Fairmount Chamber Ensemble – Fairmount Strings

Matthew Shipp lives in Philadelphia and works as a freelance oboist in Philadelphia and New York City. Mr. Shipp has performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Princeton Symphony, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, and Symphony in C.

As a guest musician, Mr. Shipp has performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra both domestically and internationally in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. Recent engagements include performances at Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, NHK Hall, Seoul Arts Center, and the National Performing Arts Center of Taiwan. He has been fortunate enough to collaborate with highly esteemed conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kensho Watanabe, Cristian Macelaru, Andreas Delfs, Michelle Merrill, Carl St. Clair, and Rossen Milanov.

As a chamber musician, Matthew performed the Beethoven Wind Octet Op. 103 with members of The Philadelphia Orchestra as a co-presenter at the CBDNA 2020 Conference. Additionally, he was a featured soloist in Mozart’s aria “Deh vieni, non tardar” with the Temple Chamber Winds at the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) International Conference in San Jose.

Mr. Shipp is a graduate of Temple University, where he received the Master of Music degree and studied with Peter Smith, Associate Principal Oboe of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Matthew is a native of Iowa, and prior to moving to Philadelphia, he studied with renowned pedagogue Andrew Parker at the University of Iowa. He has spent summers participating in music festivals such as the Round Top Festival Institute and the New York Symphonic Ensemble’s Tour of Japan.

Tara Harvey is a freelance oboist in the Philadelphia area. She earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Indiana University and a Master of Music in Oboe Performance from McGill University. Her primary teacher was Theodore Baskin (Principal Oboe, Montreal Symphony).

Mrs. Harvey performs regularly with Vox Ama Deus and other Philadelphia area ensembles. She has been teaching private lessons for fifteen years and is on faculty at the University of Valley Forge and Eastern University. Most recently, she has been teaching beginner piano students at Creative Edge Center for the Arts, an art school in her community. She lives in North Wales with her husband and four children.

David Shunskis is a pianist who appears frequently as a soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist. His principal teacher was the late Vladimir Sokoloff of the Curtis Institute with whom he studied for over ten years. He has also studied with such legendary artist-teachers as Donn-Alexandre Feder, Orlando Cole, Edgar Ortenberg, Harvey Wedeen, and Tana Bawden.

Mr. Shunskis has taught piano and chamber music at Settlement Music School for over fifty years. Many of his students have become successful musicians. Mr. Shunskis regularly presents recitals and children’s concerts.

As a church musician, he has conducted performances of works by Fauré, Schubert, Gounod, and Menotti as well as Bach’s Keyboard Concerti. Mr. Shunskis’ performances at weddings and memorials have been favorably received.

Julie Bougher received both her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance from the Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University where she studied with William DePasquale and Jonathan Beiler. She maintains an active schedule as a performer and instructor and has performed in orchestras and ensembles throughout the continental United States and Puerto Rico.

Julie is a member of the Delaware Symphony, Allentown Symphony, and Riverside Symphonia, and is the founder and first violinist of the Elysium String Quartet. She has performed with artists such as Gil Shaham, Andrea Bocelli, Chris Thile, Steven Van Zandt, Jim Brickman, Celtic Thunder, Bobby Vinton, Celtic Woman, and Eddie Holman among others. As a member of the Delaware Symphony, she received a 2010 Latin Grammy nomination for the DSO’s recording with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. She also won an Emmy Award in 2017 with the Allentown Symphony for their broadcast of “Peter and the Wolf.”

Julie enjoys teaching and developing curriculum and is actively involved in string pedagogy. She has participated in the Starling-DeLay Symposium at The Juilliard School and taught at Temple University, where she was Artist in Residence. Julie is registered with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and teaches at Lafayette College. She also maintains an active private studio.

Travis is an active freelance percussionist and educator in the Philadelphia area performing with a large variety of musical institutions. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Performance from Temple University where he studied with notable percussionists Christopher Deviney and Alan Abel.

Since graduation in May of 2019, Travis has performed with the Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Reading Symphony, Fulton Theatre of Lancaster, Broadway Live, Steve Wiess Mallet Festival, Bay-Atlantic Symphony, and Symphony in C, among others. A versatile percussionist, timpanist, and drum-set player, Travis studies all styles to be ready for any and every opportunity that comes his way from playing with an orchestra to performing with a contemporary dancer.

Currently, Travis holds teaching positions at Ancillae Assumptua Academy and Chestnut Hill College, and as a section coach/teaching artist at Symphony in C Youth Orchestra. In addition to his teaching, Travis leads a percussion quartet through Symphony in C’s outreach program “Classroom Symphony,” which provides instrument demo programs to Catholic Promise schools in Camden County and special needs facilities across the South Jersey area.

Travis currently resides in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia with his Girlfriend and their service dog Evie, often baking and enjoying their collection of old vinyl records.

Pianist/vocalist/composer Andrew McMaster has extensive experience in the pop/jazz genre. As a long time member of The Flamin’Caucasians, Andrew performed with Warren Zevon, David Bromberg, Julian Lennon, Tom Jones, and Jon Anderson and Bill Bruford from the band, Yes. He has also played keys with local artists such as the Hooters and Tommy Conwell.

Andrew has composed for and performed as a member of the contemporary Christian band, “For The Spirit”.

His compositions span various genres and instrumental ensembles as well as choral works. Well versed in the land of electronics, video, and midi, Andrew also composes music for and produces multimedia presentations and writes for film.

Trumpeter Caleb Wiebe has performed professionally with the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico, with organist Clara Gerdes at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and with members of the American Brass Quintet at the Aspen Music Festival. While attending Curtis Institute of Music, he and his colleagues won first prize at the National Trumpet Competition in the trumpet ensemble division. Passionate for music education and arts access, Caleb served as an ArtistYear fellow, where he taught sixty-five recorder students at Philadelphia’s Powel Elementary School during the 2016-17 school year. He’s served as a teaching artist for Jazz Aspen Snowmass and Play on Philly. As a founding member of The Brass Project from 2016 to 2018, Caleb premiered over thirty works written for the ensemble. During that time The Brass Project was featured by Santa Fe Pro Musica, National Sawdust in Brooklyn, and Music from Angel Fire. Their debut album, “Cityscaping,” released in December 2018. Caleb received his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. He continued his studies at the Colburn School in Los Angeles before earning an Artist Diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Florence Ierardi received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in percussion performance at Temple University, where she studied with Alan Abel and Glenn Steele. She has performed with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Kennett Symphony, Pennsylvania Ballet, Delaware Symphony, and the Philadelphia Chorus. Flossie has worked collaboratively with movement artists, including Eiko Fan, Moving Target Dance Company, and ZeroMoving Dance Company. She is a faculty member at Drexel University, where she teaches Clinical Musical Improvisation.

Ezgi Yargici is an accomplished baroque and modern cellist as well as a successful teaching artist. She graduated from Bilkent University with a Bachelor’s of Music Degree in Cello Performance and from Temple University with a Master’s of Music Degree in both Cello Performance and String Pedagogy. Additionally, she has done professional studies at The Hartt School of Music.

As an active freelance cellist, Ezgi performs in different settings: solo recitals, chamber music concerts, historical ensembles, contemporary ensembles, and orchestras in and around the Philadelphia area. She has appeared with Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Kennett Symphony, Allentown Symphony, New Manhattan Sinfonietta, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Brooklyn Orchestra, Brooklyn Metro Chamber Orchestra, Bay Atlantic Symphony, Vox Ama Deus, Garden State Philharmonic, Wilmington Ballet, Pennsylvania Philharmonic, New Jersey Capital Philharmonic, and Great Hall Chamber Orchestra. In addition to performing at various venues including Verizon Hall at Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and the United Nations building in New York, she has also performed abroad in Canada, Belgium, China, and Turkey.

As a teaching artist, Ezgi works with individual students of all ages and levels as well as groups in various school programs. Currently, she provides private cello instruction and coaches chamber groups in her studio. She also works at The Shipley School, Germantown Academy, and Nelly Berman School. Her main teaching approach mixes instructional techniques from the Suzuki and Orff methods with games to help her students learn and grow in an enjoyable environment.

Ellen Strange has been a professional freelance musician in the greater Philadelphia area for many years. She also taught elementary instrumental music in the Abington school district for 35 years. She received her Bachelor of Music Education from Temple University and her masters of Music in conducting from the College of New Jersey.
She resides in Montgomery County, PA.

A Philadelphia native, cellist Elena Smith maintains an active career as a performing and teaching artist. She is the cellist and manager of Blue Line String Quartet, and she performs frequently with Fairmount String Quartet, Elysium String Quartet, and many other local chamber ensembles. She is principal cellist of the Wayne Oratorio Society, and she has appeared with the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, Reading Symphony, Bay Atlantic Symphony, West Jersey Chamber Orchestra, and other orchestras.

In addition to her career as a modern cellist, Elena has a passion for historical string instruments, and she performs regularly on baroque cello and viola da gamba. She has appeared on tour with Venice Baroque Orchestra, and she was the viola da gamba soloist in New York City Opera’s production of Los Elementos by Antonio Literes. She has participated in the American Bach Soloists Academy in San Francisco, the International Masterclasses Festival in Gaming, Austria, and Juilliard at Piccola Accademia in Montisi, Italy. Elena is a founding member of Muse Camerata, Musicivic Baroque, and Filament, and has appeared as a guest with Bach Collegium Philadelphia, Gamut Bach Ensemble, Crescendo Period Instrument Orchestra, Ex Umbris, Elm City Consort, and The Musick Art. In 2018, she made her Canada debut performing with l’Extase d’Ornace in Montréal. She has studied with Sarah Cunningham, Phoebe Carrai, and she has performed in masterclass for Thomas Fritzsch and Paolo Pandolfo.

A dedicated educator, Elena maintains a private studio and is the Operations Director and Cello Teaching Artist at The Common Place Orchestra, an arts education program that provides musical instruction to children in underserved communities in Southwest Philadelphia.

Elena is a graduate of Temple University, where she studied with Jeffrey Solow.

Leah Kyoungwoon Kim-Tomilson was born in Busan, South Korea where she served as the Associate Concertmaster for the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra. In Philadelphia, she has performed with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Elysian Camerata, and Trio Excelsior. She is a founding member of the La Croix Quartet, Tononi Quartet, Sori Duo, and Caritas Trio.
She has served on the faculty at Temple University, West Chester University, Valley Forge Christian College, West Catholic Conservatory, Settlement Music School, and Peabody Conservatory Prep and as the Director of Music for the Rebecca Davis Dance Company.
Currently, Leah is the Director of Music at Villa Maria Academy High School, and is the Director of the Pennsylvania Youth Orchestra, Pennsylvania Petit Ensemble, and Vivace Competition and Chamberstrings Music Camp.
Leah studied Performance and Pedagogy at Juilliard, Peabody Conservatory, and the National Conservatory in France.

Cellist Mimi Morris-Kim, loves playing chamber music on modern cello as well as continuo on Baroque cello. She has a doctorate in cello performance from the University of Michigan where she met her husband, harpsichordist and medical physicist, Leonard Kim and where she played with Fairmount String Quartet violinist Rachel Segal as a member of the University of Michigan Graduate String Quartet. Mimi performed as a member of the Ann Arbor Symphony for seven years. She performs frequently with the Riverside Symphony and as a substitute with many groups throughout the Delaware Valley. Mimi has three children, two of whom are among her twenty five cello students. Mimi is on the faculty of Princeton String Academy and has extensive training in the Suzuki method of cello instruction.

Rachel Segal, a native Philadelphian, is a violinist, educator, and the Founder and President of The Primavera Fund, a program that mentors and supports young musicians in Philadelphia. As an orchestral violinist, her career has taken her throughout the USA and abroad. She served as Concertmaster of the Central City Opera orchestra and as a violinist with the Colorado Symphony for twelve seasons, and has had posts as Concertmaster of the Orquestra Sinfonia Portugesa in Lisbon, Portugal, and as Fourth Chair of the Tampere Filharmonia in Tampere, Finland. She currently performs in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and the Washington D.C. area with various orchestras. She began her career as Concertmaster of the South Bend Symphony in Indiana.

As an educator, Ms. Segal has held positions at Regis University and the Community College of Aurora in Colorado, Luzerne Music Center in New York, is Director of Chamber Music at the Music and Mindfulness camp in Virginia, and has been Associate Director of the Young Musicians Debut Orchestra since its inception.

Ms. Segal received her Bachelor of Music degree from The University of Michigan and her Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. Prominent teachers include Sidney Harth, Paul Kantor, Barbara Govatos, and Jerome Wigler. She lives in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia with her beagles Abby and Sam, and cats Gilbert and Sullivan.

Bob Topper is a free-lance player in the Philadelphia area and is a member of Pro Christo Brass and the Westminster Brass large ensemble. He studied with Tyrone Breuninger of the Philadelphia Orchestra and has performed with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, the Philadelphia Academy of Vocal Arts, the Concerto Soloists, the Jubilate Deo Chorale and many other local symphonic and theater orchestras. Bob is an electrical engineer and enjoys woodworking, cycling, working with adult and youth groups at church and spending time with his wife, three children and one grand-daughter.

Terence Belzer received his Bachelor of Music degree from Temple University where he was a Presser Scholarship award winner and a student of Louis Rosenblatt. As a graduate assistant at Carnegie Mellon University, he studied oboe performance with Thomas Fay. During his student years he participated in the Spoletto Festival as principal and solo oboe and in the American Wind Symphony as principal oboe.

Currently active in many area musical groups, he has served as principal oboist of the Concerto Soloists, Philly Pops, New Jersey Opera Theater, the orchestras of Reading, Delaware, Kennett and numerous other ensembles. He also performs regularly with the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, and is a member of the Penta Voce Woodwind Quintet.

Mr. Belzer has appeared as a soloist with the Kennett Symphony, West Jersey Chamber Orchestra, Rowan University Chamber Players, the Settlement Music School Faculty Recital Series, a world Premier by Robert Convery with Sean Deibler and the Music Group of Philadelphia and with the Reading Symphony Orchestra in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Belzer maintains a busy teaching schedule, serving on the adjunct faculties of Cairn University, Valley Forge Christian College and maintains an active studio at his home. He has also served on the faculties of Temple University, Swarthmore College and Rowan University. He shares his home with his musician wife, Ardath and two children, Anton and Brigitte.

With a BM in trombone performance and an MAT in music education from the University of the Arts, Cindy is a freelance trombonist in the Delaware Valley area. She is also a jazz and folk vocalist, and celtic harpist. Throughout her career, she has performed extensively with Barry Manilow, Joni Mitchell, The O'Jays, Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Randy Newman, Carlos Santana, Arturo Sandoval, James Moody, and many others. She has been a performer in the Walnut Street and Prince Music Theaters, and is a member of the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, the Barbone Street Jazz Band, Celtic Duo, and the Joe Sudler Swing Machine. She is a recording artist in Sigma Sound and Gamble and Huff studios. In 2009, Cindy was named one of five national recipients of the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation Award for outstanding music educators. She accepted her award from Felice Mancini, Gabriel Kosakoff, and William H. Macy at an honorary concert in Carnegie Hall. She loves gardening, wilderness canoeing, wine, and sewing with her mom!

Rahel Inniger received her “lehrdiplom” (teaching diploma) in 1979 from the Konservatorium Bern (Switzerland) where she was a student of Rosemarie Stucki. As a recipient of a Kiefer/ Hablitzel Stiftung scholarship she was able to come to the United States to continue her education. She majored in piano performance at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, from which she received a Master of Music degree in Performance and Literature in 1982. Ms. Inniger's piano teachers at Eastman included Barry Snyder and Barbara Lister-Sink, and chamber music coaches included Abram Loft, Peter Salaff and Rebecca Penneys. Further studies included vocal accompaniment with Daphne Ibbott in Sussex, England and music pedagogy workshops in Stuttgart and Bad Hersfeld, Germany.

In 1982 Ms. Inniger accepted a teaching position at the Musikschule Kandertal in Frutigen, Switzerland where she remained until 1986. During this time she served as accompanist at the Konservatorium Bern in the master classes of clarinetist Jost Michaels and cellist Siegfried Palm and in the studios of clarinet professor Kurt Weber and violin professor Igor Ozim. Ms. Inniger has been employed as staff accompanist at the Settlement Music School as well as collaborating in recital with instrumentalists and vocalists both in the United States and abroad. She is currently on the faculty at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia where she teaches both piano and chamber music, and also maintains a private teaching studio in Ardmore, Pa.

Darin Kelly appears frequently with the Philadelphia Orchestra and other performing ensembles throughout the mid-Atlantic region. He is a member of the IRIS Orchestra, the renowned chamber orchestra based near Memphis, TN. His collaborative recording with soprano Julianne Baird, Soprano Arias with Trumpet and Organ, has been hailed by critics worldwide as “… seamless playing that is equally light and virtuosic.” In addition, he is in wide demand as an arranger and orchestrator; his work has been performed by many major symphonies and ensembles across the country, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Detroit, St. Louis, Grand Rapids, Virginia, and Jacksonville Symphonies. He received both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Armando Ghitalla, and currently holds teaching positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. He maintains an active interest in Traditional Irish music and 30's-era traditional Jazz, and has recorded for the Albany, Naxos, Ondine, and Deutsche Gramophon labels.

Born in Shanghai, China, Ping Liang received his Bachelor for bassoon from Shanghai Conservatory. His teacher at the Conservatory was Prof. Zhao Zhun. He was a featured soloist at the Young Soloists Concert of Shanghais Spring Festival in 1978, which was the first re-organized musical festival after The Culture Revolution. The Central Radio Station of China recorded his three pieces played for that concert serial. In 1981, as a recipient of DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst – German Academic Exchange Service), he was sent to Germany by The Education Ministry and Culture Ministry of China. He received his Master of Music degree from The Hochschule fuer Musik in Wuerzburg in 1984 Germany, under the guidance of Prof. Eberhard Buschmann. During that time he was also a member of the Junge Deutche Philharmonie. In 1985, he recorded the Grand Concerto in F Major by Hummel with Shanghai Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Mr. Shui Lan. Before came to the United States in 1986, he was a faculty member of the Department for Western Orchestral Instruments at Shanghai Conservatory. His teachers in the United States include Loren Glickman at Julliard School in New York City, Ronald Tyree at Iowa University and Bernard Garfield at Temple University.

He was a Fellow at Tanglewood in 1987 and currently, he is the principal bassoonist of Bay-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, NJ, and one of the founding members of The East Winds Quintet, an Artist-in-Residence at Lehigh University PA since 2000, and a free-lancing musician in the great Philadelphia area. In 2012, he was invited by the Central Conservatory of Music China to the Second International Bassoon Festival in Beijing as a guest.

Dr. Christopher Di Santo, a native of Columbus, Ohio, joined the faculty of Stockton University in January 2012 as Associate Professor of in the university’s School of Arts and Humanities. His duties at Stockton include teaching courses in music appreciation, conducting, music theory, form and analysis, and conducting instrumental ensembles. He is also the director of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony’s Music Mentorship program, an initiative that affords selected Stockton music students the opportunity to be paired with musicians from the Bay-Atlantic Symphony who act as mentors in a unique setting as visiting instrumental specialists in local middle and high school music programs. Dr. Di Santo’s former teaching positions include appointments on the music faculties of Moravian College, as Artist-Lecturer, and as adjunct faculty in the music departments of Swarthmore College and West Chester, Lehigh and Rowan Universities.

Recent career highlights include an invitation to present at the 7th Annual Arts, Humanities, Socials Sciences & Education Conference in Honolulu Hawaii (January 2018), an invitation to deliver a keynote address at the 10th Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education (July 2, 2017) in Mbabane, Swaziland, Africa, and presenting at the Eastern Division Conference of the National Association for Music Education, Atlantic City, NJ, April 2017. Dr. Di Santo has acted as host/facilitator for the Steinway Competition Winners Recital, Galloway NJ, (May 2016 and April, 2017) and, in December 2006, he accepted an invitation to Shanghai, China where he performed as soloist with the Shanghai Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and conducted a series of masterclasses with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music’s highly talented and advanced clarinet students. He was invited to appear as guest conductor of the Atlantic Cape Honor Band for a performance on December 4, 2016 where he had the privilege of conducting almost ninety, hand-selected, highly-talented high school students from twelve music programs in southern New Jersey.

Dr. Di Santo is currently the Principal Clarinetist of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, a position he has held since 1991. A participant in music festivals in both North America and Europe, he has performed throughout venues in the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany and Italy. Recording credits include Lee Pui Ming’s She Comes to Shore: concerto for improvised piano and orchestra in 2010 with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony as well as Verdi’s Requiem and Mozart’s Requiem K. 626 with Philadelphia’s Vox Ama Deus Ensemble. His clarinet playing and commentary were highlighted on NPR’s Morning Edition on October 9, 2004, later broadcast in translation over Voice of America, throughout Europe and the former Soviet Republics.

Publishing credits include articles in The Clarinet (the official journal of the International Clarinet Association), and the International Alliance for Women in Music journal. Other media credits include a feature article entitled A Marriage of Music and Harmony in the March 2007 issue of Down Jersey Magazine, a front-page photo on the October 13, 2011 edition of The Press of Atlantic City’s At the Shore Magazine (with his wife Karen, also a member of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony), and two recent interviews appearing in the Arts and Entertainment section of the Press of Atlantic City.

Dr. Di Santo earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Temple University, where he held a Conwell Fellowship, a Master of Music degree from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Music Education degree, cum laude, from The Ohio State University. Dr. Di Santo was chosen for inclusion in the ninth edition of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 2005 and was elected to Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges in 1993. His clarinet teachers include Anthony Gigliotti, Alan Hacker, Howard Klug, Dr. Donald E. McGinnis, and Dr. Robert A. Titus.

As a member of the Reading Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Constantine, and the Vox Amadeus Orchestra under Valentine Radu, Paul he has been often featured and recorded as soloist at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia. Paul was Principal Horn in the Israel Chamber Orchestra under Shlomo Mintz, and also held positions in the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon as well as playing principal in orchestras in Spain and Mexico. Paul has recorded at Sigma Sound and Gamble and Huff studios, and played in orchestral recordings with the Chicago Symphony and the Gulbenkian Orchestra. Mr. Rosenberg maintains his own private teaching studio in the suburban Philadelphia area. He himself has been a grateful student of Eyal Vilner of the Jerusalem Symphony, Randy Gardner of the Philadelphia Orchestra and his longtime mentor and teacher, Dale Clevenger, Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Beth Dzwil, violist, founder, and director of the Fairmount String Quartet, is a seasoned chamber musician, performing for over thirty years with the Fairmount String Quartet and for fifteen years with the Elysian Camerata. She has been featured as a soloist with the Pottstown Symphony, where she served as principal violist for over twenty years, and with the Buxmont Chamber Players, the St. John’s Festival Orchestra, and the Fairmount Chamber Ensemble. In addition to her classical work, she has performed internationally and recorded six critically acclaimed jazz albums with the Tyrone Brown String Sextet. She teaches at the Community College of Philadelphia and the Haverford School, conducts the Philadelphia Sinfonia Strings youth orchestra, and coordinates the Adult Chamber Music Program at Settlement Music School.

Principal Harpist for the Pennsylvania ballet, Mindy Cutcher is an in-demand professional soloist, teacher and recording artist in Philadelphia. Symphonic engagements include the Baltimore and Delaware Symphonies, the St. Louis Symphony and Philadelphia’s Chamber Orchestra. Mindy has performed on The Tonight Show and with notable names such as Joshua Bell, Josh Groban and Anne Hathaway. She studied with world-renowned Alice Chalifoux at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she received her Bachelor of Music degree in Harp Performance. Mindy has traveled the world playing on cruise ships, loves a good read and is a s’more connoisseur. Originally from Baltimore, Mindy now resides outside of Philadelphia with her husband, two children and a Cockapoo named Hubble.

Barbara Jaffe, violinist, received a Master of Music degree in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, where she was a student of Donald Weilerstein. She graduated magna cum laude from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts with a Bachelor of Music degree and was the recipient of the PCPA Book Prize for excellence in the Liberal Arts. Former teachers include Edgar Ortenberg, Charles Castleman, David Cerone, and Yumi Ninomiya-Scott.
A founding member of Elysian Camerata, Ms. Jaffe’s chamber music career began in 1982 in Great Falls, Montana with the Cascade String Quartet, the resident quartet affiliated with the Great Falls Symphony, and followed with a position in the Bradley University String Quartet in Peoria, Illinois.
In the greater Philadelphia area, Ms. Jaffe has performed with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Ballet and Opera Delaware Orchestras, Philly Pops, Relache, the Fairmount String Quartet and Chamber Ensemble, and the Arioso Quartet. She serves as concertmaster of the newly formed Orchestra Concordia.In the Lehigh Valley she has performed with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, the Gabriel Chamber Ensemble and the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Jaffe has performed in Switzerland as a member of the New Bridge Ensemble.
Barbara Jaffe has taught violin students at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges and maintains a teaching studio in her home as well. In the summer she is music director, faculty member, performer and chamber music coach at the Vermont Music and Arts Center in Lyndonville, Vermont.

Michele Kelly is the flutist and co-Artistic Director of Relâche, the ensemble for new music. The octet is known worldwide for its innovative programming, multidisciplinary collaborations, and a library of commissioned works numbering well into the hundreds. Ms. Kelly appears on the group's last four recordings, Press Play, Eight Point Turn, Kyle Gann's The Planets, and the soon-to-be released Comix Trips. She also appears on the Centaur Records disc Flute Loops, featuring the chamber music of Cynthia Folio. When not with Relâche, she performs regularly around the region in a variety of settings, from two- and three-piece chamber ensembles to symphony orchestras. Ms. Kelly is also a College House Teaching Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is also the founder, Music Director and conductor of Penn Flutes, an ensemble in excess of thirty players with regular performances and educational outreach programs throughout the region. Ms. Kelly also maintains a similar flute ensemble consisting of members of her private studio, Fresh Flute. She received her Masters of Music from the University of Michigan, where she also received a Specialist's degree in Chamber Music Performance. The daughter of noted abstract expressionist artist James Groff lives in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia with her family.

A born and bred Philadelphian, Andreia Torain completed her undergraduate studies at Ithaca College, in upstate New York, receiving a B.M. degree under the tutelage of both Philip Clark and Debra Moree. Upon graduating, she returned home to study with Helen Kwalwasser at Temple University, where she received her Master of Music in String Pedagogy. These days she is a regular freelancer in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas. She has performed with numerous groups over the years, including the Fairmount Chamber Ensemble, Philadelphia Classical Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Delaware Valley Philharmonic, Newtown Chamber Orchestra, and the Riverside Symphonia. In 2012, she helped found Philalea, a chamber music ensemble devoted to performing piano trios, a genre she’s been in love with since her teenage years. Andreia has been a member of the violin faculty at Settlement Music School since 1994, where she teaches private violin lessons using both Traditional and Suzuki methods, as well as Suzuki group classes, and coaches chamber music; she also serves as Suzuki Coordinator for all six of the school’s branches. Along with helping her students build strong music and violin fundamentals, she is passionate about getting kids to explore and develop their creative expression. During her down time, Andreia gets her kicks training 3-4 days a week in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and trying out new cake and cookie recipes.

Melissa Ortega Locati has been an active chamber musician in the Philadelphia area since 1996. She received a Bachelor’s degree from Eastman School of Music and a Master’s degree from the University of Miami. As an orchestral musician, she has been a member of the Delaware Symphony, the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, the Lancaster Symphony and the Ocean City Pops. As a chamber musician she has performed as a member of the Fairmount String Quartet, the Tyrone Brown String Sextet, the Petra String Quartet & the Chancellor String Quartet. When not playing violin, Melissa can be found working with her (violinist) husband Michael at Locati, LLC which deals in fine art and antiques.

Marka Gwynn Stepper, has been a member of the Ocean City Pops since 1989. A graduate of Manahttan School of Music, she was a student of Lillian Fuchs, and before that studied with Joseph de Pasquale, of the Philadelphia Orchestra at Temple University. An active freelance musician, she spent three years in Xalapa, Mexico with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa and later lived in South Texas, where she performed and taught. She currently plays with the Bay-Atlantic and the Bucks County Symphony, Fairmount Chamber Ensemble, and the Newtown Chamber Orchestra. She is a substitute player with the Harrisburg Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Marka is also a member of Kyrah, a string trio and the Danoff String Quartet.

Ms. Kasker-Simmons is on the faculty of the Settlement Music school teaches and also coordinates the Adult Chamber Music Players, a chamber music program for adults.

Louise received a Master of Music Degree in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Music Degree from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts. At Eastman she studied viola with Heidi Castleman, and chamber music with members of the Cleveland String Quartet. At PCPA she studied violin with Charles Castleman, and viola with Patynka Kopec. Other notable musicians with whom she has worked include Donald Weilerstein, Mitchell Stern, Edgar Ortenberg, and Abram Loft.

She began her performing career as violist with the Shelbourne and Cascade Quartets in Great Falls, MT. Since then she has performed in numerous chamber recitals in the United States and abroad, including concerts in Zurich, Bern, Boltigen, and Castasegna, Switzerland.

Louise is a founding member of the Elysian Camerata and performs with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, the Gabriel Chamber Ensemble, the New Bridge Ensemble (Switzerland), Chadds Ford Strings, the Wilmington String Ensemble, and ViVaCe Strings. Other ensembles with whom she has performed include the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Delaware Symphony, Allentown Symphony and Pennsylvania Opera Theater.

Louise’s other love is teaching violin and viola. She maintains an active teaching studio, working with children and adults of all ages.

She spends her summers at Vermont Music and Arts Center, where she serves as faculty violist. She coaches and performs with other faculty musicians, as well as with adult non-professional musicians who are passionate about chamber music.

Lori Marino holds degrees from University of Maryland and Duquesne University where she studied with Leonard Sharrow, Ken Pasmanick and Carlton Jones. She was a featured soloist on contrabassoon with the Washington Chamber Symphony, under the direction of Stephen Simon at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She is an active freelancer and has performed with the National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Gallery Orchestra, Baltimore Opera, Wolftrap Orchestra and Harrisburg Symphony, as well as many local orchestras and chamber music groups.

She founded a music therapy outreach program that provided music programs for eleven Baltimore area nursing homes. As a member of the Atlantic Winds she was a winner of the 1996 and 1997 Baltimore Chamber Music Awards and was the founder of the Chesapeake Chamber Players – a group dedicated to the performance of pieces for unusual combinations of instruments. As a member of the Atlantic Winds she designed and wrote transcripts for the quintet’s shows that entertained students while educating with music. These shows were very popular with many schools in the Washington/Baltimore area.

Currently Lori teaches at Eastern University and Cairn University and is an active freelancer in the Philadelphia area. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two children.

Flutist Lois Bliss Herbine enjoys a varied musical career as a soloist and recording artist, a chamber and orchestral musician and a respected teacher and clinician. She is a solo piccolo artist on Crystal and BCM&D Records. All six accompanied recordings from her CD, Take Wing, which include Vincent Persichetti, Daniel Dorff and Michael Daugherty premieres, have been broadcast on radio stations across the United States. The Gramophone hails her recital as “high-flying” and Music Web International proclaims, “Another leading wind soloist takes flight”.

Herbine is a Powell flute and piccolo artist. Her new EP, Alight, available August 2018, features the premiere recording of Amanda Harberg’s Prayer for flute and piano and is Herbine’s debut classical solo flute recording. Her first flute solo recording in a new age composition, titled I Cried, was released as part of UNESCOs world peace project – Action Moves People United. This double CD set made the Billboard Chart in October 2016. In September 2017, Herbine recorded for Rupam Sarmah’s, A Musical Journey: Together in Peace, which was released at the United Nations in New York. This CD climbed to #1 on the Billboard World Music Chart in November 2017.

Herbine has given performance materclasses at Baylor, Rice and Temple University and the University of Michigan, among other schools and societies. She performs with a few local ensembles such as the Fairmount Chamber Ensemble, the Reading Symphony Orchestra and the Ocean City Pops. A native Philadelphian, Lois enjoys doing genealogical research and gardening in her free time.

Karen Di Santo, a native of Ontario, Canada has been a member of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (southern NJ) for over 17 years. In addition to its annual classical concert season, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony is the orchestra-in-residence at the Cape May Music Festival from May–June each summer. Summer season also includes a concert series in Avalon and starting this year, a Classical Music Concert Series at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, NJ. To kick off its 25th anniversary year, Bay-Atlantic Symphony first performed at the Borgata with Cirque de la Symphonie in September of 2008 and has continued to perform concerts annually since then.

Karen received a B.A. in Honors Clarinet Performance from Wilfrid Laurier University (Ont., Canada) as a student of Victor Sawa and a M.M. in Clarinet Performance from Temple University where she studied with Anthony Gigliotti (Philadelphia Orchestra). Through her participation in summer music festivals in Canada and the US, she has enjoyed highly influential master classes with Stanley Hasty and Alan Hacker. At the Banff Centre she was an Artist-in-Residence and performed a summer season with the Banff Centre Opera Orchestra. Karen’s free-lance work in the greater Philadelphia region includes orchestral and chamber music performances with Academy of Vocal Arts, Concerto Soloists, Elysian Camerata, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Fairmount Strings and Chester County Choral Society. In 2006-2007 she recorded Mozart’s Requiem K. 626 and Verdi Requiem with Vox Ama Deus Ensemble on the Lyrichord label and in 2012, a clarinet quartet by Robert Russell Bennett for a privately-funded project that includes the complete chamber music of Bennett.

Karen currently serves as the Program Associate for Network for New Music, a Philadelphia based organization that presents, commissions, and performs music by living composers. She also loves to teach and has a thriving home teaching studio in Springfield, PA, where she lives with her husband Christopher, and two children.

A Magna Cum Laude honors graduate of West Chester University, Mr. Raub has been an active freelance Double Bassist in Southeastern Pennsylvania since 1980. In addition to colleges such as Ursinus, Franklin & Marshall, Lafayette, Muhlenberg, Moravian, the University of Valley Forge, Kutztown University, Lehigh University, and the University of Pennsylvania, Tim has appeared regularly with Berks Grand Opera, Opera Delaware, the Kennett Symphony Orchestra, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, the Reading Choral Society, the Reading Symphony Orchestra, the Schuylkill Symphony Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, the Wheaton Chorale, and the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra. Beyond his performance schedule, Tim served as Personnel Contractor and Orchestra Manager for the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra Association for more than fifteen years, as well as Associate Principal Double Bass from 1980 to 2006. Raised in Montgomery County and residing in Berks County, Tim considers this area his home and held the Music Director post at First Baptist Church (Pottstown) from 1987 to 2005. During his tenure, the music program at FBC sponsored a variety of special projects with combined choirs from public schools and other churches; moreover, he spearheaded new outreach opportunities for institutions such as The Frederick Mennonite Home, Manatawny Manor, and Berks County Prison. In addition to his conducting duties at FBC, Tim has also appeared as Guest Conductor for other organizations and events, such as the 125th Anniversary Celebration of Trinity Reformed Church (Pottstown) and additional community performances at Berks County Prison.

Music Education continues to be a priority for Mr. Raub and his students have competed in Pennsylvania and nationally. Since 1984, his Berks County students have taken first chair at PMEA District, Regional, All-State, and All-Eastern Orchestra Festivals. Locally, several students appeared in the Double Bass section or as soloists with The Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra, The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, as well as The Reading Symphony Orchestra. Other highlights of student achievement include Honorable Mention at The International Double Bass Competition (Houston) and several hundred thousand dollars in scholarships for Penn-State University, Temple University, and the Peabody Conservatory. When the Reading School District appointed Mr. Raub in 2000, he was the only full-time elementary String Specialist and there were only two string positions serving less than 200 students in the City of Reading. There are now five positions serving more than 800 String Orchestra students throughout the entire school district!

Between seasons, Tim travels throughout Central America and enjoys snorkeling on the world’s second largest coral reef, photographing amazing wildlife, and exploring hidden ruins as far away from other tourists as possible. During winter vacation, Tim looks forward to the warmth and relaxed change of pace in old town Key West.

Joseph Caminiti began his conducting career as the Assistant Conductor of the Ithaca College Symphony and Chamber Orchestras in 1996. After arriving in Philadelphia, he started the string ensemble, Solaris, before accepting the Music Director position with the Cairn Symphony Orchestra in 2001. In 2015 he served as the Music Director of the Philharmonia, an orchestra under the umbrella organization, Youth Orchestra of Bucks County. He is now Director of Orchestral Studies at West Chester University where he conducts the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, and teaches various other courses. He is also looking forward to his second year as Music Director of the Delaware County Symphony. Guest conducting appearances include the Bucks County Symphony Orchestra (2014), the Delaware Valley Wind Symphony (2014 and 2015), the PMEA District 12 Orchestra (2017), the Delaware All-State Orchestra (2017), and many other youth orchestras.

Mr. Caminiti has collaborated with arts and charitable organizations such as Advocates For the Homeless and Those in Need, Esperanza, UrbanPromise International, and ARTOLERANCE to help support underserved communities. He further values his work with living composers and guest artists such as Judith Lang Zaimont, Kile Smith, Raoul Pleskow, Ricardo Morales, Udi Bar-David, Kimberly Reighley, and Ching-Yun Hu.

Committed to connecting with audiences through dynamic and thoughtful concerts, Mr. Caminiti has created various performance formats including “Concerts in The Round,” smartphone-friendly features, in-concert conversations, multi-media elements, pre-concert “round-tables,” and family concerts with instrument petting zoos for children.He also recently launched at West Chester University the “Quad Concert” series that included audience-selected film scores alongside Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Chabrier’s España. This outdoor performance was so well received that CBS News spontaneously ran a spot on it.

As a horn player, Mr. Caminiti is acting principal horn of the Riverside Symphonia (Lambertville, New Jersey), member of the Fairmount Chamber Ensemble (Philadelphia), and is a chamber recitalist with other professional ensembles throughout the Philadelphia region. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and violinist, Kirsten. They are active birders and savor hearty conversations over coffee.

The recipient of the Edwin E. Stein Award for Excellence in Musical Studies, cellist Talia Schiff completed her undergraduate studies at Boston University under renowned cellist Leslie Parnas. As winner of the 1982 Austrian-American Society Mozarteum Scholarship Competition she was awarded a summer of study in Salzburg with legendary cellist Antonio Janigro. She later attended the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, earning her Master’s degree in the studios of concert cellists Stephen Kates and Yehuda Hanani. Ms. Schiff subsequently went on to become a founding member of the Castalia String Trio, semifinalists in the 1987 Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition.

In 1989 Ms. Schiff continued to pursue her love of chamber music with the Tenor Clef Dwellers: a cello quartet, which she established with three colleagues. For the next decade she devoted much of her artistic energy to developing the performance and repertoire of the cello quartet ensemble. In Spring of 2001, a collection of music she had transcribed for the Tenor Clef Dwellers’ performances was published by Musicelli Publications.

At present Ms. Schiff’s chamber music pursuits focus on her work with Elysian Camerata, with whom she has performed since 2004. An ensemble made up of string quintet and piano, the Elysians regroup into various size and types of ensembles to perform a wide range of chamber music encompassing literature from the Baroque to contemporary. With them, Ms. Schiff performs regularly throughout the season, both locally and on tour.

Formerly the principal cellist of the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra and the Opera New Jersey Orchestra, Ms. Schiff is currently a member of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and can be heard in recital as part of the Schiff-Burgman Cello/Piano Duo. As a substitute cellist, she has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Philly Pops and the Philadelphia Opera Company. Her diverse activities include performing the solo cello part in the world premiere of the Ben Steinberg work “Psalm of Thanksgiving” in Philadelphia’s Verizon Hall.

Jose' is a graduate of the New School of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied tenor and bass trombone with Tyrone Breuninger, Glenn Dodson, and Charlie Vernon. Throughout his career, he has performed with the Harrisburg Symphony, the Delaware Symphony, the Princeton Chamber Symphony, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, the Philly Pops Orchesta, and the Pennsylvania Ballet. Jose' has also played for Slide Hampton, Frank Foster, Freddie Hubbard, Aretha Franklin, and opera soprano Roberta Peters among others. One of the highlights of of his career was performing with legendary jazz trombonist, J.J. Johnson in Philadelphia. Jose' recorded with Teddy Pendergrass, Lou Rawls, the O'Jays, and Patti LaBelle. He enjoys traveling, photography, and the craft of musical instrument repair.

Stephen Labiner is a graduate of the Philadelphia Musical Academy where he studied with Stevens Hewitt. He was solo English Horn player with the Detroit Symphony and Oboe and English player with the National Ballet of Canada where he toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada. He was also on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival and has played solo performances on Public Radio. Stephen is a member of the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra and also performs with the Reading Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Ocean City Pops and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He also appears with his wife, harpist Sophie Bruno Labiner. In addition to a cutthroat game of Scrabble they love to spend time with their family, particularly their granddaughters Ella and Olivia.

Philadelphia native Joanne DiMaria Bates began her studies at the Settlement Music School with Eligio Rossi. She was awarded a fellowship from the Ford Foundation to study with Henry G. Scott of the Philadelphia Orchestra while at Girls’ High, and continued working with him for a year at the New School of Music until entering the Curtis Institute of Music. At Curtis, Joanne studied with Philadelphia Orchestra principal bass Roger M. Scott, and worked extensively with Karen Tuttle, Felix Galimir and Mischa Schneider for chamber music. Joanne was a Koussevitzsky Foundation Fellow at Tanglewood, where she studied with the Boston Symphony’s principal Edwin Barker and assistant principal Lawrence Wolfe. Joanne also participated in the Aspen Music Festival and the Colorado Philharmonic (now the National Repertory Orchestra), and has performed as a substitute member of the Philadelphia Orchestra at both the Academy of Music and Carnegie Hall. In addition to the Fairmount Chamber Ensemble, Joanne has performed with the Princeton Symphony, the Riverside Symphonia, Vox Amadeus, the Delaware Symphony, the Lancaster Symphony, the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, Relache, Network for New Music, Orchestra 2001, the opera companies of Philadelphia, Delaware and Trenton, and many other organizations. Joanne is on the faculty of Germantown Academy, St. Basil Academy, Temple University’s Music Prep, Kutztown University and Chestnut Hill College.

Sophie Bruno Labiner is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Marilyn Costello. Ms. Bruno has performed with major orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and The English Chamber Orchestra. She has appeared both as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles in the Philadelphia area, including broadcasts on Public Radio. She has also performed with The American Ballet Theater, American Boy Choir, Kirov Ballet, Royal Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Reading Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Academy of Vocal Arts Opera Orchestra and Opera Festival of New Jersey. Ms. Bruno is currently principal harpist with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and Orchestra 2001. Sophie enjoys reading, playing scrabble and especially spending time with her two granddaughters, Ella and Olivia.

Gregory Teperman’s musicality, sense of style, and joie de vivre is evident whenever he performs. Among his credits include his performing with the Moscow Symphony, Moldavian Philharmonic, Kirov Ballet, and the Trenton Symphony, for whom he was assistant concert master. He has, as well, performed for such diverse artists as Pavarotti, Carreras, Domingo, Joshua Bell, Hillary Hahn, Josh Groban, and Frank Sinatra Jr. Among others, he has recorded with Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, Justin Timberlake, and Rosemary Clooney. Currently a member of the AVA and the Philly Pops Orchestras, he is also concertmaster for Broadway at the Academy and for the Walnut Street Theatre.

Ron received his early training at The Settlement Music School and later went on to study at The Manhattan School of Music with Bernard Greenhouse and at The Marlboro School of Music, where he studied with Pablo Casals. He was the recipient of a Ford Foundation Grant and gave his debut recital at Alice Tully Hall. He has performed with The New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein and Erich Leinsdorf, and with the American Symphony under Stokowski, and has performed and appeared as soloist with the Symphony of the New World. He appears frequently as a recitalist. He has performed and recorded with many well-known entertainers and singers, including Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. and recorded with James Brown live at the Apollo. He is a faculty member of Drexel University and Eastern College.

Fran Berge performs widely on both historical and modern instruments. In the mid-Atlantic region, she plays Baroque and Classical concerts with Tempesta di Mare, the Washington Bach Consort and Melomanie. Playing modern violin, she has performed frequently with the Elysian Camerata, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Ballet, and Orchestra 2001 as well as Fairmount Strings. Outside this area, she has enjoyed being part of the Carmel Bach Festival and numerous chamber concerts in Spain, Italy and Greece. In New York, Ms. Berge has taught actors how to use early music in Commedia del’Arte and in Philadelphia, she teaches violin, ensemble techniques and Baroque performance practice.

Musician Category: Fairmount Chamber Ensemble

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