Piano
Cecilia Cho, pianist, received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory under the guidance of Ann Schein. Later, she studied with Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio) as his assistant at Indiana University while a candidate for the Doctor of Music degree. She is the first prize winner of many competitions including the Aspen Music Festival Piano Concerto Competition, Baltimore Symphony Young Soloists Audition, Jewish Community Center Competition and the National Winner of the MTNA Baldwin Junior Keyboard Competition. Performances have included the Kennedy Center, Fessenden Ensemble, Illinois State University, Church of Epiphany, Philips Collection, as well as in Germany, France, Spain and Israel. Her performances have been broadcast on radio stations WQXR, WAJC, WGMS, WETA and KHCC. She has held faculty positions with Levine School of Music, University of Evansville and Bethany College. Ms. Cho was the recipient of the Arts Council of Indianapolis Creative Arts Renewal Fellowship, the 2001 Small Projects Program Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities/NEA. She is a member of the Fessenden Ensemble and the Potomac Trio with violinist Carole Tafoya Evans and cellist Mark Evans.
Violin
Carole Tafoya-Evans is a member of the second violin section of the National Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, she has performed with the Morrison String Quartet and the Indiana-Purdue Trio. She recently formed the Potomac Trio, which was awarded a grant by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities/NEA. She also performs with the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra and has appeared on the Chamber Music Series at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Ms. Evans holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University School of Music where she studied with Joseph Gingold and Yuval Yaron.
Susan Midkiff
Viola
Chiara Kingsley Dieguez
Cello
Cellist Mark Evans has been a member of the National Symphony Orchestra since 1998. Mr. Evans is a member of the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared in the Chamber Music Series at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and as soloist with the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra. He recently formed the Potomac Trio, which was awarded a grant by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities/NEA, and has appeared in the Church of the Epiphany Monday Night Musicales and NSO Prelude concert series. He holds degrees from Yale University and the Indiana University School of Music where he was awarded the Prestigious Performer’s Certificate. His teachers include Fritz Magg, Janos Starker and Aldo Parisot.
Bass
Richard Barber
Flute
Carole Bean, flutist, plays piccolo with the National Symphony Orchestra. She also performs with the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, the Contemporary Music Forum and the Grand Teton Music Festival. Ms. Bean has been a member of the Honolulu Symphony, the Harrisburg Symphony, the Xalapa Orchestra and the State of Mexico Orchestra. She studied with Judith Bentley at Bowling Green State University and Walfrid Kujala at Northwestern University.
Oboe
Shawn Welk serves as a co-principal oboe of the “President’s Own” United States Marine Band. He has performed with Tulsa Philharmonic, Oklahoma Sinfonia, Binghamton Philharmonic, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and the Buffalo Ballet. Mr. Welk holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma and the Eastman School, where he studied with Richard Killmer.
Clarinet
Ralph Skiano
French Horn
Emil George, founder and Artistic Director of the Fessenden Ensemble, received his Bachelor of Music in Performance from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where he studied horn with David Rogers. He later studied privately with Philip Farkas and Joseph Singer. Mr. George is a faculty member of the American University and the Washington Conservatory of Music. He is affiliated with the Baltimore Opera Orchestra, Wolftrap Opera Orchestra, Washington Concert Opera, Cathedral Choral Society Orchestra and has also performed with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony and the Washington Chamber Symphony. He is the former principal horn of the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic and the Theater Orchestra of Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts. Mr. George performs on horns made by Lawson Brass Instruments of Boonsboro, Maryland.
Bassoon
Christopher Jewell joined the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in 2000 as Assistant Principal Bassoonist. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia where he studied with Barbara Wood and Edward Dolbashian. He continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music with Patricia Rogers, Principal Bassoonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Christopher has served as Principal Bassoonist of the Manhattan Symphony and the Missouri Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with the Aspen Festival and Chamber Orchestras and the New World Symphony. He has been a soloist with the University of Missouri Philharmonic, Missouri Chamber Soloists, with ensembles at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and at the Missouri Music Educators Association Convention. He was also a prizewinner and soloist in the University Concert Series Emerging Artists Festival.
Board of Directors
Emil George, President
Dr. Jonathan Lyons
Charles E. Butterworth
David Maloney
Amy Ballard
Lewis Winarsky
Brant Hall
Mark Evans
Christian Parent, Stage Manager & Website Design
Alan Wonneberger, Recording Engineer
Catherine Gannon, Graphic Design