Collin Anderson, bassoon. Bassoonist Collin Anderson earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music in 1989. He completed a Masters Degree in 1991 at Kent State University where he also was awarded a graduate assistantship. He earned a second Masters degree in composition from DePaul University and completed a Doctoral degree in composition at Northwestern University in 2003. He has played both bassoon and contrabassoon in the Civic Orchestra, the Canton (Ohio) Symphony, and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy. He is a member of the Lake Forest Symphony and appears frequently with the Elgin Symphony, the Rockford Symphony, and the Chicago Opera Theater. He is a founding member of the Quintet Attacca which has been designated the Ensemble-in-Residence at Lake Forest College since 2003. The group has performed widely, including Mostly Music at NEIU, Live from WFMT, New Music DePaul, and many other venues. Mr. Anderson teaches bassoon at Lake Forest College, Northeastern Illinois University, and Harper College. His own works have been performed widely at numerous universities and festivals including the Aspen Music Festival. Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano. Since completing apprenticeships with the Santa Fe Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera, mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley has appeared in leading roles with opera companies throughout the country, and has been featured as a soloist with orchestras led by George Manahan, Raymond Leppard, Oliver Knussen, Robert Shaw and Pierre Boulez. She performs in Chicago with Mostly Music, CUBE, the Contemporary Chamber Players, the Orion Ensemble, Pinotage, Ensemble Noamnesia, Fulcrum point, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Opera Theater, Concertante di Chicago, Music of the Baroque, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the MusicNOW series at Symphony Center with conductor Cliff Colnut. Catherine Brubaker, viola.A member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1989, violist Catherine Brubaker is a graduate of the Julliard School, where she was a student of William Lincer. Other teachers include Karen Tuttle and Masao Kawasaki. Catherine is a former member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Symphony Orchestra. She has served on the music faculty at Northwestern University teaching orchestral repertoire for viola. An avid performer of chamber music, she appears annually on the CSO Chamber Music Series and has been a guest artist on radio broadcasts over WFMT, including the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series. Other recent appearances include performances with the North Park University Chamber Players, the Lake Winnipesaukee Chamber Music Festival , the Virgin Gorda Chamber Music Festival, and on Northwestern University’s Winter Festival of Chamber Music. Catherine is a founding member of the Sheridan Chamber Players, a mixed chamber ensemble based in Evanston. While a member of the Seattle and Dallas orchestras, she was a founding member of 2 string quartets, the Senora String Quartet and the Tesoro String Quartet. Raised in a musical family, Catherine has siblings in the symphony orchestras of Houston and Tucson. Both her parents were active music educators in Arizona, where she was raised. A resident of Evanston for over ten years, Catherine and her husband have two young children. When not involved in her musical endeavors, Catherine enjoys gardening and participating in her children’s activities. Wagner Campos, clarinet. Born in Heredia, Costa Rica, Wagner Campos graduated from Baylor and DePaul Universities. His main teachers were Dr. Richard Shanley, Larry Combs, and John Yeh. Mr. Campos currently serves as Clarinet Instructor at DePaul University. His love for teaching has brought him to the faculties of the Costa Rican Youth Symphony, Merit Music Program, Lake Forest Academy, and the Sherwood Conservatory. He has given masterclasses in Bogota, Colombia; San Jose, Costa Rica; and in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He coaches the woodwinds for the Protége Philharmonic and the Classical Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his dedication to teaching, he is also a very active freelancer performing with groups such as the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, AWRMusic, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Ensemble, Chicago Chamber Musicians, CSO Music Now, and the Fulcrum Point Project. Some of his recent projects include a CD Recording, Romantic Songs for Clarinet and Piano, under the Southport Label, a commissioned work for clarinet and piano, Senderos que se bifurcan by Chuck Mason, and a published set of songs for clarinet and piano by Claude Debussy. In addition to his own recordings, he has recorded CD's with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St. Charles Chamber Singers, and numerous jingles for TV and Radio commercials. As a guest artist outside Chicago, Wagner has participated in concerts with the Symphonies of Milwaukee, Alabama, and Charleston. He has toured with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, and the Gallician Symphony Orchestra. In 1998, he was invited to join the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra for a full season as Principal Clarinetist. Oto Carillo, horn. A native of Guatemala, Mr. Carillo received his Bachelor degree from DePaul University and his Master degree from Northwestern University. He was a member of the Civic Orchestra and has performed with numerous local orchestras, including the Chicago Sinfonietta, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Philharmonic, and the Lyric Opera Orchestra. He has also played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitana Orchestra of Lisbon, Portugal, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. In 2000 he was appointed to the Chicago Symphony and is currently on the faculty of DePaul University. He also appears on the Delos and Koss labels with the Millar Brass Ensemble. His wife Sarah is a free-lance trumpet player, and they have two children, Lucas and Isabelle. Jelena Dirks, oboe.A California native, Jelena Dirks is the 3rd generation of professional woman musicians in her family. She began studying violin and piano by the age of four and later expanded her studies to the oboe. She holds two Bachelor degrees from St. Olaf College, and two Master Degrees from the University of Michigan in both oboe and piano performance. In 1999 Ms Dirks moved to Chicago and began study with oboist Alex Klein. She played in the oboe section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as permanent substitute during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons, where she continued to share the stage with her mother, CSO violist Karen Dirks. Ms. Dirks is the newest member of the Prairie Winds Quintet, a group that, in addition to performing widely, also gives numerous master classes, lectures and coaching sessions. She is two-time winner of the Musical Merit Foundation Scholarship Competition. She is an accomplished pianist as well as oboist and has given recitals, chamber music concerts, and performed with orchestras across the United States, as well as in China, Canada and the Caribbean. Karen Dirks, viola. A San Diego native, Karen Dirks was appointed in 1997 by Daniel Barenboim to the viola section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She is also a regular performer on he CSO Chamber Music series, often appearing with her daughter, the pianist and oboist Jelena Dirks. Prior to joining the CSO, Karen simultaneously held the positions of Concertmaster of the San Diego Opera Orchestra, Principal Viola of the San Diego Symphony, and Principal Viola of the New Hampshire Festival Orchestra. A founding member of the Silvergate Chamber Ensemble and the Artist Chamber Ensemble, she has also performed in SummerFest (La Jolla, CA), the Sun River Music Festival (OR), Mainly Mozart Festival (CA), Marrowstone Music Festival (WA) and at the Phillips Gallery (Washington, DC). Karen has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony, the New Hampshire Music Festival and the Music of the Baroque Orchestra.   Steven Honigberg, cello. Heralded as a "sterling cellist" by the Washington Post, Steven Honigberg has emerged as one of the outstanding cellists of his generation. Mr. Honigberg gave his New York debut recital in Weill Hall and has since performed to critical acclaim throughout the United States in recital, in chamber music and as a soloist with orchestra. A member of the National Symphony Orchestra, he has been featured numerous times as soloist with that ensemble. He won rave reviews for the 1988 world premiere of David Ott's Concerto for Two Cellos performed with the National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Maestro Rostropovich, with repeat performances on the NSO's 1989 & 1994 United States tours. Mr. Honigberg is acclaimed for his explorations of important new works, such as Lukas Foss' Anne Frank (1999), Benjamin Lees Night Spectres (1999), Robert Stern's Hazkaraha (1998), Robert Starer's Song of Solitude (1995) & David Diamond's Concert Piece (1993), written for and premiered by Steven Honigberg. Mr. Honigberg graduated from the Juilliard School of Music with a Master's degree in Music, where he studied with Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins. Other mentors include Pierre Fournier and Karl Fruh. Voted 'Best New Chamber Music Series' of 1994 by the Washington Post, Steven Honigberg was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's chamber music series director from 1994-2002. Mr. Honigberg is a member of the Washington DC based Potomac String Quartet, which has released Volumes One, Two & Three -- the complete string quartets of David Diamond. Mr. Honigberg also has recorded Ernst Toch's cello compositions; Ludwig van Beethoven's complete works for cello & piano; an album of twentieth-century American cello works; the chamber music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold; and recordings of music performed at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum -- four volumes of Darkness & Light. Recent Chicago area appearances include a performance of Robert Schumann's Cello Concerto with Ars Viva and performances of Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto with the New Philharmonic. Mr. Honigberg has also appeared in concert at the 1998 Ravinia Festival. In August of 2003, Mr. Honigberg performed the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, where he has performed as principal cellist since 1990. Steven Honigberg performs on the 'Stuart' Stradivarius cello made in 1732. . Lei Hou, violin. A native of Dalian, China, Ms. Hou earned her degrees in violin at the Peabody Conservatory. She joined the Chicago Symphony in 1997; prior to her engagement she was accepted by the Cleveland Orchestra and she also played for six years in the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C. She has served on the faculties of the University of Maryland and American University's preparatory department. In addition, she is active both as a chamber musician and soloist, having appeared regularly at the Marlboro Festival, as well as in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and Luxembourg. She is also a member of the Manchester String Quartet and a founding member of the Aurora Trio.   Mark Lekas, cello, was a full scholarship student at the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Paul Katz of the Cleveland String Quartet. Other teachers include Zara Nelsova, Steven Kates, Michael Haber and Leonard Chausow. Mr. Lekas was a member of the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony, the New American Chamber Orchestra, the New World Symphony and the Salem String Quartet. He currently enjoys an active musical life in Chicago as Principal Cello with the Indiana Symphony, as well as the Chicago Synfonietta, the Illinois Philharmonic, the Lake Forest Symphony and the Woodstock Mozart Festival. In addition he is a regular substitute cellist for the Chicago and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras. Mark frequently performs chamber music with the North Park Chamber Players, the Brass String Chamber Ensemble, the Pilgrim Chamber Players and the Lekas Trio. He has performed many times on WFMT's Live from Studio One series and is an active studio recording artist. He is on the faculty of North Park University. Mark is also a member of the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and can be heard on their latest Warner Brothers CD, Conversations in Silence. Mark and his wife, a violinist, regularly concertize together as chamber musicians.   Michele Lekas, violin, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Quebec Conservatory of Music in her native Canada, and later studied in the United States with Jaime Laredo, David Cerone and Sally Thomas. She has performed with Canadian ensembles, Orchestre Symphonique de Quebe and Les Violons du Roy and in Switzerland with teh Camerata Lysy Gstaad. She also performed with the New American Chamber Orchestra on a year long tour of Europe. Michele is currently concertmaster of the Northwest Indiana Symphony, the Rockford Symphony, the New Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Woodstock Mozart Festival Orchestra, and is a substitute musician with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.   Desiree Ruhstrat, violin, made her professional debut at the age of twelve with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. She was also the youngest prizewinner at Switzerland's Tibor Varga International Competition. Numerous engagements have included appearances with the Denver Symphony, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Aguascalientes in Mexico. She has also toured extensively in Germany where she toured with the Philharmonia De Camera Chamber Orchestra; while there she was featured in a live radio broadcast in Berlin performing the Sibelious Violin Concerto. An active recitalist, she has toured widely throughout the U.S. and Europe. Her distinguished career as a chamber musician includes appearances with the Chamber Music Series of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Apollo Chamber Ensemble, the Peninsula Music Festival and the Utah Music Festivals where she also served on its faculty. Ms. Ruhstrat is a graduate of the Curtis Institue of Music and her teachers included Joseph Gingold, Dorothy Delay, Harold Wippler and Aaron Rosand Rong-Yan Tong, violin. Rong-Yan Tang has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first violin section for the past 3 years. Prior to joining the CSO, she held several titled positions, most recently as the Associate Concertmaster of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. After studying violin at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for ten years, Ms. Tang came to the United States to study on full scholarship with the renowned teachers Camilla Wicks and Donald Weilerstein. As a soloist she has appeared in China, Hong Kong and France and has performed with several orchestras in the United States. Among her many competition awards are the Millennium Grand Prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, first prize in the Yellow Springs National Chamber Music Competition and the solo Bach Prize at the Corpus Christi International Violin Competition. She was first violinist of the Fry Street Quartet, and appeared on the Carnegie Hall Rising Stars Series, the New School Schneider Concert Series and at the 92nd Street “Y”. As a protégé of Isaac Stern, Ms. Tang was afforded the use of a violin from his private collection and performed at Mr. Stern’s invitation at the Carnegie/Weill Hall President’s Circle. Susan Warner, clarinet. Ms. Warner is a graduate of the University of Iowa and the Eastman School of Music. Her teachers have included Maurita Murphy Head and Peter Hadcock. She is presently a member of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra and the Prairie Winds quintet, and she is also a member of the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music faculty. She has also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. She was formerly with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Rochester Philharmonic. In conjunction with the Community Relations Department of the CSO, she has designed a series of arts-integrated workshops for inner-city school children. While at Eastman, she was a founding member of the first New Horizons Band, a nationwide award-winning program for senior citizen beginning instrumentalists. In 2003, the Prairie Winds began an annual residency at the Madeline Island Music Festival in Wisconsin, which offers a chamber music program for collegiate wind players. Susan, her husband David Griffen and son Henry make their home in Oak Park, IL.