Principal Musicians

David Colwell, concertmaster read biography	David Sariti, violin read biography
Iris Jortner, cello read biography	Pete Spaar, bass read biography
Alan Cox, flute read biography	Scott Perry, oboe read biography
Nancy Garlick, clarinet read biography	Ibby Roberts, bassoon read biography
Ayn Balija, viola read biography	Paul Neebe, trumpet read biography
Ian Zook, horn read biography	Steve Kellner, trombone read biography
I-Jen Fang, percussion read biography

The Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra principal musicians are members of the Performance Faculty in the McIntire Department of Music at the University of Virginia. They are supported through ticket sales, donations to the orchestra's annual fund and endowment, and the University of Virginia.

David Colwell, concertmaster
dac6p@virginia.edu

The Mary Dean Scott Chair

Since his solo debut with the Edmonton Symphony in 1995 at the age of 14, violinist David Colwell has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, Canada, and the United States, and has been recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2000, David, together with Martin Riseley, Aaron Au, Tanya Prochazka and Stéphane Lemelin performed Brahms's Piano Quintet in F minor; this performance was included on a CBC promotional CD. In June of 2003, he was featured on the CBC music program Our Music.

As a winner of a Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship in both 1998 and 1999, David was afforded the opportunity to study at the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria with Igor Oistrakh, Michael Frischenschlager, Jean-Jacques Kantorow and Igor Ozim. In the summers of 2004 and 2005, he studied and performed at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. In June of 2005, David made his formal Ravinia Festival debut at the Martin Theater with a performance of Mozart's Piano Quartet in G minor. Other recent memorable performances have included chamber music collaborations with bassist Edgar Meyer, cellists Timothy Eddy and Ole Akahoshi, and pianist Ralf Gothóni.

A native of Alberta, Canada, David received his first violin lessons from Dr. Elfreda Gleam and William van der Sloot. After further studies with Ranald Shean and Edmond Agopian, he began his undergraduate education in 1997 at the University of Alberta where he studied with Dr. Martin Riseley. In September of 2001, he entered the studio of Peter Oundjian and Ani Kavafian at Yale University School of Music and in 2003 was awarded a Master of Music degree in Violin Performance. He is currently working towards his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale. David is grateful to the Winspear Fund for its generous support of his studies from 2001-2005.

While studying at Yale, he formed the Branford Trio together with pianist Ilya Poletaev and cellist Yves Dharamraj. In 2003, the trio was chosen to perform in the prestigious Chamber Music at Yale concert series. In addition to its many performances on campus, the Branford Trio appeared in Southport, Connecticut and St. Petersburg, Florida. In December of 2005, David joined cellist Alexandre Lecarme and pianist Toma Popovici in the Boston-based Trio Tancrède. During the 2005-2006 season, the trio gave regular concerts in Massachusetts and Maine.

David Sariti, violin
djs6k@virginia.edu

The Robert D. Cross Memorial Chair

David Sariti joined the UVa faculty in 2005, performing in the Rivanna Quartet and as Principal Second Violinist of the Charlottesville Symphony. Active as a recitalist and chamber collaborator with an unusually broad range of musical interests, he has recently appeared at Monticello's Center for Jefferson Studies, the Staunton Music Festival, the Summer Chamber Music Workshop at UVa, and will present the featured recital in UVa's 2006-07 Chamber Music Series. Accomplished also on the Baroque violin, he has played with such groups as the Arcadia Ensemble and the Fanfare Consort, with whom he performed at the Boston Early Music Festival and recorded for Champignon International. His experience as an orchestral musician includes the orchestras of Hartford, Vermont, Albany, Tanglewood, Springfield (MA), Akron, and the Ohio Ballet.

Mr. Sariti has taught violin and music history at the Hartt School, and is a coach and clinician passionately devoted to the advancement of string pedagogy. His articles have been featured in American String Teacher and California Music Teacher, with a forthcoming article in American Music Teacher.

Mr. Sariti completed his doctoral degree at Hartt in the Honors Chamber Music program, writing on "The Austro-German Violin Sonata, c. 1650", and is currently preparing a violin sonata by Heinrich Lizkau (1657) for its first-ever publication, by King's Music of London. He also holds degrees from the University of Akron and Ithaca College; Principal studies were with Katie Lansdale, Pamela Gearhart, Debra Moree, and Alan Bodman, and additional work with Pamela Frank and members of the Cleveland and Miami quartets.

Iris Jortner, cello
ij7t@virginia.edu

The Genevieve B. Horween & Marion H. Chase Chair

Cellist Iris Jortner was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel. As an active chamber musician she has collaborated with Yefim Bronfman, Michael Tree, Itamar Golan, Levon Chilingrian, the Orion Quartet, and the Apple Hill Chamber Players, and has performed in numerous festivals including Verbier, Banff, Tanglewood, Taos, Prussia Cove, Dubrovnick, Kfar Blum, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Isaac Stern's Encounters, and Rolandseck. Ms. Jortner was a founding member and cellist of the Aviv Quartet between 1997-2002. She has performed at important venues including Wigmore Hall, the Louvre, Theater du Chatelet, Vienna Concert House, Cologne Philharmonic Hall, Weill RecitaCabell Hall, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, Merkin Hall, and the Manoel Theater, and has recorded for Naxos and Live Classics. Ms. Jortner toured in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Israel, and the USA. She studied with Uri Vardi, Aldo Parisot, Bernard Greenhouse, Paul Katz, Dmitri Ferschtman, Timothy Eddy, and members of the Alban Berg Quartet.

Ms. Jortner earned her BM degree from the Eastman School of Music, her MM from the Amsterdam Conservatory, a Chamber Music Diploma from the Hochschule of Musik in Cologne, and her Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes College of Music. She taught at Marywood University (Pennsylvania), Opus 118 Harlem Center for Strings, and is on the faculty of the Apple Hill Summer festival. Ms. Jortner was a recipient of the American-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships, received a special award from the New York Foundation of the Arts, the Performer of Connecticut Award, prizes by the Ministries of Education of Israel and Germany, and special prizes at Tanglewood for outstanding chamber music performances.

Pete Spaar, bass
ps4a@virginia.edu

The Robert & Ruth Cross Chair

Bassist Peter Spaar holds a Master of Music from University of North Texas, and a Bachelor of Music from James Madison University. His former teachers include Sam Cross, Ed Rainbow, Tom Lederer and Mark Bernat. Mr. Spaar is the founder and bassist of the Free Bridge Quintet, UVA's jazz quintet-in-residence. He is also a member of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his teaching duties, Mr. Spaar maintains a very active freelance career as both a jazz and classical bassist.

Alan Cox, flute
amc7s@virginia.edu

The Thomas C. & Margaret M. MacAvoy Chair

Flutist Alan Cox joined the faculty of UVA's McIntire Department of Music in 2004. Mr. Cox currently serves as principal flute of the American Sinfonietta and is a member of New York's Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. He has worked extensively in New York City and San Francisco. While in San Francisco, he was principal flute of the San Francisco Opera, Sinfonia San Francisco, and the San Francisco Chamber Symphony, as well as being solo flute of the Anchor Chamber Players and appearing in numerous recitals and concerto engagements. In New York Mr. Cox has been principal flute of such prominent ensembles as the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the Opera Orchestra of New York, and has been a member of the New York Chamber Symphony and solo piccolo of the Metropolitan Opera. He has additionally appeared frequently with the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony. He has participated in tours throughout the United States, Europe, Japan, and Korea. A founding member of the New York New Music Ensemble, he has given premiere performances of works by Joseph Schwantner, Peter Maxwell Davies, Tod Machover and other leading composers. He has been a faculty member of Rutgers University, where he was a member of the Raritan Winds, the faculty woodwind quintet, the Juilliard School, SUNY-Binghamton, and Westminster Choir College. He has recorded for Columbia, Warner Bros., Opus One, Delos, Musical Heritage Society, Finnadar, ROM Productions, Mediaphon, and Sony Classical. Mr. Cox studied with Julius Baker at the Juilliard School, where he earned Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees, and collaborated with Mr. Baker as editor for a number of publications, including Baker's Daily Exercises for the Flute. He also studied with Marcel Moyse and William Bennett.
Mr. Cox is also a composer. He acknowledges guidance from such diverse teachers as Vincent Persichetti, Lester Trimble, Elliott Carter, Roger Sessions, and Vladimir Ussachevsky, but considers himself primarily self-taught. His output ranges from solo and chamber works to a song cycle for soprano and chamber orchestra, "Illuminations", set to texts by the poet Arthur Rimbaud, to a piece for large orchestra, "Six Orchestral Images after Magritte", musical depictions of paintings by the surrealist painter Rene Magritte.

Scott Perry, oboe
sp7j@virginia.edu

The Jason I. & Ellen U. Eckford Chair

California-born Scott Perry holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music and is currently a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University. An active freelance musician, he has performed with orchestras throughout the West and the Midwest, including the Seattle Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Perry has performed on three continents for audiences that have included heads of state, royalty, and even the Pope. He is the oboist of the Albemarle Ensemble, and is a faculty member of UVA's McIntire Department of Music.

Nancy Garlick, clarinet
nbg4c@virginia.edu

The Henry Jacob Javor Chair

D.M.A. Catholic University, M.M. Manhattan School of Music, B.S. from the Crane School of Music, Advanced studies at Tanglewood and Ecoles Americaines des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau, France. Soloist with the Boston Pops, Westchester Pops, Crane Symphony, Wooster Symphony, Pennsylvania Sinfonia, Charlottesville and University Symphony and others. Guest appearances with the Canton and Chester Quartets. New York debut at Carnegie RecitaCabell Hall, 1981, with The Wooster Trio. Principal clarinet with the New Haven Symphony, American Wind Symphony, Waterbury, Lakeside, and Missouri and Westchester Symphony Orchestras. Music Director of The Wooster Symphony, the Youth Orchestra of Charlottesville-Albemarle and the Mozart Ensemble. Formerly Associate Professor at the College of Wooster; member of the faculties at James Madison University and Mary Baldwin College. She is a founding member of the Albemarle Ensemble and UVA Chamber Music Series.

Ayn Balija, viola
violayn@yahoo.com

The Elizabeth W. Gatewood Chair

Following her dreams, Ayn Balija earned her BM from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and MM from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Jeffrey Irvine and Peter Slowik continue to be her principal instructors and mentors.

Between degrees Ayn explored various teaching philosophies including Karen Tuttle's Coordination philosophy and the Suzuki Violin method. Upon completing her undergraduate studies she was a founding instructor of the Oberlin Community Music School. For four years, she provided Suzuki violin lessons, group classes, chamber music coachings, and music theory classes to Lorain County.

An avid orchestral musician, Ms. Balija performs with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, OH, Red {an orchestra}, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, and Camerata Chicago. For the 2006-2007 season she was asked to tour with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on their East Coast Tour.

During summers, she has attended numerous festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and School, Banff Center, Credo, and the Colorado College Summer Music Festival. She participated as an orchestral musician, chamber coach, mentor, and quartet fellow. Starting the summer of 2006, Ms. Balija was awarded the Aspen Mentor Fellowship to aid in the instruction of aspiring orchestral musicians.

Her passion for teaching at the collegiate level developed while serving as an assistant to her conservatory instructors. Other interests include modern music and early music performances on the baroque viola. She has had the opportunity to study with members of Apollo's Fire including Jeanette Sorrell and Cynthia Roberts. Currently she serves as Lecturer of Viola at the University of Virginia and principal violist of the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra.

Ian Zook, horn
irz5z@virginia.edu

The Johanna & Derwood Chase & Chase Investment Counsel Corp. Chair

Ian Zook, horn, is an active orchestral and solo performer and has appeared in concert throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. In addition to his faculty position at the University of Virginia and performance as the principal horn of the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra, he also performs with the Princeton and Haddonfield Symphony Orchestras in New Jersey, and as a substitute musician for the Vermont Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

In 2006, he performed as principal horn of the Pacific Music Festival under the baton of Valery Gergiev with concerts in Sapporo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo for collective audiences nearing 50,000 in number. He performed alongside principals of the Vienna Philharmonic in both orchestra and chamber music, and also worked with principal musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Before relocating to the east coast, he was an active freelance musician in Michigan where he held positions with the Dearborn, Adrian, and Birmingham-Bloomsfield Symphony Orchestras, as well as a mentorship with the Detroit Civic Orchestra. He also had the opportunity to perform on Naxos' Grammy Award-winning recording of William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience under Leonard Slatkin.

He has also performed both orchestral and chamber music at the National Orchestral Institute, Sarasota Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.

A proponent of period-instrument performance, he has performed natural horn with the New York Collegium and the Washington Bach Consort. He was also a featured performer at the 2005 Northeast Horn Workshop playing trompe de chasse.

A native of North Carolina, he received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill and a Master of Music from the University of Michigan. He is currently a candidate for Doctor of Musical Arts at Rutgers University.

Ibby Roberts, bassoon
ear4x@virginia.edu

The Ann Saunders Roberts Chair

Ibby Roberts, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, holds a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Illinois. She taught kindergarten for two years in suburban Chicago, then began pursuing her dream of becoming a professional musician. She earned a Professional Studies Diploma and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Harid Conservatory, where she studied with Arthur Weisberg, and a Master of Music Performance degree at the University of Southern California, where she studied with Stephen Maxym. During her second year at USC she was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda and was selected to be a Presidential Fellow. Upon graduating she was awarded the Dean's Special Commendation. She has also studied bassoon with Nancy Goeres, and contrabassoon with Lew Lipnik.

Ms. Roberts has served on the performance faculty in the music department at the University of Virginia since 2001, where her duties include playing principal bassoon with the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra (CUSO), and bassoon with the Albemarle Ensemble, UVA's faculty woodwind quintet. She coordinates CUSO's outreach program, Preludes, and freelances with orchestras in Virginia, Washington, DC, and North Carolina, including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. She has performed as a soloist with the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra, the Harid Conservatory Orchestra, and the Waynesboro (Virginia) Community Orchestra. Ms. Roberts is a member of the adjunct faculty in the Adult Degree Program at Mary Baldwin College, and she teaches bassoon, reed making, and chamber music in the Charlottesville area.

As a student, Ms. Roberts held fellowships at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (CT) and at the Aspen Music Festival (CO) where she served as principal bassoonist of the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra at Aspen for three summers. Ms. Roberts has performed and taught at the Wintergreen Performing Arts Festival (VA), Beyond the Notes (UVA), Music Mind and Reading (NC), and the Cascade Festival of Music (OR).

Ms. Roberts has given world premiere performances of works by Arthur Weisberg, Bernard Rands, Gary Schocker, and Walter Ross. She also gave the Virginia premiere of a recently discovered concerto for bassoon by Gioacchino Rossini.

Paul Neebe, trumpet
pmn9r@virginia.edu

The Dr. & Mrs. Kennerly H. Digges Chair

American trumpet virtuoso Paul Neebe has performed widely throughout the U.S. and Europe as both an acclaimed soloist and respected orchestral musician. Recognized for his beautiful solo sound and artistic flair, Mr. Neebe has also been praised for his commitment to commissioning and recording contemporary American works for the trumpet. In 2000, he commissioned the American Composer Roger Petrich to write a piece for Trumpet & Organ, a work premiered in Germany in 2002 and recorded on the German Label MDG in 2003. He also recorded with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra a CD consisting of all World Premieres of "American Trumpet Concerto's" to be released on the Albany Records Label in 2005. Neebe recently commissioned several new American works for trumpet and orchestra by: Dr. Walter Ross, Professor Emeritus of the University of Virginia, Dr. Eddie Bass, Professor Emeritus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, as well as Roger Petrich of St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill.

Mr. Neebe currently serves as principal trumpet of the Roanoke Symphony and the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra in Virginia, and is on the faculty of the University of Virginia. In recent seasons, he has performed as a featured soloist with the Roanoke, Charlottesville and Durham Symphonies, the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra, and the Elon University Wind Ensemble. In 1995 he received honors at the First International Trumpet Festival Competition in Moscow. In addition to numerous concerts throughout the U.S., he has performed several times for the Goethe Institute Cultural Program in Rothenburg, Germany and has toured with orchestras in Italy, Austria, Australia and New Zealand.

Mr. Neebe received both the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School. While at Juilliard, he was a member of the National Orchestra of New York, performing at Carnegie Hall. In May 1999, he completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at the Catholic University of America. His teachers have included Bernard Adelstein, Arnold Jacobs, Steve Hendrickson, Douglas Myers, Vincent Penzarella, and William Vacchiano. For more information visit www.paulneebe.com.


Steve Kellner, trombone
psk3c@virginia.edu

Steve retired in October 2004 after a 25 year career in military bands, including eleven years as principal euphonium of the U.S. Marine Band in Washington, D.C. In addition to hundreds of performances with the band at the White House and in support of the President, he was a featured soloist on several of the band's national concert tours, summer series concerts, and chamber series concerts, and served as principal euphonium on the band's tours of Norway, England, the Soviet Union, and Switzerland. He also played on more than fifteen Marine Band recordings and was a featured soloist on the band's recording Charles Ives's America. Guest conductors of the band during Steve's career included Frederick Fennell, Gunther Schuller, Osmo Vanska, Leonard Slatkin, and John Williams.

In addition to his performances with the Marine Band, Steve has been a guest soloist at the Texas Bandmaster's Association Convention, the All-Eastern Band Clinic, and the U.S. Army Tuba-Euphonium Conference. He has premiered numerous new works for the euphonium, including works by Stephen Bulla and Douglas Court, and presented master classes and clinics at colleges and universities across the country, including the Eastman School of Music, Arizona State University, Brigham Young University, and the Armed Forces School of Music. He has also performed as an orchestral euphoniumist with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Maryland Symphony, the Chesapeake Orchestra, the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Orchestra, and the Arlington Symphony, and has performed and recorded with the Washington Symphonic Brass.

A native of Atlanta, Steve received nearly all of his early musical training in Salvation Army brass bands. He has served as principal euphonium of several S.A. brass bands and performed on numerous brass band recordings, including appearances as a featured soloist on the CD recordings Songs of the States with the National Capital Band, and Live in England with the Southern Territorial Band. Steve's euphonium teachers include Robert Schramm, Mark Mordue, and Michael Moore and his trombone teachers include Milt Stevens, Matt Guilford, and James Kraft.

I-Jen Fang, timpani & percussion
if4n@virginia.edu

The James E. & Yolonda T. Roberts Chair

I-Jen Fang was born in Taipei, Taiwan and began her musical education at age six taking piano. Taking up percussion at the age of nine, she came to the United States at age fifteen to pursue her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Percussion Performance at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. Later, she received her Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas where she served as a teaching fellow. Her principle teachers include Tim Adams, Michael Burritt, Christopher Deane, Mark Ford, Paul Rennick, Robert Schietroma, Ed Smith and Ed Soph.

As a percussionist, Ms. Fang has performed or recorded with artists such as Keiko Abe, William Cahn, Mark Ford, Mike Mainieri, Michael Spiro, Nanik Wenton and Nyoman Wenton. She was a guest marimba soloist with the Taiwan Youth Orchestra in Austria, France, Hungary, Romania, and South Africa. Also, she has performed as a soloist with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic in Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a pianist, she was a winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Young Artist Competition. In 2003, she was a featured performer with the Bain Percussion Group at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). In that same year, she was selected as a marimba soloist to perform in the Marimba Mania Concert at the 6 èmes Journées de la Percussion in Paris, France. In 2004 she performed at PASIC as one of the finalists in the Solo Vibraphone Competition. Last year she was invited to perform on the Gamelan Gender Wayang at PASIC 2005.

Ms. Fang has performed with many ensembles, which include the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan Youth Orchestra, North Texas Wind Symphony, UNT Indoor Drumline, Northwestern Symphony Orchestra, Northwestern Contemporary Music Ensemble, Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, Carnegie Mellon University Wind Ensemble, UNT Steelband, South Indian, Gamelan, Afro-Cuban, contemporary and classical percussion ensembles, and is a member of a percussion quartet, the Bain Percussion Group. She has been involved with recording eleven CDs and a DVD with the North Texas Wind Symphony on the Klavier and GIA labels.