Jack Ashton
Jack Ashton began his musical life at age eight while living in Tyhee, a small farming community in Eastern Idaho, later moving to Utah and studying with David Shand, Assistant Conductor of the Utah Symphony under Maurice Abravanel. After serving an L.D.S. mission to Germany and a year of active duty with the US Army, Mr. Ashton reentered the University of Utah, studying and performing in the University Symphony under Dr. Shand. He also studied with Sally Peck Leutz and Oscar Chassow, as well as with Szymon Goldberg. When the Symphony became a full time orchestra, Mr. Ashton spent several years playing in both first and second violin sections and was appointed Assistant Principal Second Violin, a position he held for the next twenty-five years. Recently, after the appointment of Keith Lockhart as Music Director, Mr. Ashton rejoined the rotating violin section. Mr. Ashton has been very active as a music educator, founding the Young Artist Chamber Players and overseeing a private violin studio where he teaches about thirty students each year. Mr. Ashton has been married to Marie Yeates for the past thirty-eight years, and they have eight children. He enjoys hiking, gardening, and teaching his students.
Titilayo Ayangade
Titilayo Ayangade, cellist, has spent more than two decades behind the instrument, enjoying performances in orchestras and chamber ensembles as well commissioning new music. Holding degrees in performance from University of Cincinnati-CCM and University of Texas at Austin, she has also worked closely with members of the Artemis Quartet at Queen Elisabeth Chapel in Belgium. Titilayo currently resides close to Washington, D.C. and is pursuing a D.M.A. at the University of Maryland as part of the fellowship ensemble in residence, Thalea String Quartet.
As a member of the Thalea String Quartet, Titilayo was a top prize winner at both the Fischoff and Chamber Music Yellow Spring competitions and has been the cellist of the quartet since 2017. TSQ was the 2019-2020 Ernst Stiefel Quartet in Residence at the Caramoor Center for the Arts. Titilayo has collaborated with many different artists including Isabel Charisius, Lawrence Power, Robert DeMaine, James Austin Smith and Sibbi Bernhardson. She has also received mentorship from members of The Left Bank Quartet, Miro Quartet, Emerson Quartet, Artemis Quartet and Ariel Quartet. Her principal cello teachers over the years were Ilya Finkelshteyn, Joshua Gindele, and Eric Kutz. In recent years Titilayo has had the privilege of touring China, Brazil, Canada, and many cities in North America.
Inspired by and dedicated to the work of musicians of color, Titilayo is constantly seeking new collaborations and ways to spotlight the voices in music that often go unheard. Away from the cello Titilayo (Titi for short), spends her time searching for vintage furniture, and enjoys her work as a photographer www.titilayoandco.com.
Philip Baldwin
Philip Baldwin is Professor of Violin and Orchestras at Whitworth University. He also serves as the Conductor and Artistic Director of Spokane Youth Symphony, and the concertmaster and assistant conductor of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony. He earned a DMA in violin performance at The Ohio State University under Michael Davis. He is the president of the Washington chapter of ASTA and has presented at eight of its national conventions and at the International Short Story Conferences in Ireland and Portugal. He is an avid runner and chamber musician.
Robyn Draper
Robyn Draper is a visual artist who specializes in ceramics and graphic design. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Brigham Young University and has been a studio artist for fifteen years. She has a passion for creativity and fostering that in her students. She has taught art classes for children and adults, and loves seeing her students bring their ideas to life! Robyn is a multi-passionate artist and is especially drawn to pottery, watercolor painting, printmaking, bookbinding, and digital art.
Timothy Durbin
Dr. Timothy (Terry) Durbin’s unique brand of teaching excellence makes him one of the most sought-after clinicians/conductors throughout the world. With infectious enthusiasm and inspired musicianship, he brings smiles and laughter to students throughout the United States and around the world. His dynamic teaching career includes over 1000 workshops and institutes! His performance and teaching career stretches across the United States and Canada into Bermuda, Germany, Italy, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia,Thailand and Singapore, and he has recorded two CDs, including the complete chamber music of Marcel Dupre for the Naxos label. He has been appointed principal conductor of the Cave Run Symphony Orchestra beginning with the 2016 season. He has directed the South Dakota and Montana All State Orchestras. He is the holder of the American Suzuki Institute Suzuki Chair Award for 2013. Terry Durbin is also an accomplished composer and notable arranger.
Dr. Durbin holds a DMA in orchestral conducting from Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles, California, a Masters in violin performance from the University of Illinois, and an undergraduate degree in violin performance from the University of Alabama. He has held university positions at Transylvania University, Morehead State University, Azusa Pacific University, the University of Louisville and the University of Oregon. He is a registered teacher trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Terry maintains a private studio in Louisville, Kentucky. He has three children, two grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
He believes in the magic of music’s power to enrich our lives.
Edwin Kaplan
Violist of the award-winning Tesla Quartet and the newly formed Duo Kayo, Edwin Kaplan continues to forge a versatile identity as a recitalist, chamber musician, and educator. He has performed on concert series across North America, Europe, and Asia, including Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, and Tanglewood Music Center.
Pushing his boundaries beyond the traditional repertoire, Edwin is equally at home in new music, having participated in numerous premieres including Andy Akiho's LIgNEouS and Zosha Di Castri’s String Quartet No. 1. One of his most treasured projects is the Tesla Quartet’s annual call for scores, for which he combs through hundreds of recently composed string quartets submitted by composers from all over the world.
Edwin is proud to serve his community as an advocate for music education. Through his work with the Tesla Quartet, he performs outreach at community primary schools and high schools and has given masterclasses at universities across North America. He spent a year teaching at Mt. Allison University in Canada, collaborating with music faculty, coaching chamber music, and workshopping new works by composition students. Edwin believes strongly in music education at all levels and has participated in adult amateur chamber music workshops at Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill, Maine, where he has brought in-depth coaching and musical training to adults for whom music is a passion and hobby.
Edwin Kaplan is a Doctor of Musical Arts and received a Master of Music degree and an Artist Diploma from the Yale University School of Music. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Mira Larson
Originally from Chicago, Mira Larson started training in cello and dance at an early age. She continued her cello studies at Northwestern University (BM) and the New England Conservatory (MM). Upon discovering Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Mira immediately enrolled at the Dalcroze School of the Rockies, and has attended conventions held by the Dalcroze Society of America (Los Angeles) and the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze (Genève, Switzerland). She holds a Dalcroze Professional Certificate and is currently completing her Dalcroze License. Mira lives in Salt Lake City, where she teaches at La Maison des Enfants, the Gifted Music School and her own Rythmique Music School.
Kate MacLeod
Kate MacLeod is a versatile musician who has studied the art of fiddle playing since growing up on the outskirts of Washington D.C. She moved to Utah to study at the Violin Making School of America and has remained an active performing musician while over the years publishing many recordings of her original songs and fiddle instrumental pieces. Her original music is derivative of traditional folk music, one can hear its influence in her melodies and verse style. Along with years of experience in Classical music, she specializes in Irish, Scottish, Bluegrass, and Old-Time American fiddle styles. She is a member of the Celtic music ensemble Shanahy, one of the longest-running performing ensembles in the Intermountain West. She has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe and has garnered many awards over the years for both her musicianship and her compositions. Recent awards include the 2019 Best of the West Award from the Folk Alliance International's Far-West Division, and the 2019 Alfred Lambourne Friends of the Great Salt Lake Award for her modern classical violin duet, The Great Salt Lake Visited. Her compositions have been used in a variety of documentaries and films, and she is often in the recording studio as a guest fiddler on artists' recordings. Kate is an educator of fiddle music and has taught at music camps and in a variety of teaching settings since the mid 1990s. She specializes in teaching the complex skills of fiddle playing including bowing techniques, fingering techniques, fiddle tune interpretation, and stylistic differences between genres of fiddle music.
For further information see Kate’s website at: www.katemacleod.com
Peter Romney
Peter Romney started cello at the age of five, and grew up studying under, among others, Carol Tarr, Richard Hoyt, Richard Aaron, Rodney Farrar, Tanya Carey, and Kory Katseanes, former assistant conductor for the Utah Symphony. He has toured throughout the western US and Europe with classical ensembles as well as improvisational, jazz, and folk artists, and is featured on the albums of Theta Naught, Paul Jacobsen, and others. Currently, Peter maintains his private studio, Bass Clef Talent Education, in St George. He is assistant principal cellist for the Southwest Symphony Orchestra, and continues to hone his skills, both as a cellist and as a Suzuki teacher, with Dr. AliceAnn O’Neill.
Megan Titensor
Megan Titensor is an influential cellist and devoted Suzuki teacher based in Seattle, Washington. In addition to her cello teaching, Megan also teaches early childhood music classes and performs in a cello-piano duo. Megan is active in her local Suzuki community and serves on the board of directors for Suzuki Association of Washington State. Megan spends her leisure time skiing, hiking and climbing with her husband, son, and dog. She is a seasoned traveler and regulates her intense wanderlust by reading many books, exploring new trails, and cooking up exotic food.
Jenny Wadsworth
Jenny has taught violin since 1997. Her training includes a BA in Music from BYU, both long term and short term certification through the Suzuki Association of the Americas in Violin books 1-7, Singing in the Suzuki Style, Kodaly Level 1 Certification with an emphasis in string pedagogy. She is a certified Advanced Active member of the Suzuki Association of Utah and has been a guest lecturer for the SAU, ISSI and other organizations on subjects such as “Tiger Mothers’ Anonymous”, Power of Culture and Suzuki Parent-Child Dynamics. She has also taught years as a masterclass teacher for Bryce Canyon Music Camp and has been a guest clinician for the Cedar City Strings' fall workshop. Jenni has four awesome kids ranging from age 16-24. Two cellists and two violinists. She became a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 2016 and I loves to hike, mountain bike and cook.