Here you can find information from and about Lawrence students who spent time in the cello studio (majors and non-majors). This is not an all inclusive page and anyone whom I have inadvertently left out is more than welcome to send in information!
I hope that this page will serve to help former Lawrence students who played cello to stay in touch with one another. The email addresses are, I think, up to date. If you want to see who is doing what or to get in touch with someone, this is the place.
Email me at: janet.anthony@lawrence.edu
Andy Ager; 1993; History
Currently: Andy is a cellar manager for Bierkraft, Inc. Those on campus for reunion weekend June, 2003, had the opportunity to partake in a marvelous beer and cheese tasting event that he organized.
Kevin Berdine; December 2002; Music Education
Email: kberd938@hotmail.com
Currently: Kevin and Laura Elliott married in June 2003 and are now living in Middleburg, Va.
Matt Bietz; 1995; Cello Performance, English;
MM in Historical Musicology from SUNY Stony Brook, 1997;
MS in Information Science from UM, Ann Arbor
Email: mbietz@umich.edu
Currently: working on a PhD in Michigan University’s School of Information studying Human Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Cooperative work. Matt also is part of the Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work and in this capacity is “helping doctors and scientists on three continents come together in cyberspace through the International AIDS Research Collaboratory.”
Sarah Bjella Montes; 2000; French
Email: sarahbjellamontes@hotmail.com
Currently: Married Jean Montes in July, 2000, finished her Masters Degree in International Studies at the University of Iowa and is now living in Minneapolis and enjoying their one year old son, Jaz Leonard.
Ben Bradley; 1993; Philosophy
Email: wbradley@syr.edu
Ben writes: I'm married to Cathy Narcavage (LU '93) since 1997. We have a son, Jackson, who was born in June 2002. I got my PhD in philosophy from UMass in 1999. I've taught philosophy at Illinois Wesleyan, Virginia Tech, and Western Washington, and am now at Syracuse University. Here's my website: web.syr.edu/~wbradley
Adam B. Brown; 1999/Jan. 2000; Music Education
email:browna@fonddulac.k12.wi.us , or butlerbrown@charter.net.
Currently: I have been teaching middle level orchestra in the Fond du Lac public schools since 2002. I currently have some 65 students in grades 6 through 8, out of approximately 240 in the entire district. I also have a private studio in Beaver Dam, which is four members strong and growing. I will be getting married in June 2004 to a wonderful band director named Julie Olson, and the wedding plans are already well underway. Both Julie and I will be presenting at this year's WMEA State Music Conference as members of the Arts PROPEL Initiative Committee. I continue to play cello in the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra and Beaver Dam Area Orchestra, with whom I will be soloing later this year.
Jared Carlson; 2002; Cello Performance and Environmental Studies
Email: jaredcarlson@hotmail.com
Currently: After spending the summer guiding boat trips in Alaska, Jared is hoping to move back to the lower 48, get back into practicing and apply for grad school this winter.
Tom Clowes; 2001; Cello Performance
Email: cloweste@aol.com
Currently: After winning a section position in the Madison Symphony, Tom also auditioned for the Tucson Symphony, won that spot and has relocated to the southwest. In 2003, Tom spent his third summer teaching at the Holy Trinity Music Camp in Leogane, Haiti
Eleanor Christman Cox; At LU in the prep program and as a freshman 1990-93
Email: ejccox@yahoo.com
Eleanor writes: I finished my MM at UW Madison this spring [2003] and now I'm in Tallahassee, FL taking care of my one year old daughter, Lillian and waiting for my husband, Eric to finish his masters in Classics. We both hope to continue our schooling next year but we don't know where yet.
Michael Corman; December 2002; Cello Performance
Email: cello_man@earthlink.net
Currently: Mike is working at Barnes and Noble while recovering from a wrist operation. He has been asked by his former teacher to take on several of her 40 students in the Racine area.
Kierstin Egge; at LU from 1997-1999; 2001; Studio Art
Currently: Is back in the Appleton area after graduating with a degree in Ceramics and is teaching 3 year olds at Grandma B’s Daycare in Shorewood.
Laura Elliott; 2001; Cello Performance and Math Education
Email: lauraelliott@hotmail.com
Currently: Laura and Kevin Berdine married in the summer of 2003. She is a math teacher at the Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia.
Junko Fujiwara Simons; 1993; Cello Performance; MM Northwestern with Hans Jensen
Email: junkosimons@yahoo.com
Junko says: After school I moved to Milwaukee and freelanced (playing in the Waukesha, Festival City, and Racine Symphonies, and subbing with the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Green Bay Symphony, and the Central Wisconsin Symphony in Stevens Point) and taught privately until August 2000, when I moved to Boston.
In Boston (where I still live now) I was the Assistant Director of the Prep program at the Longy School of Music from March 2001 to Sept 2002 and while I was there I played with the new music group Longitude. I got married in June, 2002 to Thomas Simons of Waukesha WI.
For the past year I have been teaching private cello lessons at Phillips Andover Academy (where Yo-Yo Ma's children go/went to school) and coaching chamber music at Boston College (where my husband is currently working on his PhD in British Literature and German Philosophy). I also perform chamber and new music and last spring became the fourth member of the Know Trio, a new music chamber ensemble.
Natalie Garber; 1997 (spring); English and Cello Performance
Email: NRGarber@dstsystems.com
Currently: Still in Kansas City, Natalie has bought a house, is teaching has two dogs and is enjoying her life
Sarabeth Gheith; 1998; English education and B.A. Music
Currently: Has been accepted into grad school in conducting
John Girotti; at LU from 1995-1999
Currently: Ordained a priest in 2002, John is living in Green Bay. He keeps his hand in playing as a member of the Green Bay Civic Symphony
Heather Greening; 2001; Cello Performance
Currently: Heather graduated with a her Masters in Cello Performance from the University of Colorado, Boulder
Lori Hamburg Meyer; 1999; Cello Performance and Music Education
Currently: Lori is Director of the Peninsula Music Festival Youth String Program, the only string program in Door County. She maintains an private studio and is an active performer as well.
Rebecca "Bitsy" Hansen; at LU from 1997-1999; studio art
Currently: last we heard, Bitsy was looking for a good program in welding
Therese Josephson; 2003; Music Education and Math Education
Email: josepth@stoughton.k12.wi.us
Therese writes: I am the grades 5-8 orchestra teacher in the Stoughton Area School District, at Sandhill School (grades 5-6) and River Bluff Middle School (grades 7-8).
Lauralie Kallinen; 2003; Music Education and Math Education
Currently: last we heard Lauralie was in a masters program in historical musicology and cello performance
Kelly McCracken; 1995; Religious Studies
Email: kellymc333@yahoo.com
Kelly writes: I now work as the assistant to a law professor at DePaul University, who is the head of the International Human Rights Law Institute here. The work is engaging and interesting, but I hope to go back to graduate school soon - for what exactly, I'm still working on. As an employee at DePaul, I get free tuition here, but not towards private music instruction, unfortunately. Lessons with Stephen Balderston will have to wait
As for the cello, I've actually done some playing in the last several years. I've done some playing out and recording with local independent rock bands, but I've just started to learn Arabic classical music. I'm in a core group with an oud player, and a man who plays both the buzuq (sp?) and violin - we supplement with percussionists and singers. We've had 2 well-attended gigs so far, and planning on playing out a lot more often once my repertoire gets bigger (hearing and playing quarter tones in tune is my current challenge). Now that I'm over the psychological baggage of not sounding as good as I did when I was 18 and practicing 4+ hours a day, I'm content to just play several times a month and just have FUN.
Marie Menkevich; 2002; Performance
Email: mstasia@hotmail.com
Marie writes: I am in my second and final year of my graduate studies at Louisiana State University while studying with Dennis Parker. I am playing with the Baton Rouge Symphony orchestra, which has been a great experience. After my graduation in May of 2004 I am planning to move back to the north to escape the heat, humidity, hurricanes, and flying cockroaches (gross, huh?) to continue working in the music industry.
Yoriko Morita; 1994; Cello Performance and Physics
Email: Yoriko.Morita@att.net
Currently: Married Karl Grill – they are the proud parents of a young son Akira. Yoriko is playing in the Boulder Philharmonic (a per-service professional orchestra) and she is also principal for the Longmont Symphony (a community orchestra) as well as a number of pick-up chamber groups. She has discovered that she really likes teaching and has been studying herself on and off with Natasha Brofsky of the Peabody Trio
Michael O'Brien; 2001; Music Education
Email: msobrien@mail.utexas.edu
Currently: Mike spent his second summer in Buenos Aires, still plays in a rock band and has this to say about his current activities: I'm officially in the MM program in ethno at UT, direct the Andean ensemble, and still teach cello and direct an orchestra through the UT String Project.
Dave Peltier; 1992 ; Math/CompSci
Email: peltierd@yahoo.com
Interests: Quartet, orchestra, Korea, science, language, distributed systems
Quote: "In your country club, your church and business, about 15 percent of the people are screwballs, lightweights and boobs and you would not want those people unrepresented in Congress." - Former Senator Alan Simpson.
Currently: Software & systems project manager for Merrill Corporation in St. Paul, MN. Married violist Margaret (nee Magee). We have a 4-yr old son Liam and 19-mo old daughter Lucie. We still play regularly in Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis (www.civicorchestrampls.org) and our for-fun "Impromptu Quartet" (no gigs please) and a semi-annual 'cello party. New 'cello last year - finally! - a 2001 soloist edition.
Alex Revoal; 2003; Performance
Email: funnyfrocelloboy@yahoo.com
Quote: "Practicing is for non-virtuosos"
Currently: Studying with Marc Johnson of the Vermeer Quartet at Northern Illinois University
Erin Rice; 1999 anthropology
Currently: Erin is studying archaeology in Tucson, Az.
Tara Santiago: time at LU 2000-1 (and many years in the prep program)
Email: tarasantiago@hotmail.com
Currently: Tara is in her third year at the New England Conservatory of Music studying with Paul Katz
Marie Shoemaker; 2001; Cello performance and Music Education
Email: cellomarie@hotmail.com
Currently: Teaching in the Appleton school district and conducting one of the Green Bay Youth symphonies. She and Abbey have been taking Suzuki teacher training courses for the last several summers together and Marie is now teaching three and four year olds at the Lawrence Academy as well.
Billy Speer; 2001; English
Email: punkrawkacademy@hotmail.com
Currently: Billy is still playing drums with a band
Sara Snyder Schnoor; 2002; Cello Performance and Music Education
Email: cellobbgirl@hotmail.com
Currently: Right now I am teaching orchestra at St. James Middle and St. James High School in Myrtle Beach, SC for the Horry County School District. I am teaching private lessons and playing for the Long Bay Symphony Orchestra. Mark is in school studying to become a paramedic and is headed for a physicians assistant graduate program next fall.
Catherine Stewart; 1989; History
Currently: Katie is a professor in the History department at Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa
Beth Ann Teigen Munson; 2000; B.A. Music
Currently: Beth Ann married Noah Munson
Hannah Trobe; 2002; B.A. Music
Currently: Hannah was back at LU to help out with the New Directions Cello festival in June 2003 and is working in the Chicago area and playing in a band.
Adrienne Trunk; 2003; Music, English and Art History
Email: harmony-lane@excite.com
Currently: Adrienne is helping out her parents with their bee keeping and honey related activities.
Matt Turner; 1989; Cello Performance; MM from New England Conservatory in Third Stream Studies
Email: TurnMatt@aol.com
Currently: teaching at in the jazz area at Lawrence, proud papa of two great kids, Daria and Kaden, and doing a fair amount of touring and recording.
http://www.lawrence.edu/conservatory/bios/turner.shtml
Venu Vemuri; 1992; Cello Performance; MM in performance from IU, Bloomington, Indiana
Email: vvemuri@msn.com
Currently: After receiving his Masters, Venu switched gears, actually went back to an early interest, and has finished medical school.
Abbey Wakefield; 2001; Cello performance
Email: abb_cello@hotmail.com
Currently: Abbey finished her Masters in cello Performance at Northern Illinois University studying with Mark Johnson. She is staying on for a performance certificate and has 29 students in three different cities. For the past two summers Abbey and Marie have taken Suzuki teacher training courses together.
Pippa White Downs; at Lawrence 1983-86
Email: pippamicahdowns@cs.com
Currently: Pippa lives in Illinois does a lot of freelancing and is the mother of three active children with a fourth due this fall [2003].
Jeff Wiggens; 1993; French
Currently: Instructor of French at Coe College
Doug Wilber; 2002; performance and Philosophy
Email: doug@unm.edu
Currently: in his second year of a Masters program at the University of New Mexico studying with David Schepps
Charlotte Williams; December 1996; Cello performance
Email: chaawill@yahoo.com
Currently: After receiving her masters at IU, working with Janos Starker, and studying several years with Thomas Demenga at the Basel Conservatory in Switzerland, Charlotte is back in the United States teaching and performing.