Strings International Music Festival Faculty Listing |
| Directors |
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| Kimberly Fisher, Principal Second Violinist of The Philadelphia Orchestra, has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Vancouver Symphony, and The Victoria Symphony. As recitalist and chamber musician she has performed across the United States and Canada, in England, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, China, Vietnam and Argentina. Kimberly has appeared in chamber music settings on “The Today Show” and in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, The Mogador Theater in Paris, The Kimmel Center, The Great Hall of China and most recently in conjunction with Midori and Friends in New York City. Kimberly has enjoyed chamber music performances with internationally renowned artists such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, Cristoph Eschenbach, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, William Preucil, Cynthia Phelps and many others. Ms. Fisher’s energetic, communicative teaching style has led to invitations to give master classes, chamber music coachings and audition preparation seminars around the world. Ms. Fisher’s teaching has inspired the creation of “Drumstring Publishing,” featuring innovative arrangements, editions and educational materials for string players. Her teachers have included her father, Lawrence Fisher, Yumi Ninomiya-Scott, David Cerone and Jascha Brodsky. |
 Sandy Marcucci Founder, Atlantic Cape Camps & Marcucci Fam-ly Estates Co-Founder, The Strings International Music Festival |
| Sandy Marcucci is the co-founder of both Atlantic Cape Camps - the feature of an ESPN special aired throughout the United States and abroad - and the Strings International Music Festival. Through her innovative marketing and media campaigns, Sandy has facilitated sports and music programs and clinics in Franklinville, New Jersey, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Paris, France, London, England, Reykjavik, Iceland, and Groznjan, Croatia. Mrs. Marcucci, former Assistant Director of Communications for the New Jersey General Assembly and former staff member at the National Defense Council Foundation in Washington, D.C., first acquired an interest in international marketing while studying at and the American University of Paris and La Sorbonne. Ms. Marcucci is a member of the Friends Board at The Curtis Institute of Music. |
| Vioinists |
 Marc Rovetti Assistant ConcertmasterPhiladelphia Orchestra |
| Born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, Marc made his solo debut with the Atlanta Symphony in 2005. He holds both a Bachelors and a Masters of music from The Juilliard School and an advanced certificate from New York University (NYU), where his teachers were Ronald Copes and Pamela Frank, respectively. Mr. Rovetti became Assistant Concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra in September 2009, having been a member of the First Violin Section since 2007. Prior to his positions in Philadelphia he was a member of the New World Symphony and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). He was also a member of the award-winning Rothko String Quartet and the Mark Morris Dance Group Ensemble. Mr. Rovetti has spent four summers at the Tanglewood Music Center, both as a fellow and as a violinist in the New Fromm Players, Tanglewood’s resident new music chamber ensemble. A strong advocate for new music, he has worked closely with composers Augusta Read Thomas, Bernard Rands, and Magnus Lindberg. |
 Dara MoralesAssistant Principal Second Violin Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Violinist Dara Morales joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as assistant principal second violin at the start of the 2007-08 season, coming to the Orchestra from the Utah Symphony and Opera, where she served as principal second violin. She has previously held the positions of principal second violin and interim associate concertmaster of the Puerto Rico Symphony and concertmaster of the Northern Kentucky Symphony. As soloist, Ms. Morales has performed with the Utah Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Puerto Rico Symphony, the Bangor Symphony, and the Lancaster Symphony, among others. During summers, she is a regular participant in the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Park City Chamber Music Festival, and the Intermezzo Chamber Series. A native of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Ms. Morales earned both her bachelors and masters degrees in music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she acted as graduate teaching assistant and taught in the Starling Preparatory Program. Her principal teachers include Kurt Sassmannshaus, Helen Kwalwasser, and Dorothy DeLay. Ms. Morales studied chamber music with Peter Oundjian, Henry Meyer, and members of the Tokyo Quartet. |
 Master Class, Teaching, and Performance FacultyWilliam dePasquale Former Co-Concertmaster Philadelphia Orchestra |
| William dePasquale began violin lessons with his father at age seven and continued studies at The Curtis Institute of Music with Veda Reynolds. As a member of The United States Navy Band, he studied with Samuel Kissel. Mr. dePasqaule performed the first of numerous solos with The Philadelphia Orchestra as a student audition winner. Receiving a Fulbright Scholarship in 1958, he traveled to Salzberg for a year of study and concert appearances. In 1960 he became concertmaster of The New Orleans Philharmonic. During this time, he was also a concertmaster of The Saint Louis Sinfonietta. Mr. dePasquale joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1963 and three seasons later was made an associate concertmaster. Mr. dePasqaule was appointed acting concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1994, second concertmaster in 1995, and co-concertmaster in 1999. Mr. dePasquale served as first violinist of The dePasquale String Quartet for over four decades and is currently a violinist of the dePasquale Trio. Mr. dePasquale is a member of the violin faculty at The Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University in Philadelphia. He also holds the position of principal string coach and co-artistic advisor for The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra organization. In 1995, Mr. dePasquale received The Philadelphia Orchestra’s C. Hartman Kuhn Award, awarded annually to the member of The Philadelphia Orchestra who has “shown ability and enterprise of such character as to enhance the standards and reputation of The Philadelphia Orchestra.” |
Robert dePasquale |
| Robert dePasquale, former Associate Principal Second of the Philadelphia Orchestra, began his violin studies with his father in his native Philadelphia. A student of Jascha Brodsky, Mr. dePasquale attended the New School of Music before joining the New York Philharmonic, where he spent eight seasons prior to his tenure in Philadelphia. Mr. dePasquale has served on the faculties of Haverford College, the University of the Arts and the Academy of Community Music, which he co-founded with his wife, Ellen Fisher, in 1983. For over 40 years, Mr. dePasquale was a member of the dePasquale String Quartet, and Artist-in-Residence at Haverford College and Villanova University. |
 Herold KleinViolinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Herold Klein has been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1971. He began studying the violin at the age of four with private teachers in Detroit, and was playing with community orchestras, including the South Oakland Symphony, by the time he was nine. He has studied with Mischa Mischakoff, Ivan Galamian, Josef Gingold and Rafael Druian. Mr. Klein entered Wayne State University in 1962, and while there joined the Indianapolis Symphony and later the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Klein has been a member of the United States Army Band Strolling Strings, and since 1987 served as concertmaster of the Greater Trenton Symphony Orchestra. Mr Klein is an avid cyclist. |
 Richard AmorosoViolinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Violinist Richard Amoroso joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1998 after serving as a member of the Concerto Soloists and the Philly Pops. He served as the Acting Assistant Concert Master of the Philadelphia Orchestra for the 2007-2008 season. Mr. Amoroso’s relationship with The Philadelphia Orchestra began at the age of 14 in 1984 when, as winner of a student concerto competition, he was given the privilege of performing as a soloist with the Orchestra. A native Philadelphian, he attended Settlement Music School on scholarship, and also studied with Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster Norman Carol, as well as William de Pasquale, Rafael Druian, and David Arben. Mr. Amoroso holds a bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College, from which he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa. |
 Elina KalendarevaViolinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Elina Kalendareva began her violin studies with Nathan Mendelsson in her native country – the Soviet Union. She completed her Master of Music Degree and continued in post-graduate work at the Moscow Conservatory under the tutelage of Igor Bezrodny. Ms. Kalendareva has performed as a soloist with the Uzbekistan Philharmonic and the Moscow Ars Viva Chamber Orchestra, and has recorded solo works for the All Union Radio in Moscow and for Uzbekistan TV and Radio in Tashkent, U.S.S.R. She has also been featured as a soloist with the Ascending Artist Recital Series and the Lieder Krantz Foundation Orchestra in New York, and appeared at numerous music festivals in Europe and America. Before joining The Philadelphia Orchestra, Ms. Kalendareva played with the New Jersey Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony, and she is currently a member of the Society Hill String Quintet. |
 Daniel HanViolinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Violinist Daniel Han has been a member of the Minnesota Orchestra and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, as well as a guest concertmaster of the Daejeon Philharmonic in Korea. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and artist diploma from Boston University, where he was awarded the prestigious Esther Kahn Award and studied with Roman Totenberg. Mr. Han studied with Kurt Sassmannshaus and Dorothy DeLay at the Music Preparatory Department of Cincinnati College. While there, he was an annual soloist with the CCM-Starling Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra. As concertmaster of the Starling Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Han performed as soloist at the Aspen Music Festival, in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and in New York’s Alice Tully Hall. He has also performed as soloist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Boston Classical Orchestra, Boston University Symphony Orchestra, Longy Chamber Orchestra, UK Symphony Orchestra, and North Kentucky Symphony. He has also been a guest artist at the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango. |
 Philip KatesViolinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Philip Kates has been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1980, and concurrently a frequent Guest Concertmaster with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, the Strauss Orchestra of America, and of the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, with which he has made annual solo appearances since 1981. Recital and Chamber Music performances have been many and varied, including the Philadelphia premier in 1980 of the Delius String Quartet, the first Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Series performance of the Fritz Kreisler String Quartet in 2001, the Philadelphia premier of the Delius Violin Concerto in 2002, and many others. A founding member of the Midsummer Quartet and Liebesfreud Ensemble, Mr. Kates is also a composer of several dozen works for voice, solo violin, and various chamber groupings. His teachers have included Jascha Brodsky, Sally Thomas, Norman Carol, and Joseph de Pasquale. Mr. Kates studied Chamber Music with Norbert Brainin, Isadore Cohen, Felix Galimir, Josef Gingold, Alexander Schneider, Vladimir Sokoloff, Susan Starr, Arnold Steinhardt, Isaac Stern, and Michael Tree. |
 Booker Rowe Violinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Booker Rowe has been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1971. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Temple University and a Master of Music degree from Yale University. Mr. Rowe has played with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the New Haven Symphony, and the Washington National Symphony. He has also premiered numerous new works by African-American and other minority composers. As a chamber musician, Mr. Rowe has played with the Nashville Symphony String Quartet, the Symphony of the New World String Quartet, the Huntingdon Trio, and the Society for Ancient Instruments of Philadelphia. He has also enjoyed music on the lighter side, performing with such popular artists as Sammy Davis, Jr., Isaac Hayes, Smokey Robinson, the Supremes, Barbara Streisand, and others. Mr. Rowe has taught at Tennessee State University, Wesleyan University, the Settlement Music School, and the Community College of Philadelphia. Among the awards he has received are: the Igor Stravinsky Award, the Henry B. Cabot Award, the National Distinguished American Award, the City of Philadelphia Citation, and the Camerata Award of Excellence. |
 Davyd BoothViolinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Davyd Booth, a native of Clarksburg, West Virginia, made his professional debut at the age of 13. He toured the United States for four years, giving recitals and performing with such orchestras as the San Antonio and Pittsburgh Symphonies. At 16, he made a concert tour of Mexico. Mr. Booth studied violin at the New School of Music with Jascha Brodsky and piano with Susan Starr. He joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1973. Mr. Booth has served on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, New School of Music, and Temple and Rutgers Universities. Mr. Booth was a member of the Philarte String Quartet for 15 years and is currently a member of the Wister String Quartet. He is also very active in The Philadelphia Orchestra Association, participating in over 200 fundraising events and musical activities. |
 Paul ArnoldViolinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Violinist Paul Arnold has been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra for 27 years and is a familiar personality in the Philadelphia classical music scene. He has appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician with such diverse personalities as Yefim Bronfman, Christoph Eschenbach, Tan Dun, Keith Jarrett, the New Arts Trio, and the Emerson Quartet. Mr. Arnold has appeared numerous times in the Saratoga Chamber Series directed by Chantal Juillet, where he has worked beside Martha Argerich, Gil Shaham, Truls Mørk, and Sarah Chang. Mr. Arnold has also been featured over 25 times in The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Chamber Music series and Orchestra postlude concerts performing widely contrasting repertoire. Before joining The Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Arnold was principal second violin of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he made numerous solo appearances. He is a founding member of both the Society Hill Quintet and the widely touring Dalihapa Ensemble and appears regularly with the Network for New Music. Mr. Arnold gives master classes around the country. He has most recently given classes and performed at Cornell University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Bucknell University. Most recently, Mr Arnold was featured in a documentary focusing on his arrangement of a Beethoven pno Sonata for his string Quintet. |
 Amy Oshiro-MoralesViolinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Amy Oshiro-Morales joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in January of 2008. Previously, Ms. Oshiro-Morales was assistant concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony, associate concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony, and assistant concertmaster of the Grant Park (IL) Orchestra. She has also performed as a guest musician with the New York Philharmonic. Ms.Oshiro-Morales made her debut with the Chicago Symphony at the age of twelve and has appeared numerous times as a soloist with the Saint Louis Symphny, the Napa Valley Symphony, the Minnesota Sinfonia, and others. She has collaborated with such artists as Vadim Repin, Alban Gerhardt, Jason Vieaux, and Gil Shaham. Ms. Oshiro-Morales studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at Oberlin Conservatory, where she received the Dean’s Talent Award scholarship. She continued her studies at The Juilliard School with Robert Mann, the founder and former first violinist of the Juilliard Quartet. Ms. Oshiro-Morales has been a guest artist at the Sun Valley Summer (ID) Symphony, the Cactus Pear Music Festival (TX), and the Grand Teton Music Festival (WY), among others. |
 Larry GrikaViolinist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Larry Grika, a native of Chicago, received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University. He studied violin with Samuel Arron and Paul Stassevitch and chamber music with Robert Mann and Alexander Schneider. Mr. Grika was winner of the Oliver Ditson Award for Violin. Before joining The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1964, he was a member of the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, the Cincinnati Symphony and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. Mr. Grika has participated in the Aspen and Casals Music Festivals. In his commitment to orchestra concerns, Mr. Grika has played an active role on Philadelphia Orchestra committees, both as chairman of the Members’ Committee and as chairman of the Negotiation Committees. After 41 years in The Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Grika retired in 2005. He continues to perform with the orchestra when needed and teaches privately in Cherry Hill, New Jersey . |
 Lawrence V. FisherViolinist Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta Formerly with the Alberta String Quartet |
| Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta Formerly with the Alberta Strings Quartet Mr. Fisher is a former member of the Alberta String Quartet, which toured internationally and recorded regularly. He previously served as Associate Concertmaster of the Oklahoma City Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic and the Edmonton Symphony, among others. Mr. Fisher is Professor Emeritus of the University of Alberta, where he taught violin and conducting and was on faculty at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Banff International Music Center and the Rocky Ridge Music Center. Mr. Fisher currently resides in Seattle, Washington, where he teaches privately. |
 Mei-Chen LiaoViolinist Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia |
| Ms. Liao is a violinist with the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra in Philadelphia. As the Concertmaster of the Taipei Symphony, Ms. Liao has toured extensively throughout Japan, Korea and the United States and has appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Hartford Symphony. Ms. Liao, a winner of the Washington International Violin Competition and Juilliard Concerto Competition, has also toured with “Music from Marlboro.” She holds a Bachelor of Music from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute, where she studied with Yumi Ninomiya-Scott, Ivan Galamian and Arnold Steinhardt. Ms. Liao also studied with Dorothy Delay at The Juilliard School where she received her Master of Music. |
Charles Parker Charles Parker, violinist, is a Lecturer in Violin at Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music, and is the Director of Chamber Music for Temple Prep’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians. Having begun his performing career at age 15 with a concert tour of Europe, Mr. Parker has since performed throughout the United States and around the world. A noted chamber musician, he is the Artistic Director of the Davidsbund Chamber Players, and performs frequently with the New York Chamber Soloists. A member of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, he also teaches violin and chamber music at Haverford College and Bryn Mawr College. Mr. Parker’s teachers have included Ivan Galamian, Helen Kwalwasser, and Paul Zukofsky. |
| Violists |
 Choong-Jin ChangPrincipal Violist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Mr. Chang previously served as Principal Viola of the 1993 Grand Teton Festival Orchestra and of The Symphony Orchestra of The Curtis Institute of Music. His solo appearances have included the KBS Symphony Orchestra at the Seoul (Korea) Arts Center, the Curtis Symphony and others. A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Chang also studied at The Juilliard School and the Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University. His teachers have included Joseph de Pasquale, Jascha Brodsky and Margaret Pardee. Mr. Chang has participated in the festivals of Caramoor, Evian, Las Vegas, Marlboro, Moritzburg (Germany), Mostly Mozart, and the Alexander Schneider String Seminar and has toured the United States with a chamber ensemble from The Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Chang currently serves on the faculty of Temple Prep and Temple University’s Esther Boyer College of Music, teaching viola, violin and chamber music. |
 Kerri RyanAssistant Principal Violist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Assistant Principal Viola Kerri Ryan joined The Philadelphia Orchestra at the beginning of the 2007-08 season. She comes to Philadelphia from the Minnesota Orchestra, where she was assistant principal viola for seven seasons. Following her graduation from The Curtis Institute of Music in 1998, she served as associate concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony. Ms. Ryan and her husband, violinist William Polk, are founding members of the award-winning Minneapolis Quartet. In Philadelphia, while pursuing a violin performance degree at Curtis, Ms. Ryan began studying viola with Karen Tuttle. Ms. Ryan also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a member of its Young Artist Program. Her violin teachers include Lee Snyder, Jascha Brodsky, Rafael Druian, and Arnold Steinhardt. |
 Sidney CurtissFormer Assistant Principal Violist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Sidney Curtiss attended the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music where he studied with the famed pedagogue Leonard Mogill. Mr. Curtiss is a former member of the New Orleans Symphony and the Washington, DC’s National Symphony. He has participated in the Marlboro Music Festival and performed on recordings there with Pablo Casals. He was appointed to The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1960 by Eugene Ormandy. Mr. Curtiss has been a member of the Philarte Quartet and the New Philadelphia Quartet. He was a member of The Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble and was a frequent performer on The Philadelphia Orchestra’s chamber music series. Mr. Curtiss currently serves on the faculties of Settlement Music School and Temple University. |
 David Nicastro Violist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| A member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1995, David Nicastro is also an active recitalist and member of numerous chamber music ensembles. Prior to 1995, he served as associate principal violist of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Born in New York, Mr. Nicastro grew up in The Hague, Netherlands, where he began violin studies at the age of six. Returning to the U.S., he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from Boston University while studying with Yuri Mazurkevich. Continuing his musical studies, Mr. Nicastro received a University Fellowship and an Artist Diploma from Indiana University where he studied viola with Abraham Skernick, Atar Arad, and former Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Viola Joseph de Pasquale. |
 Burchard TangViolist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| A native of Maryland, Burchard Tang joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in September 1999. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in May 1999 from The Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Joseph de Pasquale and Choong-Jin Chang. Mr. Tang has served as Principal Viola with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and the New York String Seminar, and has performed with the Brandenburg Ensemble. A winner of The Philadelphia Orchestra Albert M. Greenfield Student Competition, Mr. Tang performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra as a soloist in a Student Concert in November 1993. Other honors have included the Temple University Preparatory Division Concerto Competition and second prize in the Senior Division of the Fischoff Competition in 1996. |
 Che-Hung ChenViolist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Violist Che-Hung Chen joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in the spring of 2001. A three-time top prize-winner at the Taiwan National Instrumental Competition, Mr. Chen began his studies at the age of six with Ben Lin in Taipei. Heentered The Curtis Institute of Music at age 14, where he studied with Joseph de Pasquale and served as principal violist of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Chen was the first prize winner at the seventh Banff International String Quartet Competition as a member of the Daedalus Quartet. He was also awarded the Pièce de Concert Prize for the best performance of the commission work and the Székely Prize for the best performance of a Beethoven quartet. As a participant in the Marlboro Festival, Mr. Chen hastoured with “Musicians from Marlboro,” and performed on their fiftieth anniversary concerts in Boston and New York's Carnegie Hall.He has collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Orion, Mendelssohn and Tokyo quartets, and with artists such as Martha Argerich, Yefim Bronfman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lang Lang, and Hilary Hahn. |
 Rachel Ku Violist Philadelphia Orchestra |
| Violist Rachel Ku joined the viola section of the Philadelphia Orchestra as its youngest member in September, 2004. She has been studying viola since age eight and piano since age five, and made her solo debut in Taipei in 1995. She has since made solo appearances with the Witherspoon Chamber Orchestra, the Dwun-Hwa Orchestra, the Rice University Chamber Orchestra, and the Curtis Chamber Ensemble. Rachel has received several awards and honors, including first prize in the 2004 Delaware Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition and first prize in the 1997 Taiwan National Viola Competition. She has collaborated as chamber musician with such artists as Kim Kashkashian, Steven Isserlis, Julian Rachlin, Chantal Juillet, David Kim, Arnold Stenhardt, and Marcy Rosen. In May 2004 Rachel graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Joseph dePasquale. She was principal viola of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra for the 2002-2003 season. In addition to teaching private lessons, she is also an adjunct faculty member at Temple University and a faculty member at the Csehy Summer School of Music and the International Strings Music Festival. |
Kimberly Fisher