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STRINGS
SANDRA BILLINGSLEA – VIOLIN, VIOLA
M.M., B.M., Michigan State University. Ms. Billingslea has been a pioneer in
Special Education through her work with physically and emotionally handicapped
children in the Music Outreach Program and the West End Little Symphony. She was
also a Teaching Artist and Artist in Residence for the NYS Council
for the Arts and Lincoln Center Arts in Education Program, the Westchester
Philharmonic and the Queens Symphony, and a violin instructor and chamber music
coach at Rutgers University. NYC orchestral credits include the Queens Symphony,
LI Philharmonic, NY Virtuosi Ensemble, American Symphony, NY Pops, Bronx Arts
Ensemble, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Boys Choir of Harlem Orchestras, and NY
Ragtime Orchestra, as well as several Broadway shows including The Producers,
Phantom of the Opera, The Man from Oz, Miss Saigon, Dreamgirls, The Life and
Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Guys and Dolls and Timbuktu. Soloist
with the Detroit Symphony in the Young People’s Concert Series, Dance Theatre of
Harlem Orchestra, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Afro-American Symphony, D.C.
Chamber Players and the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra. Performs regularly on
recordings, television commercials, and movie scores including Malcolm X, Do
the Right Thing, Age of Innocence. Performed on violin with popular music
and jazz artists such as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Lena Horne, Barry
White, Brittany Spears, Luther Vandross, Abbey Lincoln, Ray Charles, Dionne
Warwick, Jay Black, Phyllis Hyman, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mathis, P-Ditty and
many more.
PAUL BONNEL
– DOUBLE BASS
Candidate for D.M.A., Mason Gross School
of the Arts, Rutgers University; M.M. Yale School of Music; B.M. San Francisco
Conservatory of Music. Studied with Paul Harris, Don Palma, Stephen Tramontozzi,
Michelle Burr. Doctoral Fellow, Double Bass performance, Mason Gross School of
the Arts. Teaching credentials include Rutgers Community Music Program;
Bronxville School; guest lecturer, Mason Gross School of the Arts. Principal
Bass for the Modesto Opera, Rutgers University Orchestra and Opera, Summit Music
Festival, and Pacific Music Festival (Japan). Orchestral performances include
the New Jersey, Allentown, Napa Valley and Santa Rosa Symphonies, and the
Sacramento Philharmonic. Recorded soundtrack for the movie Joshua with
Phillip Glass.
ARTHUR COOK – CELLO
M.M. Mannes College, B.M., Texas Tech University. Studied with Arthur Follows,
David Geber, Felix Galimir and Louis Krasner. Former faculty member, Seton Hall
University and Smith College. Appeared as a chamber musician and soloist in
summer festivals in Sandpoint, Meadowmount, Taos, Yale-at Norfolk, Rutgers and
Apple Hill; Principal Cellist and soloist with the NY Symphonic Ensemble (Asian
tour); soloist with orchestras at Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. Has
performed with pianist Deborah Gilwood since 1985, in a collaboration known as
Blue Door, at Princeton Univ., the Beethoven Festival at Oyster Bay, Haverford
College, Rutgers Univ., Smith College; and in NYC at the Greenwich House Music
School, Mannes College of Music, the New School, Manhattan School of Music,
Columbia Univ. and Lincoln Center. Their recording, Censored by Hitler: the
Rediscovered Masterpieces - Sonatas by Weill, Toch, and Hindemith is
available through Centaur Records.
LOUIS DAY – VIOLIN, VIOLA
M.M. and B.M., Mannes
College of Music. Studied with Karen Tuttle at Mannes College of Music,
Wolfgang Krist at Wofgang Hoch Orchester Schule in Germany, and Bernard
Kadinoff at Boston University. Performed with numerous orchestras in the
tri-state area and abroad, including the American Symphony Orchestra,
Philharmonia Virtuosi, Stamford and Fairfield Symphony Orchestras, New York Pops,
Opera Orchestra of New York, Connecticut Grand Opera, New York Virtuosi and
the Broadway orchestras of 1776, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the
Opera, as well as with the Orquestra Symphonica Portuguesa’Sao Carlos Orchestra
in Portugal, and the Orchestra Sinfonica de Sevilla and the New American
Chamber Orchestra in Spain.
BEVERLY SOMACH – VIOLIN
B.A., Columbia
University, graduated Phi Beta Kappa at age 19. Declared a “child prodigy” at
age five, Ms. Somach was called “another Heifetz” by one critic, and later
became Jascha Heifetz’s sole disciple. Former faculty member of Rutgers
University Summer Arts Institute, Capitol University, Antioch College, Third
Street and Henry Street Music Schools and the Harlem School of the Arts.
International concert appearances in Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen Amsterdam,
Brussels, Luxembourg, Zurich, Warsaw, Cracow, Szcezcin, Paris, London,
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Curacao, Aruba, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Toronto. Concert appearances
include Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, Town
Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City, as well as appearances throughout the
U.S. and Canada including Washington, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Solo appearances include Tanglewood, Woodstock, Waterloo, Music Mountain and
Spoleto USA music festivals. Affiliated with the American and Rochester
Symphony Orchestras.
SUSAN SPAFFORD – VIOLIN,
VIOLA
M.M., B.M., Eastman School of Music. Studied with Lynn Blakeslee, Catherine
Tait, Louis Bergonzi, James Buswell, Gregory Fulkerson, Patinka Kopec, and Yumi
Ninomiya Scott. Taught strings and directed orchestras in public and private
schools while maintaining a private studio. Has presented hundreds of lectures,
recitals and workshops at schools and community events nationwide. Member of the
Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Richmond Symphony and the Lancaster Festival Orchestra
and has been a regular performer with the Harrisburg Symphony, Virginia
Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Albany Symphony Orchestra, ProMusica and numerous
regional orchestras. Appeared as a soloist with the Erie Chamber Orchestra and
given recitals at Mansfield University, the Library of Congress, throughout the
U.S., and in Seoul, South Korea. Recent chamber music performances have included
the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra’s Chamber Music Series and the Lancaster Café
Concert Series. Currently Vice President of The Music Paradigm.
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