MEET OUR MUSICIANS
CORE MEMBERS
	Jennifer Gartley, flute, is a native of the Isle of Palms, South Carolina and moved to Saint Louis in 2006. She graduated with the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in 2009 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she studied with Dr. Jonathan Keeble and was the teaching assistant for the flute studio.  Dr. Gartley received the Master of Music degree from  Louisiana State University in 2003 and her Bachelor of Music Education degree from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina in 2001. She has been a regular performer with Sinfonia da Camera, the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony and the Owensboro Symphony.  Dr. Gartley is currently an associate faculty member at McKendree University.
	Laura Reycraft, viola, received her Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance from The Cleveland Institute of Music in 2003 as a student of Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey.  In 2005 she earned her Master of Music diploma from the University of Maryland College Park where she studied viola with Daniel Foster and Michael Tree and Suzuki Violin Pedagogy with Ronda Cole.  Laura has participated in a number of music festivals including Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival USA, Sarasota Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, and the New York String Orchestra Seminar.  She has played as substitute with National Symphony Orchestra and is currently a regular substitute with the Saint Louis Symphony and an active freelancer in the St. Louis area. Ms. Reycraft is a string faculty member of the Community Music School of Webster University and City Academy and maintains a private teaching studio.
	Dana Hotle, clarinet, can be heard performing in both her home state of Missouri and in Illinois.  She is currently Principal clarinet with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. Mrs. Hotle is a former member of The Equinox Chamber players and the Cedar Rapids Symphony. She has performed with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, St. Louis Opera Theater, Webster Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony.  Mrs. Hotle holds a bachelors degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a Masters from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with David Krakauer. Dana is a faculty member of the Community Music School of Webster University and adjunct faculty at Maryville University, and St. Loius Community College.  She lives in South St. Louis with her husband Chip and their dog Chubbs.
	Adrianne Honnold, saxophone, teaches at Washington University in St. Louis, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and St. Louis Community College.  She received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied with Debra Richtmeyer and Chip McNeill. She is a former member of the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band and Rhythm in Blue Jazz Ensemble located at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. Ms. Honnold appears regularly with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She has also performed with the St. Louis Philharmonic, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the USAF Band of Mid-America, and the Sessions Big Band.  Ms. Honnold is endorsed by the Conn-Selmer Corporation and is proud to perform on Conn-Selmer saxophones exclusively.
	Violinist Hannah Frey is a native of Clinton, South Carolina. She received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Linda Cerone and William Preucil. She has held positions in a number of orchestras throughout the country, including the Charlotte Symphony, Columbus Symphony and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. Additionally, she has held the positions of Concertmaster with the Mansfield Symphony and Assistant Concertmaster of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Hannah is currently Concertmaster of Winter Opera St. Louis and performs with the Illinois Symphony and Serenade Strings. Hannah is a dedicated educator and currently teaches violin at the St. Louis School of Music as well as maintaining a private studio. Her students have been members of youth orchestras throughout the country in organizations such as the Contemporary Youth Orchestra in Cleveland and the Charlotte Symphony Youth Orchestra.
	Bassoonist Melissa Mackey is Associate Professor of Basson and Music History at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She holds degrees from Julliard Pre-College Division, Manhattan School of Music, Yale School of Music and the University of Southern California. She performs with Winter Opera St. Louis, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Paducah Symphony and the Evansville Philharmonic. Her trio, Neoteric, is the world's only ensemble of bassoon, horn and cello, and has recorded "Music of Bernard Hoffer" for Albany Records. Dr. Mackey has attended the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Aspen, Bowdoin, Sarasota, and Hot Springs music festivals. In her spare time, she enjoys throwing pots and playing with her rescue dog, Luna.
	Nina Ferrigno, described by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as "a magnificent pianist," is a collaborative artist at home in a multitude of diverse musical settings.  Her playing is said to be, “...always precise with superb accentuation and warmth of feeling...”.  Nina is a founding member of the Boston-based Calyx Piano Trio which has excited audiences throughout the United States with expressive ensemble playing and brilliant virtuosity.  She has appeared in major concert venues throughout North America. She has performed in such ensembles as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), with whom she was principal keyboard from its inception to 2007.  Nina is committed to commissioning and performing new works in a variety of settings, expanding the repertoire and bringing classical music to new audiences.  The New Music Connoisseur has said of her, “pianist Nina Ferrigno [brings] out the inherent horizontal logic...all the while imparting sonic beauty from end to end.” Her chamber music recording of Lansing McLoskey’s “Tinted” was released by Albany Records in 2008.  She is featured soloist on the BMOP Sound recording of the Elliott Schwartz Chamber Concerto III: Another View released in 2009. Nina is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music, where she received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees with distinction. Her principal teachers were Wha Kyung Byun and Randall Hodgkinson. Other festival appearances include those at Tanglewood, Banff, Norfolk, the Skaneateles Festival, and the Carolina Chamber Music Festival where the Calyx Piano Trio is in residence.  Nina makes her home in Webster Groves with husband Scott Andrews and their children Ava and Zachary.  Nina and Scott are Artistic Directors of The Missouri Chamber Music Festival.
Guest Artists
	Mezzo soprano Debra Hillabrand, a member of the Washington University voice faculty, holds a BME from the University of Arkansas, and a MM in vocal performance from Washington University.  While with Washington University Opera, Ms. Hillabrand enjoyed performing several 20th Century roles including Elmire in Kirke Mechem’s Tartuffe, Natalia Petrovna in Lee Hoiby’s A Month in the Country, and the title role in Jack Beeson’s Lizzie Borden.  This summer, Ms. Hillabrand performed in her fifth season with Union Avenue Opera of St. Louis as Kate in Pirates of Penzance and Paulina/Daphnis in Pikovaya Dama.  She also enjoys educating and entertaining young people with UAO and Springboard of St. Louis as the Mother/Grandmother in Barab’s Little Red Riding Hood.   She has worked with Central City Opera in Colorado, Wichita Grand Opera, Tulsa Opera, and Washington University Opera performing as Rosina/Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mrs. Ott/Susannah, Mrs. Noye/Noye’s Fludde, and Prince Orlofsky/Die Fledermaus.  Ms. Hillabrand is the Alto Young Artist for the Bach Society of St. Louis, for whom she has often been a soloist, including Beethoven’s Mass in C, Bach’s B minor Mass, and Handel’s Messiah.
	A versatile pianist, Peter Henderson is active as a performer in solo, chamber and orchestral settings. Since fall 2005, Mr. Henderson has served as Assistang Professor of Music at Maryville University. He performes frequently as an ensemble keyboardist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and made his first appearance as a soloist with the SLSO in January 2008. Over the past six seaons he has often given Pre-Concert Perspectives from the SLSO's Powell Hall . Mr. Henderson has coached chamber music at the San Diego Shamber Music Workshop easch summer since 2001, and was an orchestra and chamber keyboardist with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony for four seasons. Mr. Henderson holds the degree of Doctor of Music from Indiana University-Bloominton; before attending IU, Mr. Henderson studied piano at the University of Idaho. Mr. Henderson's ongoing musical partnerships include the St. Louis based Ilex Piano Trio, featuring SLSO musicians Kristin Ahlstrom, violinist (his lovely wife) and Anne Fagerburg, cellist. Mr. Henderson is also an advocate of new music, having given serveral premieres of solo piano works during the past several years. He and his wife live in St. Louis's South City with their willful but charming dog Zack.
	Aaron Jakubiec, oboe, is currently the instructor of oboe, music theory and general education at Eastern Illinois University and a candidate for the Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Illinois, where he served as the teaching assistant for the oboe studio for two years. Mr. Jakubiec received a Masters degree in music from the University of Michigan and Bachelors degree in music from Ithaca College. Recently he won the English horn positions with the Illinois Symphony and the Champaign Urbana Symphony, and second oboe with Sinfonia da Camera. Additionally Mr. Jakubiec has performed with many ensembles throughout the United Sates, including the Plymouth Symphony (MI), Erie Chamber Orchestra (PA), Paducah Symphony (KY), Evansville Philharmonic (IN), Tri Cities Opera (NY) and the Binghamton Philharmonic (NY).
	Marcia Mann, cello, attended Interlochen Arts Academy where she was principal cellist her senior year, studying with Denis Brott of the Orford String Quartet. Ms. Mann moved to St. Louis to study with Yuan Tung on full scholarship at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music. At the Conservatory, she participated in master classes with Yo-Yo Ma, Leslie Parnas and Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, in addition to extensive quartet coaching by Michael Tree of the Guarneri Quartet. Ms. Mann is formally assistant principal cello of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (now Illinois Symphony Orchestra) and formerly Principal Cellist of the Webster University Symphony Orchestra. She has been broadcast on St. Louis Public radio and television and performed throughout the country. Ms. Mann was the cellist for the Laclede Quartet for 19 years, until 2005. Currently cellist of the Opus 38 Qartet and the Crusell Quartet, she often plays with the MUNY, and at the Fabulous Fox Theater.
	Valentina Takova, cello, flute,was born and raised in Sofia, Bulgaria,where she began cello studies at age six. She has appeared as soloist and with orchestras in her native Bulgaria and the United States, including performances in Carnegie Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall, and Zankel Hall. In addition, Ms.Takova has recorded extensively for National Bulgarian Radio and has appeared on National Public Radio. She is a former member of Boston’s Kalistos Chamber Orchestra, the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, and for the past three years, as Fellowship recipient of the Aspen Music Festival, she has held the Assistant Principal Cello position with the Aspen Chamber Symphony. From 1999 -2002, Ms. Takova  toured Canada and the United States with the V.A.V. Piano Trio. Ms. Takova is a recent graduate of the Yale School of Music where she studied with Aldo Parisot. Other primary teachers include Dennis Parker, Rhonda Rider, and Alan Harris. She currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri.
	At the age of sixteen, double bassist Frederick DeVaney made his St. Louis debut as a soloist in a concerto performance with Leonard Slatkin at Powell Symphony Hall. The St. Louis Globe Democrat praised his "remarkabley warm tones." He has since made other solo appearances with St. Louis area orchestras, and currently serves as the Principal Double Bassist of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. A Student of the late Henry Loew, longtime Principal Double Bassist of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Mr. DeVaney is a busy freelance musician in the St. Louis area. He is the principal bassist of the Ballet Orchestra of St. Louis, the St. Louis Chamber Orchestra, the American Kanotrei in St. Louis, and is a member of the orchestra of the Municipal Theater Association of St. Louis. Previously, Mr. DeVaney has performed with the New Orleans Philharmonic and served five season as Principal Double Bassist with the Peroria Opera (now Opera Ililnois). Mr DeVaneyis a frequent substitue with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Mr. DeVaney has been the instructor of double bass at SIUE since 1992. For ten summers he taught at the Swanee Summer Music Festival at the University of the South in Tennessee.
	J. Michael Holmes, saxophone, is a talented solo and chamber musician whose active playing career has seen him performing some of the most prestigious venues in the United States, including Carnegie Hall, and also around Europe and Taiwan. It has been stated that, “Michael is emerging as one of America’s stars in the world of the concert saxophone…” by world-renowned saxophonist John Sampen. Holmes is the Director of Enrollment Management as well as Clinical Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Illinois School of Music. Michael has previously held positions as the Director of Marketing for Reed Instruments at Conn-Selmer, Inc. as well as the position of Artistic Advisor and Product Specialist with the Vandoren Corp. Michael holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Bowling Green State University, a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois, and is ABD for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has performed as principal saxophonist with numerous orchestras including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and Sinfonia da Camera. His performances can he be heard on the Mark, SEAMUS, and Klavier Record labels. Michael is pleased to be a Selmer Artist/Clinician and performs on Selmer Paris saxophones exclusively, as well as a Vandoren Artist and plays Vandoren reeds, ligatures, and mouthpieces exclusively.