Five additions to the musician roster for 2014-15 were recently announced by the Virginia Symphony Orchestra: JONATHAN RICHARDS, violin; YESUEL ANN, violin; YU-CHIA HSIAO, violin; MICHAEL BYERLY, clarinet; and PHILIP BROWNE, horn.
Jonathan Richards, violin, has appeared throughout the U.S. and Canada as a chamber musician and soloist, and has performed regularly with such orchestras as the Alexandria, Annapolis, Chesapeake, and Fairfax symphonies and the National Philharmonic. A founding member of the Adelphi String Quartet and a former member of the Excelsa Quartet, Richards holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northern Illinois University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Maryland, where he is currently pursuing a D.M.A. degree.
Yesuel Ann, violin, has played in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Allentown (Pa.) Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C (Camden, N.J.), the New Jersey Capital Philharmonic, the Ipalpiti Chamber Orchestra, the Asian Philharmonic Orchestra, and at numerous festivals in France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. Following studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris she received master’s degree from the Yale School of Music and continued her studies with Eduard Schmieder at Boyer College of Music.
Yu-Chia Hsiao, violin, is a native of Taiwan, where she made her solo debut with the Academy of Taiwan Strings at the age of thirteen. She holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Hsiao has performed for Peabody’s Elderhostel Program and the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute’s “Wednesdays at Weinberg”; toured Montana with Keng-Yuen Tseng, her violin teacher at Peabody; and twice participated in the Taiwanese American Charity Education Association annual concert at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater.
Michael Byerly, clarinet, served most recently as principal clarinet with the Tucson (Ariz.) Symphony. First Prize winner in the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition and the Pasadena Showcase House Competition, he spent three years in Japan as a member of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra. Byerly holds degrees from the University of Washington and the University of Southern California, and an Artist Diploma from The Colburn School in Los Angeles.
Philip Browne, horn, also holds the post of second horn with the New Haven (Conn.) Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with such orchestras as the Albany, Baltimore, Delaware, and Harrisburg symphony orchestras, the New World Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the National Orchestral Institute. He attended the Yale School of Music and the Peabody Institute, and pursued further studies with William Purvis, Denise Tryon, Philip Munds, Peter Landgren, and Edwin Thayer.
Posted October 28, 2014
