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| Featured Musicians |
| David Ehrlich |  David Ehrlich was raised in Israel, where he studied violin with the famous Ilona Feher, teacher of Zukerman and Ashkenasi. From the age of 13 he became the recipient of an annual scholarship awarded by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. While studying in Tel Aviv University he served as concertmaster and soloist with the Tel Aviv Chamber Orchestra and toured as guest soloist with other Israeli chamber orchestras. In 1972 he won first prize in Israel in chamber music. After studying for several years with Shmuel Ashkenasi at Northern Illinois University, he became the first non-American to win first prize in the Young Artist Competition of the National Federation of Music Clubs. This resulted in appearances in concerts and recitals throughout the United States, as well as engagements on radio and television. David served as concertmaster of the Colorado Festival Orchestra, Filarmonica de Caracas, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, and for several seasons was acting concertmaster and associate concertmaster, as well as soloist, with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. In 1984 he joined the Audubon String Quartet as first violinist, a position he held for 17 years. With the quartet, he toured all over the world, performing, conducting master classes and appearing on radio and television. In1993, he and his wife, Teresa, founded the Renaissance Music Academy of Virginia, where he currently teaches violin, viola, chamber music, and conducts the youth chamber orchestra. He is a member of the Avanti Ensemble, with RMA cellist, Roy Harran, and pianist, Teresa Ehrlich. In October, 2004, David was appointed by the President of Virginia Tech as a "University Fellow of Fine Arts" in the Department of Outreach and International Affairs to develop arts and culture in southwestern Virginia. In 2005 he will perform and teach in "Ameropa," a summer chamber music festival in Prague, Czechoslovakia. | | Rami Solomonow |  Rami Solomonow is a graduate of the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv, Israel where he studied with Oedoen Partos.He was a member of the Israel Chamber Orchestra until 1972 and received prizes in viola and chamber music from the American-Israel Foundation.
In 1973 Mr. Solomonow moved to the US where he studied with Shmuel Ashkenasi at NIU.
From 1974 to 1995 he served as Principal Violist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In 1995 he left the Opera to become a founding member of the Chicago String Quartet which was the Quartet in residence at DePaul University and Taos School of Music until 2004.
Mr. Solomonow has been a faculty member at DePaul University since 1981 and
has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous concerts, music festivals and summer music schools in the United States, Israel, Japan and South America.
Mr. Solomonow is a member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians and has performed in recent years chamber works with Menachem Pressler, Leonard Rose, Gil Shaham,
Shlomo Mintz, Edgar Mayer, Christoph Eschenbach, Midori, Robert McDonald and members of the Guarneri and Julliard Quartets. He has also been a guest violist with the Vermeer, Fine Arts, Audubon and Cassatt String Quartets.
Mr. Solomonow has performed on live television and radio broadcasts and has recorded with the Vermeer Quartet, Chicago String Quartet, Chicago Chamber Musicians and as a solo violist with the DePaul wind Ensemble.
| | Mike Center |  Michael Center holds degrees in music from the New England Conservatory and the Peabody Institute, where his teachers were Colin Carr and Ronald Thomas. While in Baltimore, he played with the award-winning Trio Fervore, which played numerous concerts and was heard on the radio in Boston, Baltimore, and New York. As a chamber musician, he has also appeared in concerts with members of the Julliard and Meliora Quartets as well as with musicians from the San Francisco, Cleveland, Minnesota, and Chicago Symphonies. Mr. Center has participated in the Prague, Taos, Blossom, and Utah chamber music festivals. He has performed chamber music, concertos, and recitals on both coasts of the U.S. as well as in Europe. Michael Center has taught chamber music and cello lessons at the School of the Arts in San Francisco and the Marrowstone Music Festival. As an orchestral musician, he has been a member of the Sacramento Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, and the Washington Chamber Orchestra, of which he is a founding member. He is currently a member of the Concorda Piano Trio, and in his spare time enjoys cooking and building fine furniture. | | Nancy Buck |  Nancy Buck, Associate Professor of Viola, holds degrees in performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music. While at the Cleveland Institute of Music, she served as teaching assistant to famed pedagogue Heidi Castleman. Nancy is an avid performer of chamber music, and has presented concerts and recitals throughout the United States and Europe with the Felici Quartet. As a soloist, Professor Buck has been an invited participant in the Tertis International Viola Competition. Additionally, she has appeared in concert with the Aspen Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival. As an orchestral musician, Nancy has held positions with the Canton Symphony, the Michigan Chamber Symphony, and the Toledo Symphony. Professor Buck has worked with conductors Christoph Eschenbach, Jahja Ling, Lorin Maazel and Kurt Masur. Prior to joining the faculty at Arizona State University, Nancy was Associate Professor of Viola and Assistant Chair of the Department of Music Performance Studies at Bowling Green State University. Additionally, she spent numerous summers teaching and performing at the Pennsylvania GovernorÕs School for the Arts. Professor Buck has presented masterclasses throughout North America and is an active member of the American Viola Society and the American String Teachers Association. | | Thomas Landschoot |  Thomas Landschoot joined the music faculty of Arizona State University in 2001 after having taught at the University of Michigan. Born in Belgium, Landschoot began studying the cello at the age of six with his father, leading to a successful career as soloist and teacher. He performs virtually the entire standard and contemporary repertoires of the cello, and several composers have dedicated new works to him. Mr. Landschoot regularly performs as soloist and in recital in concert halls across Europe, the United States and Japan. His recordings range from a disc of chamber music by James DeMars with pianist Caio Pagano to solo concerti with the National Orchestra of Belgium. Mr. Landschoot holds a Master of Music degree from the Conservatory in Antwerp, Belgium, a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, an Artist Diploma from Indiana University and an Artist Diploma (cum laude) from the Conservatory of Maastricht, Netherlands. His major teachers include Erling Blondal Bengtsson, Antonio Meneses and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, for whom he served as a teaching assistant. He also enjoys a close relationship with Bernard Greenhouse, the distinguished former cellist of the Beaux Arts Trio. He joined the journalist and photographer Christopher Lambert in a concert that raised $350,000 to assist in building a hospital in Tamil Nadu, South India. In the summer of 2004, he and clarinetist Eddy Vanoosthuizen gave the world premiere performance of a double concert for clarinet and cello by Dirk Brosse and the European orchestra 'Prima La Musica'. One month later, they gave the American premiere with the Orchestra of the White House in Washington, D.C. He has performed for Belgium's Queen Fabiola and has been invited to perform at the Belgian Embassy in India when Prince Filip and Princess Mathilde are visiting. Recipient of the 2005 ‘Distinguished Teaching Award”, he has given master classes at conservatories and universities throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. During the summers he has been on the faculty of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, the Texas Music Festival in Houston, the Meadowmount School of Music in New York and many others. Mr. Landschoot plays a cello made in Turin by J.F. Pressenda. | | Teresa Ehrlich |  Teresa Ehrlich began her musical training at the age of four. Born and raised in the Midwest, she received her master of music degree in piano performance and pedagogy from Northern Illinois University as a student of Donald Walker. Ms. EhrlichÕs other teachers have included Gyorgy Sebok, Menachem Pressler, and Leon Fleisher. She has received critical acclaim throughout the United States, Israel and South America, where she has performed as recitalist and soloist with orchestras including the Sinfoica de Maracaibo and the Filarmonica de Caracas in Venezuela. In addition to her solo and orchestral engagements, she is active as a chamber musician and has performed as a guest artist with the Audubon, Vermeer, Cassatt, and Vanbrugh quartets. Ms. Ehrlich has been a participant in the Banff Festival in Canada, Yale Chamber Music Festival, Music at Gretna Festival, New Hampshire Music Festival, Chautauqua Festival in New York, and the Sanibel Island Festival. She has performed during numerous live broadcasts on radio station WFMT in Chicago and is also frequently heard on National Public Radio. As well as being a founder of the Renaissance Music Academy of Virginia, Ms. Ehrlich is also the Executive Director of the school and a member of the piano faculty. She is also a member of the chamber group Avanti Ensemble, which performs throughout Virginia. In summer 2005 she will be a performer and faculty member in "Ameropa" an international summer festival in Prague, Czechoslovakia. | | Russell Schmidt |  Jazz pianist Russell Schmidt holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Eastman School of Music. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Toledo Jazz Orchestra. As a jazz performer, Schmidt has worked with such artists as Carl Allen, Eddie Daniels, Tim Hagans, John Hollenbeck, Mark Murphy, Gerry Mulligan, Dick Oatts, Arturo Sandoval, and Clark Terry. He has recorded with Joe Lovano, Vicki McDermitt, Bob Sneider, the Birch Creek Jazz Band, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, and the Paul Ferguson Jazz Orchestra, among others. Season of Change, his critically acclaimed debut recording as a leader, was released last year on the Amp Recordings label. In addition to his performances in jazz settings, Schmidt has served as keyboard soloist with more than 30 professional orchestras, including performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and with the San Francisco Symphony. Active as a jazz educator, he presently directs the Jazz String Quartet Program at the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He has previously served on the jazz faculties of Bowling Green State University, the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Arizona State University, and the Eastman School of Music. A talented composer and arranger, he has written for artists as wide-ranging as jazz saxophonists Bob Berg and Michael Brecker, the Ying String Quartet, and the chamber music group Rhythm & Brass. | | Jan Simiz |  A native of Romania, Jan Simiz studied at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory in Buchares. In 1980, Mr. Simiz arrived in Los Angeles and won the principal cellist position with Neal Stulberg and the Young Musicians' Foundation "Debut" Orchestra. He received his master's degree in cello performance from the University of Southern California where he studied with Eleanor Schoenfeld. In 1985 Mr. Simiz joined the Phoenix Symphony and became assistant principal cellist in 1989. He is also principal cellist for the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado. He frequently performs in chamber music ensembles. |
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