Stephen Balderston joined the DePaul University School of Music faculty as professor of cello in 2003 after ten years as assistant principal cello with the Chicago Symphony Orchesra.  He has performed solo works and chamber music with such artists as Daniel Barenboim, Lynn Harrell, Yo-Yo Ma, Menahem Pressler, and Pinchas Zukerman, and has debuted as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Bobby McFerrin.  He has been featured at the Ravinia Festival, Bargemusic in New York City, the Affinis Music Festival in Japan, the OK Mozart International Festival in Oklahoma, and the International Music Festival in Shanghai, and has also served as principal cello at the Grand Teton Music Festival.  Balderston’s summers have been spent working with students at a variety of venues.  He was the cello coach for Daniel Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Workshop in 1999, 2001 and 2003.  Most recently he has taught and performed at the International Festival-Institute at Round Top, the Marrowstone Music Festival, and Northwestern University’s National High School Music Institute. 

top

Principal horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since February 1966, Dale Clevenger is a versatile musician in many areas, including chamber music, jazz, commercial recordings, and solos. His mentors were Arnold Jacobs and Adolph Herseth.

Before joining the CSO, Clevenger was a member of Leopold Stokowski’s American Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony of the Air directed by Alfred Wallenstein; he also was principal horn of the Kansas City Philharmonic. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras worldwide, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim conducting. He has participated in many music festivals including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; the Florida Music Festival in Sarasota; the Marrowstone Music Festival in Bellingham, Washington; and the Affinis Music Festival in Japan.  He also participates in the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival. In addition, he has worked with the European Community Youth Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, conducting and teaching, and has participated in several International Horn Society Workshops, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Dale Clevenger is the featured soloist on many recordings. Among these are his recordings of works by Martin, Schumann, Britten, and Mozart with the CSO. He has recorded the horn concertos by Joseph Haydn and Michael Haydn with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Budapest, as well as all of Mozart’s horn concertos. Clevenger has also recorded many chamber works with Daniel Barenboim and colleagues from the CSO and the Berlin Philharmonic. John Williams composed a horn concerto for Clevenger, which he premiered in November 2004.

Clevenger currently teaches at Roosevelt University, where he is a professor of horn.  He is also a conductor, having served as music director of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra for fourteen years. His conducting career has included guest appearances with man orchestra, both here and abroad.

top

top

Paul Phillips joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1980 after previous tenures with the Indianapolis Symphony and the Detroit Symphony. He began his studies in his hometown of Canton, Ohio with William Taylor, father of Chicago Symphony's assistant concertmaster David Taylor. He attended the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with William Kroll of the Kroll Quartet, Endre Granat of the Cleveland Orchestra and Donald Weilerstein.

In Chicago he has been a member of Music of the Baroque, and the Chicago Symphony String Quartet. He has done many Concerts in the Home with Donald Peck, former principal flute of the Chicago Symphony and has played with Chicago Pro Musica.

His early training at a fine French restaurant, while supplementing his income in Indianapolis, has led to a great appreciation of fine dining and travels to some of the great restaurants in the world.

Paul plays a Joseph Gagliano violin dated 1760.

top

Robert Swan was appointed to the viola section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Sir Georg Solti in 1972.

A native of Connecticut, Robert studied viola with David Dawson at Indiana University, where he earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well as a performer’s certificate. While at Indiana, he studied chamber music with William Primrose, Josef Gingold, György Sebök, and Menahem Pressler.

Principal viola of Chicago’s Music of the Baroque and a founding member of the Evanston Chamber Ensemble, Robert Swan also has appeared as guest artist with the Fine Arts Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and the Rembrandt Chamber Players. From 1972 until 1980, he was professor of viola at Northwestern University, and he also served as violist of the Eckstein String Quartet.

He recently retired from the CSO and spends most of his time in Michigan enjoying a traffic-free life.

top