree from the same prestigious
school. From Cleveland, Ernest went on to earn a Doctoral degree in
Music from the University of Texas in 1987.

It was while working on his Doctoral degree that Ernest came to the Charlotte Symphony. He began his tenure with the CSO in 1985. In addition to holding the
non-rotating fourth chair of the first violin section, Dr. Pereira conducts both of the Charlotte Symphony Youth orchestras. Under his extremely capable leadership, our CSYO and CSJYO have grown into one of the leading youth orchestra programs in the country. Ernest says his favorite work performed with the Charlotte Symphony is Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem". When not performing, conducting or spending time with his wife and children, Ernest enjoys, running, reading and
cooking.

Violinist Elizabeth (Libby) Pistolesi was raised in Greenville, Pennsylvania where she first learned to play the violin. She began violin lessons at the age of eleven with her father, who was a stringed instrument teacher in the public schools. Libby says she began playing the violin by "accident". As she relates the story, "I saw my dad leaving the house with a violin under his arm to return to the music store. I asked him if I could play it. (I'm not sure what possessed me.) He took it out of the case and gave me my first lesson." Libby's other four family members covered all of the instrument families - wind, brass, string, percussion, keyboard, even the banjo.

Libby holds a Bachelors degree in Music from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York as well as a degree in Mathematics from UNC-Charlotte. She played in the Richmond Symphony for two years before coming to the Charlotte Symphony in 1975 as a member of the first violin section.

Libby's favorite pieces played with the CSO were Bach's St. Matthew Passion and b minor Mass. She also enjoyed playing Prokofiev's "Alexander Nevsky". In her free time she likes reading, taking long walks, and sitting at the beach watching the birds. Libby plays in the Laurel Trio with two of her CSO colleagues who are also from Pennsylvania.

Principal Horn player Frank Portone became a member of the Charlotte Symphony in 1980. Previously, he served as Principal Horn player of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra from 1977 to 1980.

While receiving his Bachelor of Music in horn performance from Temple University, Frank studied with Philadelphia Orchestra members John Simonelli and Kendall Betts. He was also an active freelance player in the Philadelphia area while in school and several years after.

Frank’s love for the horn has given him the desire to share his passion with others. While in Hong Kong, he taught privately at the Hong Kong Catholic University, where one of his students was accepted to the Royal Conservatory in England. Since then, he was an adjunct professor at Davidson College for 25 years and taught at UNC Charlotte. He continues to give private lessons.

Since 1981, Frank has been a member of the Carolina Brass Quartet. He also has been a featured soloist with the CSO and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He is also actively interested in chamber music and has performed many times in both the noontime chamber music concerts at St. Peter’s Church and the chamber music series at Providence United Methodist Church.

In his spare time, Frank enjoys golf, fishing and cooking/eating. He is also an accomplished tenor and has sung numerous times with the Charlotte Symphony, most recently in June 2008.

John Pruett is principal violist in his 24th year with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, the premier chamber orchestra in North Carolina. He has soloed on violin and viola numerous times with this group as well as the Indianapolis Symphony, The Charleston Symphony, Greensboro Symphony and others. He also performs on authentic instruments with Carolina Baroque and Magnolia Baroque.

He is founder of Collegium Musicum Salem in 2006 where he is concertmaster. This group has already performed with six choral groups in three states as well as chamber orchestra and chamber music by itself in its first year. He has spent 12 summers and one year in Italy working with such groups as Spoleto Study Abroad, the Spoleto Festival and La Scala in Milan.

Now he spends his summers as violinist for Wintergreen and spends more time at his 19th century grist mill. He has taught violin in Brazil fir the Federal University System and has a Baroque ensemble in Arequipa Peru and plays biannually there and in Lima.

Allan Rosenfeld began playing the clarinet as a seventh grader in the Michigan public school system. Mr. Rosenfeld continued his musical studies as a high school student at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He received a B.A. (magna cum laude) from Amherst College in 1984 and a Master of Music in Clarinet Performance from the University of Michigan in 1986. His principal teachers have been Fred Ormand, Michael Sussman, and Frank Kowalsky. Additional studies on the bass clarinet were with Lawrie Bloom, a member of the Chicago Symphony.

Mr. Rosenfeld has performed in numerous summer music festivals, including those of Aspen, Bowdoin, Sarasota, Yale at Norfolk, and Graz (Austria). In 1989 he was awarded a national fellowship to serve as Principal Clarinet of the National Repertory Orchestra in Keystone, Colorado.

Mr. Rosenfeld was appointed to his position in the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in 1986. Since then he has been featured as a concerto soloist with the Charlotte Symphony, as well as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous area recitals. The Rhodora Quintet, of which he is a founding member, maintains an active performance schedule throughout the region.

In his leisure time Mr. Rosenfeld volunteers as a trip leader for local Sierra Club hikes. He also enjoys ice and rock climbing, backpacking trips, tennis, the New York Times, and endlessly tossing tennis balls for Kippen, his Shetland Sheepdog, to catch.

Principal Harpist Bette Roth was raised in Lees Summit, Missouri where she first studied music. She excelled on the harp and won a
position to study at the acclaimed Curtis institute in Philadelphia.

She was at Curtis when she took a six-week leave to tour with the North Carolina Symphony. It was then that she met her future husband, Wolfgang Roth, who was a member of the NC Symphony. After graduating from Curtis, Bette spent a year studying in the Netherlands on a Fulbright scholarship. During that year, Wolfgang had returned to Germany and at the end of the year the couple were married in his home country where they took up residence. In 1971, they came to Charlotte where Wolfgang was offered one of the first full-time positions with the Charlotte Symphony. Bette was offered a per service position as Principal Harpist of the CSO Chamber orchestra. In 1983 Bette became the full-time Principal Harpist of the Charlotte Symphony. In 1995 Bette began the Suzuki Harp Society in Charlotte, which has become very large and active. Her favorite work played with the CSO is Ravel's "Daphnes and Chloe" and her hobbies include hiking/walking, sailing, reading, Bible study, teaching, sewing/crocheting and traveling. The Roths have two children, Dieter and Carla and are the proud grandparents of Sebastian and Christian.

Principal Second Violinist Wolfgang Roth was one of the first full-time musicians hired by Jacques Brourman in 1971. Roth was the first full time musician hired in 1971 as concertmaster for the chamber orchestra. He was born in Immenstadt, Germany (Bavaria) and has retained his German citizenship.

Wolfgang earned his Masters degree at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in Munich and has performed with the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Bach Orchestra, the Graunke Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony. In 1971, Roth started a violin Suzuki program at the Community School of the Arts. He had a large private studio until the 1990s. He and his wife, Bette, have made two recordings of music for violin and harp and have spent many summers touring Germany performing duo recitals.

Wolfgang says he enjoys playing everything except "real modern music" and his hobbies include studying theology, sailing (he sails his sailboat on Lake Wylie near his home), snow skiing, hiking and traveling.

Leonardo Soto is Principal Timpanist. First taught by his father, a prominent percussionist in his native Chile, Leo holds degrees from the Universidad de Chile and Carnegie Mellon University and has played with numerous orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, and the Orquestra Filarmónica de Santiago.

Prior to coming to Charlotte, Leo served as Principal Timpanist of the Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit Opera house, for 6 seasons.

In his spare time, he enjoys playing soccer, tennis and running, along with fixing drums and designing timpani sticks with friend Jeff Luft from the Dayton Philharmonic. He is an endorser of Pro-Mark stick company.

Before joining the Charlotte Symphony in 2007, violist Viara Stefanova played with a variety of prestigious orchestras across the country including the Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and the New World Symphony. She was also the principal violist for the National Opera and Ballet in her native city of Sofia, Bulgaria and has traveled around the world to perform at several music festivals including Music in the Mountains in Colorado as well as international opera festivals in Switzerland, Japan, and Spain.

Viara received her B.M. in 1998 from the Music Conservatory in Sofia, Bulgaria and, while earning her degree, won first prize at that country’s National Viola Competition in 1996. After receiving full graduate scholarships and assistantships from two universities, Viara went on to earn her Master of Music from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Besides performing, Viara also enjoys spreading her passion for music with others. From 2000 until 2002, she was a music teacher at the “Saint Sofia” Private School and, from 2004 until she joined the CSO in 2007, she also taught violin and viola at Highland Park Middle School in Dallas.

Jeff first played with the Charlotte Symphony when he was just sixteen and played for three years before leaving Charlotte to pursue his education and further his musical training.

He returned to Charlotte years later for a visit and unexpectedly found love. He has made his home here since then. For over twenty years Jeff has been a very active performer with orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the Carolinas and the southeast. He has been called by colleagues, "the person most likely to be seen at any given venue." In addition to serving as a regular extra in the CSO's bass section, Jeff is a tenured member of the South Carolina Philharmonic and performs often with the North Carolina
Symphony.

Violinist Ellyn Briggs was a self-described "Army Brat" growing up. As a pre-schooler, her family lived in Germany. Later they lived in Columbus, Georgia; New Jersey; Long Island; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and in Virginia (near Washington, DC). Ellyn came from a musical family. Her mother was a fine bassoonist who played the violin as well and taught stringed instruments in the public schools. Her father had been a music major in college and had also played the violin. Ellyn's father was her violin teacher when she was ten and the family living in New Jersey. Ellyn had started playing the violin at age seven, when the family was living in Georgia. Her teacher there was George Johnson. As a high school student, Ellen studied violin with Guido Mansuing, a member of the National Symphony in Washington. She also played in the Fairfax and Dale City, Virginia Symphonies in high school.

Ellyn went to college at Memphis State University and during the three years that she was there, she had a contract with the Memphis Symphony. After leaving Memphis, she returned home to Virginia and resumed private violin studies with Luis Haza, a member of the National Symphony. During that time, she taught violin lessons and in the summers attended the Aspen Music Festival. She went on to play in the Alabama Symphony for three years and then for three more years played part-time with the Richmond Symphony.

Ellyn came to the Charlotte Symphony in 1986 and has made this her home for the past twenty years. Her hobbies include knitting and reading and, of course, spending time with her two teen-aged daughters.

Violist Kirsten Swanson is a native of North Carolina, having grown up in Greenville, where she studied with Joanne Bath from the time she was four until she was eighteen.

She graduated from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York where she studied with John Graham. In the fall of 2005, Kirsten was appointed Acting Assistant principal Viola for the Charlotte Symphony. This season she is filling a one-year appointment as a section violist. Her favorite piece performed with the CSO?......John Adams' "Short Ride in a Fast Machine". In her leisure time Kirsten enjoys all kinds of yoga, pilates, baking and Spanish literature.

Violist Peter Swic (Piotr Swic) was born and grew up in Warsaw, Poland where he began his violin and piano studies at the age of seven through the public schools' music program. After completing twelve years of undergraduate and four years of graduate study, he earned his MA degree in Viola Performance with honors from the F. Chopin Conservatory of Music. At the age of eighteen he won first prize in the Warsaw Viola Competition. During his college years, Peter was accepted into the Jeunesses Musicales World orchestra after taking an international audition. He performed with this orchestra for two seasons on tours of South America and Scandinavia under the baton of Charles Dutoit. He also received scholarships and performed with festival orchestras in Melbourne, Australia and in Basel, Switzerland while still in school.

After graduation, Peter won a full scholarship to attend the prestigious Tanglewood Music Festival. He was privileged to work with Yo-Yo Ma, Joel Krosnick (Juilliard String Quartet) and to perform with Maestros Seiji Ozawa and Marek Janowski. Peter also received a scholarship to study at Duquesne University with Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Violist Randolph Kelly. During his years at Duquesne, Peter performed with the Wheeling and Westmoreland Symphonies and with the Orchestra Nova as principal Violist. In 1993, he and his future wife (also a Polish violist) won international auditions to play with the Panama Symphony in Central America. Drawn by their passion for travel, they went to Panama for one year. Peter held the position of assistant principal violist there. They then returned to the United States where Peter earned a scholarship to complete his Certificate of Graduate Study at the University of South Carolina. While living in Columbia, the Swic's both performed with the Greenville, Savannah, Augusta, Asheville, Knoxville and Charleston Symphonies and with the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1996 Peter and his wife moved to Charlotte where they now make their home. Peter was appointed regular extra violist with the Charlotte Symphony for its Classics concerts. In 1998 he joined the faculties of Davidson College and Gardner-Webb University and in 2001 the faculty of UNC. Peter is the violist of the Gardner-Webb String Quartet. After the birth of the Swic's two daughters, Isabella and Gabriela, Peter began teaching more at home and established the Charlotte Strings Academy where he and his wife teach privately.

Peter loves to travel and he prides himself on being a "true professional" at finding the lowest air fares available!

Violinist Carlos Tarazona was born and grew up in Guajaguil, Ecuador, where he first learned to play the violin.

At the age of fifteen, Carlos came to the United States to further his musical studies. He studied violin with Michel Samson at the University of Louisville, where he earned a Bachelors degree in Music.

After graduating, Carlos earned a position playing in the New World Symphony in Miami under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. Carlos came to the Charlotte Symphony in 2003 and plays now as a regular extra on the CSO's Classics series concerts.

Eric L. Thompson, III received his Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007 where he held the Robert Ehrman Fellowship. There he studied with Grammy Award-winning and MacArthur "Genius" Edgar Meyer and Harold Robinson, principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to entering Curtis, Eric studied with Ralph Jones, principal bass of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under an Azira G. Hill TDP Scholarship.

Thompson has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra twice-most recently performing Bruch Kol Nidrei on the double bass with Music Director Robert Spano. Other solo highlights include a LIVE television performance on Good Day Atlanta (WAGA Fox 5) in 2006, the Dittersdorf Concerto with the Sphinx Symphony under Leslie Dunner, and the Koussevitzky Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Mikelthwate in 2002.

Eric is the recipient of many awards: He is the first bassist to become a laureate of the Sphinx Competition, he was awarded second place in the ASTA National Solo Competition, and in 2002 he was awarded a musicians’ union scholarship from the American Federation of Musicians and the rank of Eagle Scout by the National Eagle Scout Association of Boy Scouts of America.

As a participant of various music festivals, Eric has been a member of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, principal bass of the National Orchestral Institute, and has held the Jan Brett and Joe Hearne Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center where he was co-principal bass.

Outside of the world of music, Eric enjoys following global financial markets and trends in marketing and technology.

Bassoonist Lori Tiberio was born and raised just outside of Pittsburgh and began her artistic life with tap and ballet lessons at the tender age of two. She credits those early lessons with giving her a sense of rhythm and love of music. She began piano lessons at the age of six and the guitar in the 7th grade. Her father was self-taught on the guitar and piano and Lori received much encouragement from her family in her musical studies. Lori went to Catholic schools through the 8th grade and sang in school chorus. In 9th grade, Lori transferred to public school and started to play in the band. She had begun studying the clarinet and saxophone the previous year, but dropped the clarinet in order to concentrate on the saxophone, which was her first love. She played lead alto sax in jazz band throughout high school and college.

The bassoon in high school was a secondary interest, as her concert band needed a bassoonist and Lori agreed to give it a try. In 11th grade Lori took private bassoon lessons with a music student at Duquesne University, as she realized this would help her get into music school. Bassoon became her major at Carnegie-Mellon because she had received a scholarship to study the bassoon (Her first love was still the saxophone). Lori's bassoon teacher at Carnegie-Mellon was Arthur Kubey, principal bassoonist with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Under Kubey's inspiring tutelage, Lori fell in love with the bassoon and symphonic music. In her sophomore year, she quit the sax to concentrate on the bassoon. Lori holds BFA and BME degrees from Carnegie-Mellon and taught counterpoint and composition for one year at Butler HS in Pennsylvania after graduating.

Lori has been with the Charlotte Symphony for close to 25 years and her duties include playing the bassoon and the contrabassoon. She learned to play the contrabassoon "on the job" and plays on an instrument purchased by the Charlotte Symphony Women's Association (now the "guild"). She teaches at UNCC, coaches the wind section of the CSO Youth Symphony, runs the Providence Chamber Music series and maintains a studio of private students. She is very proud of the fact that her students always excel in competition, having earned 1st and/or second chair positions in all ALL State categories since 1994. Lori's favorite pastimes (when away from the bassoon) include gardening, birding, cooking, camping and spending time with her beloved dog, Bucks. She is also a member of Reid's wine club.

Born into an artistic family, Jenny began violin lessons at the age of three. Continuing her love for the violin, she studied under former Cleveland Orchestra member Stephen Majeske throughout high school and received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2002.

Afterward, Jenny earned her Master of Music degree from Carnegie Mellon University. While in Pennsylvania, she studied with Andres Cardenes, the concertmaster of the Pittsburg Symphony. After graduating in 2004, Jenny came to North Carolina and joined the Charlotte Symphony in September of that year.

When she is not playing the violin, Jenny enjoys spending time with her husband and dog, shopping, running, yoga, hiking, watching football, and having fun with friends and family.

Hollis Ulaky is currently Principal Oboist of the Charlotte Symphony. She is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where she studied with Thomas Fay and James Gorton. Before joining the CSO, Ms. Ulaky was principal oboist in the Wheeling Symphony, and Opera Festival Orchestra in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She has performed chamber music at the Sarasota Music Festival, the Charles Ives Center for the Performing Arts and at Piccolo Spoleto. As a founding member of the chamber music group, Rhodora, Ms. Ulaky continues to perform recitals throughout the southeast. She recently premiered works for oboe and organ, and oboe , bassoon and piano at the IDRS conference in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Ms. Ulaky has been featured in Today’s Charlotte Woman Magazine, The Charlotte Observer , and was voted Best Female Instrumentalist in 2004 by Charlotte Magazine.

An avid educator, Ms. Ulaky serves on the faculties of Winthrop University and Queens University of Charlotte and was a member of the faculty of Cannon Music Camp at Appalachian University and woodwind coach for the Youth Symphony of the Carolinas

Second Flutist Amy Whitehead joined the Charlotte Symphony in 1997. Before coming to Charlotte, Amy received her Bachelor of Music degree in flute from Duquesne University in Pittsburg. She also went on to earn her Master of Music degree and a performer’s certificate in chamber music from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Institute of Chamber Music.

Because of her love of chamber music, Amy performs regularly for Chamber Music at St. Peter’s and in the Providence United Methodist Church chamber music series. She also plays with the Laurel Trio and the Rhodora Wind Quintet.

Currently, Amy also teaches at Davidson College and coaches the woodwinds of the CSO Junior Youth Orchestra. She is also the founder and instructor for Sizzlin’ Summer Flute Fest, an annual flute camp for young flutists in Georgia, with red-headed flute trio, Flutes on Fire.

Amy especially enjoys playing twentieth and twenty-first century music with the Charlotte Symphony. Other interests include shopping (especially for shoes), cooking and eating, vegetarian food, reading, yoga, and scary movies.

Violist Ning Zhao joined the Charlotte Symphony in 1995. He was born in Guangzhou, China and came to the United States in 1986 to further his music education. Ning graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Music in Violin performance in 1990. He then received his Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1993. His principal teachers include Robert Vernon, Marcia Ferritto, Si-Hon Ma, Stephanie San't Ambrogio and Zhu-Han Pan. Additionally, he was coached by many of the renowned artists of this country such as Roberto Diaz, Alan DeVeritch, Joseph DePasquale, the Muir Quartet and the Carvani Quartet.

Before joining the Charlotte Symphony, Ning played with many orchestras both in the US and in China. He has performed several solos with the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra, as well as the Kent State Sinfonia. Besides his duties with the Charlotte Symphony, he collaborates with colleagues from the CSO and with other artists on numerous chamber music events, performing in a wide variety of musical styles and ensembles. Ning Zhao has been actively involved in the Charlotte Symphony's community and school outreach programs. He has participated in much of the development and presentation of school curriculum based interdisciplinary projects. He also maintains an active private studio. In his spare time, Ning enjoys tennis and golfing, as well as cooking, reading, computing and oil painting.

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