Dr. Lisa Burrell received her doctorate in violin performance from the University of Houston in 2002. She is currently on the faculty of Sam Houston State University and has an active private studio in Houston. Her students have participated regularly in all-city, regional and all-state orchestras.

Formerly a faculty member of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, she is a current and founding member of the Key West Symphony and the Burrell-Blondel Duo.

Lisa's former teachers include Mark Rush, Mathias Tacke, Shmuel Ashkenasi and Lawrence Wheeler.

Amy Iwazumi performs actively as a soloist and chamber musician in the U.S. and abroad. Based in New York City, she has given recitals and concerts in and around Lincoln Center.

Amy has performed with orchestras and ensembles such as the Little Orchestra Society at Avery Fisher Hall, National Symphony of Santo Domingo, International Sejong Soloists, Yonkers Philharmonic, and Young Artists' Orchestra of the Aspen Music Festival. She has performed at several music festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Festival Ljubljana in Slovenia, Casals Festival, Great Mountains Music Festival, Holland Music Sessions, Manchester International Cello Festival, Salzburg Sommerakademie, and the Taipei International Arts Festival.

She also performs with her Brother as the Ray and Amy Violin Duo, receiving the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant which led to several broadcasts of their performances on WQXR.

Amy entered the Juilliard Pre-College Division at the age of eight as a scholarship student of the late Dorothy DeLay and continued her studies at The Juilliard School as a student of Hyo Kang, receiving her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Music.

Recently, she has been awarded a grant from the Asian Cultural Council to study traditional Japanese music and art in Japan.

©2007 Edwin A. Davis

Sophie Till holds an advanced music degree from the Royal College of Music in London and a master of music degree from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) where she studied under Charles Treger. She is persuing a PhD on the Beethoven Violin Sonatas at The University of Leeds (UK).

An active free-lance violinist throughout Europe and Eastern United States, she formerly taught at both Eton College and the Royal College of Music, Junior Department. She was recently named the recipient of the F. Lammot Belin Arts Award and is currently recording the complete Beethoven violin and piano sonatas.  She serves on the music faculty of Marywood University, where she is the director of the string division, and is an Artist in Residence at Wyoming Seminary. 

At PAI, Sophie taught violin lessons, coached chamber music, presented masterclasses and performed with the resident string quartet.

©2007 Edwin A. Davis

Dr. Stephen Schmidt is a violist with the Richmond Symphony and is a member of the Richmond Chamber Players. He grew up in Havertown, Pa. and at the age of 14 started commuting to New York City to attend The Juilliard School’s pre-college program. He went on to earn pre-college, bachelor and master of music degrees from The Juilliard School and a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University.

Stephen's teachers have included Roberto Diaz, Paul Neubauer, Eugene Becker, Joseph DePasquale and Paul Doktor. He has participated in many music festivals, including Tanglewood, Spoleto (Italy), Bowdoin Chamber Music Festival, Kinhaven, and the National Repertory Orchestra.

Stephen currently teaches viola and violin at Virginia Commonwealth University and is the director of their Mary Anne Rennolds Chamber Concerts Series.

©2007 Edwin A. Davis

Christiane Appenheimer Vaida completed her musical studies at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Frankfurt, Germany, under the tutelage of Professor Susanne Mueller-Hornbach and has undertaken additional studies with Gerhard Mantel, Siegfried Palm, Hubert Buchberger, Ulrich Voss and Menachem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio).

Before moving to Northeastern Pennsylvania, she taught at Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, and headed the string department for the Buseck Music School while performing regularly both as soloist and chamber musician throughout Germany.

Currently a member of Marywood University’s string faculty, Christiane also serves as an artist-in-residence at Wyoming Seminary. In addition, she is an active free-lance performer with various chamber ensembles and orchestras throughout the region.

©2007 Edwin A. Davis

Perry Orfanella graduated from the Hartt School of Music, where he was a double bass student of Gary Karr and went on to receive his Masters of Music at the University of South Florida. He currently is Director of Orchestras at the Osceola County School for the Arts in Kissimmee Florida, a free-lance bass player and studio musician.

Bringing fourteen years of experience with him from the Encore Music Camp of Pennsylvania, he has served as the director of jazz activities, Jazz Band conductor, jazz combos coach and string bass teacher.