Robert Vernon (born May 5, 1949, in Toronto, Ontario) is a classical violist and teacher.
Robert Vernon served as the Principal Violist of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1976 before retiring in 2016. Vernon is also a co-head the Viola Department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and was a faculty member at the renowned Juilliard School of Music.
Vernon also serves on the Faculty at Kent/Blossom, the National Orchestral Institute in Maryland, the New World Symphony Orchestra, and the Encore School for Strings. He also frequents several chamber music festivals including the Sarasota Music Festival (Sarasota, Florida), and the Nevada Chamber Music Festival (Reno, Nevada).
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Robert Vernon moved to the United States as a child and grew up in the Detroit, Michigan area. Vernon attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York City and graduated with honors. Vernon played in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra before being named Principal Violist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Vernon retired from his position and currently resides in Solon, Ohio.
Julius Baker was one of the foremost American orchestral flute players. During the course of five decades he concertized with several of America's premier orchestral ensembles including the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
Robert Nathaniel Mann was a violinist, composer, conductor, and founding member of the Juilliard String Quartet, as well as a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music. Mann, the first violinist at Juilliard, served on the school's string quartet for over fifty years until his retirement in 1997.
Eric Ewazen is an American composer and teacher.
Eugene Izotov is a Russian-born oboist and recording artist. He is Principal Oboist of the San Francisco Symphony appointed by Michael Tilson Thomas in 2014. He is the first Russian-born oboist in any major U.S. symphony orchestra. Previously, he was Principal Oboist of the Chicago Symphony, Principal Oboist of the Metropolitan Opera, Principal Oboist of the Kansas City Symphony, and has appeared as guest Principal Oboe with the Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic. He studied with American oboist Ralph Gomberg at Boston University, from which he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. In addition to being recognized as one of the world's premiere orchestral oboists, Izotov has been awarded top prizes at international competitions for solo oboists in Moscow (1990), Saint Petersburg (1991), New York (1995) and the First Prize at the 2001 Fernand Gillet International Oboe competition. Eugene Izotov's solo and chamber music collaborations include partnerships with Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, James Levine, Nicholas McGegan, Michael Tilson Thomas, Jane Glover, Yo Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Jaime Laredo, André Watts, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, and the Tokyo String Quartet. He has appeared over 70 times as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, MET Chamber Ensemble, Pacific Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, and has performed principal oboe on numerous Grammy winning recordings on BMG, Sony Classical, SFS Media, and CSOResound.
Geraldine Lamboley Walther is an American violist. From 2005 to May 2020 she was a member of the Takács Quartet. During this time she also taught at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was also the principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony, a role she held from 1976 through 2005. Previously, she was assistant principal viola of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Miami Philharmonic. In 1979, she won the First Prize at the Primrose International Viola Competition.
Jeffrey Khaner is the principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also served as principal flutist with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Khaner teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, and the Lynn University Conservatory of Music. In September 2012, he launched the Online Classical Flute School with Jeffrey Khaner through ArtistWorks.
Karen Dreyfus is a violist who currently teaches at the USC Thornton School of Music. Ms. Dreyfus has distinguished herself as a recipient of many prizes, including the Naumburg Viola Competition (1982), the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition (1980), the Washington International Competition (1979), and the Hudson Valley Competition (1978). Ms. Dreyfus has concertized extensively in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America.
Marcus Thompson is a violist and viola d'amore player known for his work as a recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator. Thompson is a founding member and is currently artistic director of the Boston Chamber Music Society, and is Institute Professor at MIT and a faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Andor John Toth was an American classical violinist, conductor and educator with a musical career spanning over six decades. Toth played his violin on the World War II battlefields of Aachen, Germany; performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in 1943 at age 18; and formed several chamber music ensembles, including the Oberlin String Quartet, the New Hungarian Quartet, and the Stanford String Quartet. For 15 years he was the violinist in the Alma Trio. Toth conducted orchestras in Cleveland, Denver and Houston. In 1969, he was the founding concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Marriner. Toth taught at five important colleges and universities, and recorded for Vox, Decca Records and Eclectra Records.
Lorna McGhee is a Scottish flutist and teacher, who since 2024 holds the position of Principal Flute at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She served as Principal Flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 2012 to 2024. In addition, she is an Artist Lecturer in Flute at Carnegie Mellon University. Past positions include co-principal flute of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and associate professor of flute at the University of British Columbia. She is currently a member of a flute, viola, and harp ensemble, 'Trio Verlaine' with her husband, violist David Harding and harpist Heidi Krutzen. McGhee is known for her "luscious tone colors and dynamics."
Sheila Browne is an American-Irish concert violist from Gladwyne, Pennsylvania with dual citizenship. She is a concert and recording artist and Associate Professor at the University of Delaware. For ten years she was on faculty and Associate Professor of Viola at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Named the William Primrose Recitalist of 2016 in conjunction with the Primrose International Viola Archive (PIVA), Ms. Browne has played solo, concerto and chamber music concerts and has played principal of orchestras on six continents, performing in major venues in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East. She is in the Fire Pink Trio and principal of the New York Women's Philharmonic, making her Carnegie- Stern Hall concerto debut in 2011. Browne is the Director and faculty member of the January Karen Tuttle Viola Workshop, founder in 2015 and faculty member of the first European Karen Tuttle Viola Workshop at NYU- Prague 2016, and has served on the Executive Board of the American Viola Society Ms. Browne was the violist of the Gotham, Arianna, Pelligrini and Serafin string quartets. She has served on the faculties of Duke and New York universities, University of Missouri- St. Louis and of Tennessee- Knoxville, and Juilliard's Music Advancement Program.
Michelle LaCourse is a viola player and string department chair on the faculty of the Boston University College of Fine Arts.
Sarasota Music Festival is an American classical music festival held annually during the month of June in Sarasota, Florida, under the sponsorship of the Sarasota Orchestra. The festival was founded in 1965 by conductor Paul Wolfe, who remained director of the festival through the summer of 2006. After Wolfe's retirement, conductor and composer Robert D. Levin became the festival's director. In 1984 it was designated by the Florida State Legislature as the "Official Teaching and Performing Festival of the State of Florida." In 2016 Jeffrey Kahane was appointed the festival's Music Director.
David Schwartz was an American violist and music instructor. Schwartz's career spanned orchestral music, chamber music, and studio recording, but he is most recognized for his chamber music performances and recordings with the Yale and Paganini Quartets.
Theodore Kuchar is an American and Ukrainian conductor of classical music and a violist.
Richard Fleischman is an American violist and viola d'amore player, conductor and pedagogue.
Janice LaMarre is a Canadian concert violist.
Caroline Coade is an American violist who was born and raised in San Diego. She began playing violin at the age of 6 but switched to viola when she turned 14. She graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and then pursued her Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory as well as the Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music followed by a Master's from the Juilliard School. In those schools, she was guided by Karen Tuttle, Joyce Robbins, Jeffrey Irvine, David Takeno, Dave Holland, and Eugene Becker. She is a participant in the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Laurel Festival of the Arts and Marlboro Music Festival. She has played in the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, as well as the New York Philharmonic. Ms. Coade is a Professor of Viola at the University of Michigan and is Assistant -Principal of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. She currently serves as a faculty member of the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute and Meadowmount School of Music, as well as previously on faculty at Bowdoin International Music Festival, Chautauqua Music Festival, and the National Music Festival.
Brett Deubner is an American violist. He has performed as concerto soloist with over 70 orchestras on four continents.
Brinton Averil Smith is an American cellist.