Shana Bey, Concertmaster
Shana Bey has been playing the violin since the age of 6. A native of Houston, Texas, she attended some of the premiere performing arts schools, including the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. After graduating from high school, Bey continued to Loyola University in New Orleans, where she studied with Valerie Poullette and received a Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance. While at Loyola, Shana won the School of Music's Concerto Competition and soloed with the Loyola University Symphony Orchestra. She was also the Concertmaster of the Loyola Symphony and Chamber Orchestras her junior and senior years. In 2009 Bey received a Master’s degree in Violin Performance at the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with Eugene Gratovich. Over the course of her career, she has performed in several master classes given by world-renowned musicians including Brian Lewis, Robert McDuffie, Roland and Almita Vamos, Donald Weilerstein and the Miro Quartet. She has also been fortunate to perform with numerous major symphonies and ensembles including the Houston Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Corpus Christi Symphony, Austin Pops Orchestra and the Hollywood Concert Orchestra. In 2008 Bey auditioned for Round Rock Symphony and was appointed the Symphony’s first Concertmaster. While maintaining her position with RRSO, Bey also teaches privately in Houston and holds a position with the Austin Symphony, which she won in 2010.
Alexis Buffum, Principal Violin II
Alexis Buffum moved to Austin in 2004 to pursue a Master of Music in Violin Performance at the University of Texas at Austin. She previously attended Florida State University for her Bachelor of Arts in Music. She has studied under Karen Clarke, Eliot Chapo, Sandy Yamamoto, John Largess and Vincent Frittelli. In addition to Round Rock Symphony, she has performed with Austin Lyric Opera, Ballet Austin, Austin Chamber Music Society, Austin Pops and Viola by Choice. She has performed with Willie Nelson, Bobby McFerrin, Alan Silvestri, Doc Severinson, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Okkervil River. Alexis spends much of her time performing in alternative styles and was first runner-up in the 2006 national Alternative Styles Competition put on by the American Strings Teachers Association. She performs Irish fiddle with the Sarah Dinan Band all over Texas, contemporary film and art music with the Golden Hornet Project, South American/Mexican tunes with Los Romanceros, and worship music with the Josh Tullis band at her church. Alexis is an avid studio musician, recording for music albums and films around Austin. Recently, Alexis--performing Graham Reynolds' works--was soloist for his contemporary concerto which was broadcast on KLRU, performed on his Duke Ellington album which was broadcast on NPR, and also recorded the lead violin part for the Richard Linklater film “Bernie.” Summer festival experiences include the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles in 2005, the Christian Howes Creative Strings Workshop in Ohio in 2006, and the Viano do Costelo International Music Festival in Portugal in 2007. In addition to performing, Alexis teaches twenty-five students at her home teaching studio and at Blackerby Violin Shop. She has trained under Dr. Laurie Scott at the University of Texas at Austin as well as with Suzuki pedagogues Mark Mutter, Doris Preucil, Liz Arbus and Caroline Frazier.
Alexis Buffum
Nicholas Jeffery, Principal Viola
Nicholas Jeffery, viola, holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying with Catharine Carrol and Masao Kawasaki. In 2010, he completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Sally Chisholm. While in Madison, he received regular coachings with members of the acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet. He has participated in many summer festivals, including Interlochen, the Encore School for Strings, and the Lucca Opera Theater and Music Festival in Lucca, Italy. He has also spent many summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School, as a fellowship student with the American Academy of Conducting, and as the solo violist for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. While there he played in coachings and masterclasses for many teachers including Anthony Elliott, Paul Kantor, and Victoria Chiang. Nicholas has stayed active as a performer with orchestra and chamber groups throughout his career. He was a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra for three years and has been a guest with the HeartStrings Ensemble and the Oakwood Chamber Players. He was a founding member of the Ippolito String Quartet, which had a strong focus on outreach, bringing classical music to new audiences with a year-long series of concerts at the Cincinnati Public Library. As a member of the Hunt String Quartet, Nicholas performed and taught lessons at many elementary school classrooms in the Madison area in addition to more traditional recital venues. He is currently living in Austin, Texas.
Julia Cory, Principal Violoncello
A dynamic performing artist and educator, Julia Cory graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Cello Performance. While studying with Bion Tsang, she served as faculty for the UT String Project and quickly established herself as a versatile musician, performing with orchestras, bands, chamber groups and as a solo cellist. A native of Montana, she moved to Bloomington, Indiana in 2000, completing her Bachelor's and Master's degrees primarily under the tutelage of cellists Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Emilio Colón at Indiana University. She has called Austin home since 2007. Julia holds positions with the Temple, Waco, and Round Rock Symphonies. An enthusiastic chamber musician, she organizes recitals with an international roster of musicians in Texas and around the country and performs with groups such as the Bloomington Chamber Singers and Viola By Choice. Since moving to Austin, Julia has recorded with local artists in projects ranging from newly commissioned musicals and oratorios to rock bands, involving her in the performance of works spanning the musical spectrum. Dr. Cory is the founder and Artistic Director of the Austin Cello Choir, a group dedicated to performing a unique set of repertoire, exploring the versatility of the cello, and community involvement. She serves as adjunct faculty at Temple College and Concordia College and maintains a large private studio in her Austin home. Her dedication to music education is evident through her students' consistent placement in state and regional ensembles, festivals and universities and their involvement with community ensembles.
Julia Cory
Andrew Potter, Principal Contrabass
Adrienne Inglis, Principal Flute
Adrienne Inglis received a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from Lewis and Clark College and a Master of Music in Flute Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. She performs, records and tours with Latin American folk music trio Chaski. She also performs with Celtic Chaski and plays principal flute with Round Rock Symphony Orchestra and Texas Choral Consort. She teaches flute at Southwestern University, St. Stephen's Episcopal School and the Austin School of Music. She has freelanced as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player in the Austin area for many years. She recorded on the film soundtracks of SpyKids 2, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Ride Around the World: A Cowboy Adventure, and The Children's War, playing up to twelve different flutes. She composes music for Chaski as well as sacred choral music. “She's an extremely talented performer capable of playing a truckload of different woodwind instruments from around the world. She owns the sometimes hard-to-find alto flute and also owns an incredibly rare bass flute and plays both with such impassioned expression. I could hear her play the bass flute for hours.” -- Brian Satterwhite, film composer, February 2008
Adrienne Inglis
Amy Burgus, Principal Oboe
Sarunas Jankauskas, Principal Clarinet
A native of Lithuania, clarinetist Sarunas Jankauskas started his musical education at the age of 9 and studied at the Lithuanian Academy of Music before coming to the United States in 2003. He received his degrees at Grand Valley State University, the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University and the Butler School of Music of The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Jankauskas is a winner of numerous solo competitions including the Entergy Young Texas Artists Competition (Winds & Brass division), Grand Valley State University, Round Top Festival Institute and Butler School of Music Concerto Competitions. As a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, he has collaborated with River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Brazos Valley Symphony, Round Rock Symphony and Jasper Quartet. He has been a participant in the Texas Music Festival, Round Top Festival Institute, Sarasota Music Festival and the New Music Workshop of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. His major teachers include Algirdas Budrys, Arthur Campbell, Michael Webster and Richard MacDowell. Dr. Jankauskas serves as the Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Texas Lutheran University and teaches privately in the greater Austin area.
Sarunas Jankauskas
Julia Windle
Julia Windle, Principal Bassoon
Julia Windle, a native of Kingsport, Tennessee, holds a bachelor's degree in Music Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a graduate of the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy and has participated in the Colorado College Music Festival, Brevard Music Center, Interlochen Arts Camp and Las Vegas Music Festival. Julia has performed with Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, Temple Symphony Orchestra and Orquesta Sinfónica de la UANL (Monterrey Symphony Orchestra) in Monterrey, Mexico. Former teachers include Kristin Wolfe Jensen, Barrick Stees, and Keith McClelland. She teaches private music lessons and is a freelance bassoonist in the Austin area. Julia currently performs with Round Rock Symphony Orchestra and Waterloo Sound Conspiracy.
Anne-Marie Cherry, Principal Horn
Anne-Marie Cherry is principal horn of the Round Rock Symphony and has performed with the San Antonio and Austin Symphonies in addition to the Dallas Wind Symphony, Victoria Bach Festival and the Austin City Brass Ensemble. She has performed as a soloist with both the New Music Ensemble and Jazz Orchestra at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin. Ms. Cherry is also a founding member of Panoramic Brass and the Vox Nova Project. A strong advocate of performer/composer collaboration, Anne-Marie has worked with several composers, commissioning new works for the horn in diverse contexts such as jazz orchestra, horn and string quartet, and horn with percussion. She has collaborated with composers such as Zach Stanton, Dennis Llinas, Brett Kroening and Gabriel Santiago. She was the dedicatee of the ASCAP winning performance of Santiago's “Northern Impressions Suite” which she recorded in the fall of 2009 with the University of Texas Jazz Orchestra. Anne-Marie can be heard on several recordings of the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, including the ground-breaking recording of John Corigliano's Circus Maximus and a soon-to-be-released recording on the Naxos label. Ms. Cherry holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Horn Performance from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with Patrick Hughes.
Josh Davies
Josh Davies, Principal Trumpet
Josh Davies holds Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from University of Texas at Austin as well as a Bachelor of Music degree from University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Shortly after completing his doctorate, he won the position of co-principal trumpet in the Orquesta Sinfónica de la UANL (Monterrey Symphony Orchestra) in Monterrey, Mexico for the 2009-2010 season. Josh has been principal trumpet in the Round Rock Symphony Orchestra for four seasons and regularly performs with the Brazos Valley, Victoria, Temple, Abilene and Austin Symphony Orchestras. In early 2009 Josh joined Concordia University-Texas as an adjunct professor of trumpet and jazz. His duties have included teaching private brass lessons and music theory and conducting the Jazz Ensemble. In 2011 Josh also joined Texas State University as Lecturer in Trumpet. Along with his duties at Concordia University-Texas, Josh is on the faculty of the Concordia Music Academy and Austin Chamber Music Center and is a board member of Austin Chamber Ensemble and Round Rock Symphony. Josh is the Executive and Artistic Director for the Austin Brass Project, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to brass performance and education on brass music in Texas. His latest project is the new Austin-based 501(c)3 charity Horns in the Attic, which he co-founded with musician Rich Haering. Horns in the Attic is dedicated to helping underprivileged children obtain quality musical instruments at no cost so they can share in the joy of music. A two-time Grammy-nominated artist, Josh can be heard on over 20 CDs with various labels in jazz, classical, alternative, rock, Latin, Tejano and funk styles.
Eileen Meyer Russell, Principal Trombone
Eileen Meyer Russell is an Associate Professor of Music at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Russell has a Doctor of Music degree and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where she studied trombone with M. Dee Stewart. She received a Master of Music degree from the University of Northern Iowa, where she studied trombone with Jon Hansen. She has performed as a soloist throughout the United States, most recently collaborating in recitals with harpist Delaine Fedson and pianist Kiyoshi Tamagawa. She has performed in orchestras in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Texas. Russell has published articles about brass pedagogy and on the use of technology in music education in journals such as The Horn Call, Instrumentalist, International Trombone Association Journal and International Tuba Euphonium Association Journal. Russell has presented clinics and masterclasses around the country, including at Texas Music Educators Association conferences and Midwest International Band and Orchestra Conferences. Russell previously taught at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee; Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan; Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas; and Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana.
Eileen Meyer Russell
David Hummel
David Hummel, Principal Tuba
David Hummel was not born in Texas, but got here as fast as he could and is relatively new to the Austin area! After finishing his undergraduate degrees in Music Performance and Education from Texas Tech University in 2009 he completed his Master's degree in Bloomington, Indiana at Indiana University, studying tuba performance. He has since been teaching low brass privately in the Round Rock, Leander, Georgetown and Austin Independent School Districts as well as teaching marching band and playing in the Starlight Symphony Orchestra. This will be his first season playing with Round Rock Symphony Orchestra. During his time at Texas Tech, he was the principal tubist with the Amarillo Symphony for two years as well as a substitute with the Big Spring Symphony Orchestra. He has competed in several regional and international competitions, most recently being in the semi-final round of the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference's Tuba-Euphonium Quartet Competition and the final round of the Mock Band Audition. He has been lucky enough to study with such notable teachers as Dan Perantoni, Kevin Wass, Fritz Kaenzig and Bob Tucci.
John Godoy, Principal Timpani
John Godoy received a Bachelor's Degree from the Boston Conservatory of Music and a Master's Degree from the Juilliard School. He was a full scholarship student in the Professional Studies Program at Mannes College. He has been a fellowship student at the Aspen Music School, Solo Percussionist for the Round Top Chamber Festival and has received the Tcherepnin Society Award, and the Saul Goodman Scholarship. He has performed with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut Grand Opera, San Antonio Symphony, and was Solo Percussionist for the Lincoln Center Institute. As Principal Timpanist for the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra he has recorded Lalo Schifrin's world premiere of Cantos Aztecas with Placido Domingo, music of Liadov and Rachmaninoff, and Carmine Coppola's soundtrack for the movie Blood Red. He has also recorded music of Jorge Cordoba (Musica Contemporanea IV) and has made two recordings with the Air Force Band of the West. He has published vibraphone arrangements of Chopin's Prelude in E Minor (Southern Music Company) and Debussy's Footprints in the Snow. Mr. Godoy has performed as percussionist for the Broadway Majestic Series (Ragtime and Crazy for You). In October of 2007 he was appointed Principal Timpanist for the Corpus Christi Symphony by Maestro John Giordano and in 2011 became Principal Timpanist for Round Rock Symphony.
John Godoy
Adam Groh
Adam Groh, Principal Percussion
Adam Groh is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a Master's degree in Percussion Performances from Florida State University, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Music from Truman State University. Adam currently serves as Principal Percussionist with the Round Rock Symphony Orchestra and performs regularly with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared with the Tallahassee, Northwest Florida and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestras and has been an orchestra fellow at the Texas and Chautauqua Music Festivals. His primary teachers include Dr. Thomas Burritt, Dr. John W. Parks IV, Dr. Michael Bump, and Will James of the St. Louis Symphony. Also active as a chamber musician, Adam was a featured performer with the Denkyem Percussion Group in the “Promising Artists of the 21st Century” festival hosted by the North American Cultural Center in Costa Rica in the spring of 2010. He is a strong advocate for new music, having commissioned and premiered works from notable composers such as Ian Dicke, Brian Nozny, John Serry, Martin Bresnick, and Halim El-Dabh. Adam's articles have been published in Percussive Notes, and his playing can be heard on recordings of the Florida State and Truman State Percussion Ensembles and the Florida State University Symphony Orchestra.
Natalie Teodori, Principal Harp
Natalie Teodori has served as principal harpist for the Round Rock Symphony Orchestra for four seasons. Natalie began her musical journey at the piano at the age of 7, but at 13 she discovered the harp and has not looked back. A recent graduate from the University of Texas Butler School of Music, Natalie earned a Bachelor's degree in Harp Performance and studied under Delaine Fedson. While she will always have a soft spot for the lush romanticism of late 19th century harp repertoire, Natalie loves to explore the more surprising and unfamiliar sounds of the wide world of contemporary classical music and enjoys any chance to work with composers willing to try their hand at writing for the harp. Natalie enjoys freelancing for orchestras, choirs, weddings and special events throughout the Austin area.
Natalie Teodori
