Pat Nelson is originally from Rhode Island, but has made her home in Bellingham. She received a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Masters in Music from Northwestern University and completed post graduate studies at the University of Arizona, the Cours International de Musique in France and Musicfest in Wales.
Pat is the bassoonist with the highly acclaimed Westwood Wind Quintet and appears with them on the Crystal Records label. She also performs with the WWU Faculty quintet, Fifth Inversion, featured at many national and international conferences. Locally, Pat performs with the Pacific Northwest Opera, the San Juan Chamber Music Series and the Bellingham Festival of Music. She is the Bassoon Instructor at Western Washington University, Music Instructor at Whatcom Community College and maintains a large private studio in Northwest Washington. Pat is the co-founder and president of Bellingham Chamber Music Society and is devoted to keeping chamber music alive in Bellingham.
Jennifer Weeks grew up in Montreal, Canada. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from McGill University and a Graduate Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied under Theodore Baskin of L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and John Mack of the Cleveland Orchestra, respectively. Jennifer’s additional training involved participation in several summer festivals including the Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts.
Jennifer served as principal oboist with the Kingston Symphony Orchestra in Ontario, Canada, before moving to the West Coast. During her tenure in Kingston she was a member of the adjunct music faculty at Queen’s University. Throughout her professional playing career, Jennifer performed with many orchestral and chamber music groups including the Orchestre Symphonique du Quebec, Les Violons du Roi, the Canadian Opera Company, the Canadian National Arts Center Orchestra, the Sarasota Opera Company, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Seattle Symphony, and the Bellingham Festival of Music.
Inspired by the natural beauty of the area and curious to explore a life that did not involve making oboe reeds, Jennifer took a hiatus from the oboe and returned to school. She completed a degree in Environmental Science at Skagit Valley College and worked for several years in the Natural Resource Department of the Samish Indian Nation. Unable, however, to resist her love of making music and the elusive dream of the perfect reed, she returned to playing and teaching oboe. Jennifer is currently the oboe instructor at Western Washington University and maintains a private studio in Bellingham, WA. In 2013 she created Summerwinds, a summer chamber music camp for young woodwind players which ran for several years through Western Washington University’s Extended Education and Arts Preparatory Academy.
Jennifer is currently an active chamber musician, having discovered her love of this rich and rewarding art form. She loves teaching, is grateful to have found such a wonderful community of musicians to work with, and loves long summer road bike trips with her awesome partner, Molly.
Clarinetist Erika Block hails from Annapolis, MD. She is the Executive Director of the Bellingham Festival of Music. Erika performs regularly with the Fifth Inversion wind quintet, Bellingham Festival of Music, Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, Bellingham Chamber Music Society, and many other groups. As an active soloist, she will be featured in the 22/23 season with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and has been featured twice with the Skagit Symphony, WWU Wind Symphony, and with the Whatcom Wind Ensemble. As a member of Fifth Inversion, Erika has performed in several international and national conferences across the US and Canada. Erika and her family moved to Bellingham in 2011 after several years in Vancouver, BC. There she played with the Vancouver Island Symphony, North Shore Sinfonia, and Nu:BC contemporary ensemble.
Erika received her Bachelor and Master’s degrees in clarinet performance at Boston University. She studied with Thomas Martin (Boston Symphony Orchestra), and continued on with Ricardo Morales (Philadelphia Orchestra). Her studies began with Gregory Raden (Dallas Symphony Orchestra), and she attended Brevard, Tanglewood, and Kinhaven music schools in the summer.
In addition to performing, Erika is the host of the classical music podcast, Inside the Notes. She interviews musicians from all areas of the classical music field to discuss their career and favorite memories in classical music. This podcast aims to educate younger generations of musicians with first-hand accounts of important performances and experiences.
Before moving to Bellingham, Erika was the director of marketing and artist relations at Backun Musical Services in Vancouver, BC. She spent several years touring the US and Europe, helping artists with their equipment and attending conferences and instrument trade shows. She helped with the marketing campaigns of the Leblanc by Backun, Bliss, and Backun protege series clarinets.
Upon graduating with a degree in Statistics from Cornell University, violist Eric Kean decided to change his path and studied the viola at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Mark Jacobs, a member of the Cleveland Orchestra. After moving to Bellingham in 2001, he began teaching Mathematics at WWU and until 2020, taught the viola at WWU as well.
As an orchestral musician, he has performed with the Seattle Symphony, the Grand Teton Orchestra, the Britt Festival Orchestra, and the Bellingham Festival of Music Orchestra. And, as a chamber musician, he has performed at the Newport Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the Marrowstone Music Festival. He has also collaborated with members of the Pacifica and Colorado Quartets and has performed chamber music with members of the Cleveland Orchestra.
Shu-Hsin Ko, is a native of Taiwan and has performed professionally throughout the world. She started violin at the age of 7 and attended the National Institute of the Arts in Taipei. She has been involved in numerous Interntaional festivals such as Aspen Music Festival, Salzburg Mozarteum and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. She holds a master’s degree in
violin performance from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. While she lives in NYC, she has performed professionally with orchestras and bands at renowned music venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Blue Note Jazz Club. She has travelled throughout the world to play in Austria, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, Singapore and her native Taiwan. Locally she performs with the Auburn Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony and the Bellingham Festival of Music. She is currently the assistant concertmaster for the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and her chamber group regularly represents the orchestra at performances throughout Whatcom County. Shu-Hsin is also a certified medical interpreter. When she is not playing violin, she tosses balls for her two border collies and attends to her family of three teenagers.
Eli Schille-Hudson is a guitarist based in Bellingham, Washington, currently serving as Instructor of Guitar at Western Washington University. He completed his education at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he took Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees under Maestro Ernesto Bitetti.
He has appeared as a solo recitalist for the Northwest Guitar Festival, the Bellingham Festival of Music, the Great Spaces Concert Series, and the Lafayette Symphony Guild. A duo performance with bassist DaXun Zhang at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Convention is also a recent highlight in Eli’s activities as a chamber musician.
Eli remains active as a composer and songwriter, and his debut release with collaborator Ross Martinie Eiler, Signs & Seasons (2022) can be heard wherever music is streamed. Also a passionate performer of new and rarely-heard music, he has given the North American premiere of two works for solo guitar by Marcos Vieira Lucas, contributed the electric guitar part in the world premiere recording of composer Craig Michael Davis’ opera Letters to a Terrorist, and regularly performs his own compositions and arrangements of repertoire from the renaissance to the present day.
Lenelle Morse began studying the violin in her hometown of Memphis,TN. She graduated with a degree in violin performance and mathematics from Indiana University, Bloomington. Her teachers included Paul Biss,Pavel Kogan, James Buswell, chamber music and Mimi Zweig, violin pedagogy. For 13 years she served as the Assistant Concertmaster of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic as well as a founding member of the Freimann String Quartet, the centerpiece of the Freimann Chamber Music Series. Morse became the orchestra director at Canterbury School, Fort Wayne and grew the program from 12 students in 1997 to 147 in 2011. Additionally, she served as the chairman of the Fine Arts Department at Canterbury School for 5 years. Morse came to Peabody Preparatory of Johns Hopkins in 2012 and taught a full studio of 25 private violin students including some who have placed in area competitions and have gone on to study violin performance in college. She also coached ensembles with the Peabody Performance Academy and taught weekly group class lessons. She was the Director of the Young People’s String Program at Peabody Preparatory for the past 2 years. As a freelance violinist in the Baltimore/Washington area, Morse played with the Baltimore Symphony, National Philharmonic, Annapolis Symphony, Choral Arts of Washington and Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center. She regularly performed in a faculty string quartet on the Howard Community College recital series. During the summers, she performs in the 1st violin section of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra at the Chautauqua Institution in New York State. Lenelle has volunteered with audience development and PR at Chautauqua by initiating the very successful program, “Meet the Musicians”. Morse has moved to the Bellingham, WA area in order to be closer to family and she enjoys taking part in the vibrant musical community.
Since graduating from WWU in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music performance, Coral Marchant has led a fulfilling career as a freelance cellist and private cello instructor. Living in the Northwest has provided Coral with many opportunities to perform in the community as a member of the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, the Bellingham String Trio, the Bellingham Chamber Music Society, the Whatcom Chorale and Sinfonia, the Juneau Symphony, the Seattle Philharmonic, and the Seattle String Quartet. As an active cello instructor with a full studio, Coral enjoys teaching students of all ages and abilities. She passionately believes in the transformative power of music and her teaching has inspired many students; several of whom have won honors at the North Sound Youth Symphony, local high schools, state adjudications, and continue to play at their respective colleges and universities.
Samantha Sinai, cellist, cello teacher, and music therapist, currently lives in Bellingham, Washington. She plays in the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, holds a private cello studio, coordinates Bellingham Youth Chamber Players, and is an Artistic Partner for Bellingham House Concerts. Through her music therapy experience, Samantha has seen time and time again the power music has to transform a moment. She feels that her work as a musician is to promote wellness in her community by bringing heartfelt, embodied music to people in meaningful, accessible ways. Samantha completed her Master’s degree in Cello Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under Uri Vardi and her Undergraduate degree in Cello Performance and Music Therapy from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory under Regina Mushabac. Samantha looks forward to cultivating her musicianship to continue to create experiences that touch the hearts of her listeners.
Yuko Watanabe is originally from Tokyo, Japan. She has enjoyed playing chamber and orchestral music with various groups and symphonies around the nation, and currentlyperforms with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra as the Principal Second Violin. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, under the instruction of Victor Danchenko and Richard Field. She completed her Masters of Music degree at Rice University under Martha Katz and Wayne Brooks. Later at the University of Houston, she was a member of the Tomatz String Quartet, while she pursued studies in music education and performance pedagogy under Lawrence Wheeler. Yuko has significant experience teaching students both violin and viola at nonprofits, public school districts, and private lesson venues. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, working out, hiking, camping and traveling.
Omar Firestone is an active soloist, recitalist, clinician, and chamber musician in the San Diego/Tijuana Metropolitan Area. He has 30 years professional experience concertizing, coaching, teaching, and mentoring young talent. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, he holds a Bachelors in Music Performance from San Francisco State University where he studied under Laszlo Varga and performed as a member of the Berkeley Symphony directed by Kent Nagano.
While at university he served as cellist of the scholarship Morrison String Quartet and participated in the Spoleto Music Festival. Since completing his studies he has served as principle cello of numerous chamber orchestras and ensembles in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles.
In 2000 he joined the San Diego-based Hutchins Consort, an octet performing on the New Violin Family developed by Carleen Hutchins. In 2009 he was appointed Principle Cello of the Orquesta de Baja California in Tijuana by then Music Director Eduardo García Barrios. During his subsequent tenure as Principal/Solo cello, he served under Eduardo Diazmuñoz, Angel Romero, Ivan del Prado, and current Music Director Armando Pesqueira, performing in Mexico City’s Sala Nezahualcóyotl & Palacio de Bellas Artes. He has recorded discs on the Soundspells label performing the orchestral works of Meyer Kupferman.
Since relocating to Bellingham in 2021 he has established a teaching studio at the Bellinghome School of Music and has joined the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra.
Lisa McCarthy is the Senior Instructor of Flute and Woodwind Area Coordinator at Western Washington University. She has also been a faculty member at the Maritime Conservatory of Music in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the Delta Institute of the Arts in Ladner, B.C. Lisa enjoys chamber music and currently plays in two ensembles, Fifth Inversion and Impromptu. The faculty woodwind quintet, Fifth Inversion, performs regularly and has been featured at the 2016 Northwest Horn Symposium, 2017 Wyoming Music Educators Association Conference, 2017 National Flute Association Convention and the 2018 National College Music Society Conference. Impromptu, her flute and bassoon duo with bassoonist Pat Nelson won the 2004 National Flute Association Chamber Music Competition and was invited to perform at the National Flute Association Convention in Nashville. The duo was also asked to present a recital at the 2006 International Double Reed Conference in Indiana. Lisa is the former principal of the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra and Whatcom Symphony Chamber Orchestra and has performed twice as a guest soloist with the group. Lisa maintains a private studio and adjudicates throughout the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, including multiple Washington Music Educators Association State Solo and Ensemble contests, Music Teachers National Association competitions and Seattle Flute Society Horsfall Competitions.
Born in Seattle, Carolyn Canfield was educated in the U.S, Europe, and Canada. Vancouver, B.C. was home for her 36-year career as a symphony and opera violinist, as a music educator, festival adjudicator, and chamber music. Carolyn Canfield played 25 years with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in the First Violin section — including one year acting concertmaster — and 10 years with the Vancouver Opera. Other performances include CBC Radio Orchestra, Carmel Bach Festival, Carmel, CA; Pacific Baroque Festival Orchestra Vancouver; and Vancouver Film Orchestra.
In 2018, life changes took Carolyn from Canada back to the U.S., moving to New York for new performance experiences: New Haven Symphony Orchestra; Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Ithaca; Pitstop Players; Christchurch Festival Chorus/Orchestra; Harmonia Chamber Players New Jersey; New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble; Brooklyn Metro Orchestra; Canterbury Choral Society; OMNI Ensemble; Broadway with Phantom, amongst others. Carolyn Canfield was invited to audition for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She is a former faculty member at Bronx House Performing Arts Center, Bronx, NYC.
You can hear Carolyn on the world-premiere of Frederick Schipizky’s Variations for Solo Violin, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation SM5000 Series: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolyncanfieldcole/
Carolyn, now living on the West Coast in Ferndale, Washington, was inspired to re-design her career when covid hit. In Seasons 2020 and 2021, she worked as Caption Artist for the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra for their Zoom Concerts. Carolyn is also on the coaching staff for the Bellingham Youth Chamber Players. While lessons were previously taught online, her Artist Drive Teaching Studio is now “in person”. She enjoys playing chamber music with new and old artist friends up and down the coast, and she continues to play on both coasts and in Canada: concertmaster for Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra; Assistant Principal Second for Bellingham Festival of Music, and the new East Hampton Arts Festival, Long Island, NYC.
Influential teachers were: Max Rostal (Germany) – two consecutive Fulbrights in Hochschule Köln; Master Classes with Nathan Milstein (Zurich) and Aaron Rosand (Nice); Denes Zsigmondy (Seattle UofW); Jeanne Lamond (Tafelmusik, UofToronto); and Elizabeth Wallfisch (Carmel Bach Festival, CA and Irsee, Germany).
Dawn Posey is an active chamber musician, teacher and soloist who has performed worldwide within a wide variety of genres. As a chamber musician Dawn is a founding member of Kassia Ensemble, a chamber music ensemble in Pittsburgh made up entirely of female performers. Kassia Ensemble seeks to empower women through quality performance, collaboration, and outreach. She also co-founded Jade Trio, a piano trio based in Pittsburgh. She has performed with the Boston Conservatory Honors Quartet, at the Festival A Tempo in Caracas, Venezuela, the Chamber Music Festival of Amman, Jordan, Blossom Music Festival, and Tanglewood
Music Center. Dawn is a devotee of baroque performance practice, and a frequent guest artist with Chatham Baroque. She has toured with the ensemble to Ecuador and Los Angeles. Dawn was also a participant in the 2015 Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. Dawn received the Starling Scholarship at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where her primary teacher was Dr. Won-Bin Yim. She has also studied with the late renowned string pedagogue, Miss Dorothy Delay, at Aspen Music Festival, Lynn Chang at the Boston Conservatory, Mrs. Almita Vamos in Chicago, and with concert violinist Rachel Barton Pine. Dawn has been a member of the violin faculty at the Sherwood Conservatory, Merit School of Music, University of Evansville, St. Vincent College, and Slippery Rock University. She has also taught young beginning students at the Pittsburgh Music Academy. In Evansville, Dawn was the second violinist with the Eykamp String Quartet and Associate Concertmaster with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also served as assistant concertmaster with both the Youngstown Symphony and the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Dawn is currently Principal Second violin of the both the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra and Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra and associate principal second violin with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. She has also been recently appointed Concertmaster with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, in Bellingham, WA.
Lisa Humphrey is an active teacher and performer in Bellingham, Washington. Along with her husband, she runs the Humphrey Music School, where she maintains a full time violin and viola studio. Lisa’s students have performed with the National Youth Symphony USA, at Carnegie Hall, and at the Sydney Opera House. Lisa has a master’s degree in viola performance from Indiana University and a Bachelor’s degree in viola performance from the Hartt School of Music. An avid performer, she has performed solo, chamber, and orchestral music around the country and throughout Russia and Armenia. She has performed as guest artist with both the Emerson String Quartet and the Leontovich String Quartet (NYC). Lisa has recently recorded and released a series of viola sonatas, along with Cleveland-based pianist Adam Whiting, available through Google Play. In her free time, you can find her hiking and mountain biking the trails around Bellingham with her two children, ages 6 and 9, and her two Australian Shepherds.
Cellist Sarah Rommel is a top prizewinner of the 2014 George Enescu International Cello Competition. She has been the recipient of several awards and grants including a Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Grant and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artists Award.
Sarah has given recitals at Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars Showcase and at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in addition to solo performances in Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, France, Italy, England, and Romania. She has actively participated in classes at the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, Academie Musicale de Villecroze, and IMS Prussia Cove where she has worked closely with distinguished professors such as David Geringas, Gary Hoffman, Frans Helmerson, and Paul Katz.
An enthusiastic chamber musician, Sarah was a founding member of the cello quintet SAKURA and regularly appears with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble in Boston. She has also recently toured with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Musicians from Marlboro. Sarah has been invited to perform at festivals such as the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, NM, Music in May Festival, Santa Cruz Chamber Players, Chamber Music Palisades, Chamber Music Sedona, as well as Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars Series, Chamber Music New Zealand, Yellow Barn, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute and Marlboro Music Festival. Sarah has collaborated with composers John Adams, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Higdon, Steve Mackey, and Kaija Saariaho, pianists Jonathan Biss and Gil Kalish, violinists Lucy Chapman, Pamela Frank, Joseph Lin, Scott St. John, and Don Weilerstein, violists Atar Arad, Kim Kashkashian and Nobuko Imai, and cellists Peter Wiley and Ralph Kirshbaum.
Sarah began her musical studies on the piano at age nine and was later introduced to the cello at age twelve. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she pursued a Bachelor of Music studying with Peter Wiley. Previous teachers include Efe Baltacigil and Hans Jørgen Jensen. She received her Master’s Degree from the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles studying under the tutelage of Ralph Kirshbaum. Sarah is currently based in Seattle, WA where she is Artist-in-Residence and cello faculty at the University of Washington. When not playing the cello, Sarah can be found knitting, reading, or playing fetch with her yellow Labrador Retriever named Rhubarb or cuddling with her orange Siberian cat named Laptop.
Kimberley Breilein received her Bachelor’s Degree in flute performance from Boston University, having studied under such renowned artists as Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Leone Buyse and Louis Moyse, and has participated in workshops and master classes with William Bennett, Lorna McGhee, Michel Debost and others. She has performed as principal flute with the Pacific Northwest Opera Orchestra for 17 years, and has also held that position with the Starry Night Orchestra, the Skagit Symphony, Tanglewood Symphony and the Rome Festival Orchestra. A three-time winner of the Washington State Solo Contest and former member of the Seattle Youth Symphony, Kimberley has performed as featured soloist with the Starry Night Orchestra, Skagit Symphony and the North Cascades Concert Band.
Kim enjoys teaching students of all ages and levels. She has served as adjudicator for solo/ensemble events in several districts, and enjoys coaching for youth symphony and summer music camp. Kimberley is a certified Suzuki instructor, melding this training with years of experience in “traditional” instruction, resulting in a unique, positive and fun approach to music, one tailored to each student’s individual needs and goals. Her CD entitled “Faces of Romance,” recorded with pianist Sharon Skidgel, features romances spanning two centuries, from Beethoven to the title piece, a sonata written for Kimberley by Bellingham composer Barry Ulman.
Kimberley has a passion for chamber music. She looks forward every year (sometimes twice!) to her performances with Melodious Notes Over The Harbor, and performs extensively with Trio Lumina (partnering with Laura Camacho on violin and Matt Rehfeldt on cello/guitar) and “NOEL Harps”, a Christmas touring ensemble featuring harps, strings, flute and poetry. Her company, Enchanted Flute Productions, offers exquisite chamber ensembles for corporate and private parties, weddings and celebrations as well as concert performances.
Dr. Gustavo Camacho is Associate Professor of Horn and Brass Area Coordinator at Western Washington University. He previously served as Instructor of Horn and Chamber Music at the Interlochen Arts Academy and Summer Arts Camp for four years. He also performed as principal horn of Phoenix Opera for three years while performing regularly with The Phoenix Symphony and serving on the brass faculty at the Arizona School for the Arts. An active soloist and clinician, Gustavo has been a featured concerto soloist with the Skagit Symphony, Traverse Symphony Orchestra, Whatcom Wind Ensemble, WWU Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, and the Interlochen Arts Academy Band. He has also presented numerous masterclasses and performances at conferences, festivals, and institutions in the U.S., Canada, Cuba, China and Luxembourg.
Gustavo has a particular interest in chamber music, and his chamber philosophies stem from extensive music study with Empire Brass Quintet founding member Sam Pilafian. He continues to make chamber music a central focus of his creative activity, most notably with WWU Faculty wind Quintet “Fifth Inversion” and WWU Faculty brass trio “Trinsic Brass”. Gustavo holds a Bachelor of Music degree from New Mexico State University, and a Master in Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in horn performance from Arizona State University. Gustavo is a Yamaha Artist and has performed exclusively on his trusty and faithful Yamaha 867 since 1999.
Spencer Hoveskeland (bass) Spencer’s formal studies were at university in Washington state, Western, initially with bassist Chuck Israels, violinist Peter Marsh (Lennox Quartet, Thornton Music School), Cellist Barton Frank (Piatagorsky prodigy), cellist Walter Gray (Kronos Quartet) , and most influentially with Clarinetist and conductor Arthur Bloom (Dorian Wind quintet, NY arts Council). His performances experiences include everything from arranging and composing to movie soundtracks, Broadway pit work, new music, symphony, chamber music, jazz, rock, metal, folk, humorist, and as a soloist.
Pianist Judith Widrig is a native of Syracuse, NY and currently teaches on the piano faculty at Western Washington University. She received a Doctorate in Piano Performance from the University of Colorado and Piano Performance degrees from The Hartt School of Music and The University of Minnesota. Prior to commencement of her doctoral work, Judith was collaborative pianist for the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She has also studied at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Schweitzer Institute, and the Holzhausen Music Festival in Germany. Judith has taught private and class piano at the Universities of Colorado and Minnesota.
Judith also maintains a private piano studio, and many of her students have been prize winners on the local and state level. Former students now study piano performance at The New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, The University of Washington, and the University of Colorado. She is an avid performer of new music and chamber music, and frequently performs with fellow faculty members from WWU. She has performed with orchestras on both coasts, including appearances as concerto soloist with the Whatcom and Skagit Symphonies. She recently performed Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety with the Western Washington University Symphony.
Page Smith is solo cellist of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and was principal cellist for the Northwest Chamber Orchestra for 25 years and the Auburn Symphony for 10 seasons, performing frequently as soloist with all three. She was also principal cellist of the New Jersey Symphony, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony at the Aspen Music Festival. She currently plays upon invitation with the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Opera. She is one of this region’s most beloved and trusted chamber musicians, performing with the Intimate Baroque Series, Gallery Concert Series, Music of Remembrance, Chamber Music Northwest concert series, the Mostly Nordic Chamber Music Series and the Second City Chamber Music Series. She has performed as soloist with many choirs including Opus 7, Pro Musica, Choral Arts Northwest, The Tudor Choir, St. James Cathedral Choir and St. Mark’s Compline Choir including on the summer 2019 Pilgrimage Tour at Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral.
Eileen Brownell resides in Bellingham, Washington, where she is excited to be the newest Executive Director of the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra. Before moving to Washington, Dr. Brownell performed throughout Nevada, Michigan and Indiana, as an orchestral cellist with the Reno Philharmonic, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Western Michigan Symphony, and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestras, among others. Her chamber music experience includes many performances throughout Michigan and Nevada with the Michigan Chamber Players, Helix Ensemble, and various independent collaborations. Eileen is passionate about the performance and commissioning of new music. While living in Nevada, she helped commission over 50 works and produced a studio recording of ten of these works with Tony Berendsen of Tahoe Star Tours. Ms. Brownell has served as educational ambassador to schools both in the Western Michigan and Reno areas, compiling and performing programs designed to recruit new orchestral musicians. She served as Artistic and Executive Director of the Tahoe Chamber Music Society, which hosts chamber music performances and educational workshops for the residences of Northern Nevada each year, reaching hundreds of students adn music lovers and bringing highly regarded performers to Nevada to collaborate with local musicians. Dr. Brownell is co-founder and President of ReNew Music Ensemble, a non-profit organization dedicated to the commissioning and performance of new music featuring Nevada based musicians and composers. Eileen has taught at Bowling Green State University, the University of Michigan, Western Nevada College, the Ann Arbor School of Performing Arts, and the Rudolf Steiner Schools of Ann Arbor. She greatly enjoys maintaining a private studio of cellists from all walks of life. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan. When she is not playing the cello, she is knitting, reading, enjoying the outdoors, or running.