Musicians from the Mid-Valley and beyond

 This festival, founded in 2001, is built around performers who grew up in Willamette Valley and are now pursuing concert careers in classical music.

There are at least 26 such artists living in the US and Europe, playing in symphonies, operas, chamber orchestras, and touring ensembles, and auditioning for new opportunities.

2024 Performers

Noah Seitz, Artistic Director and cello

Noah Seitz, a Corvallis native, completed his Bachelors Degree in Cello Performance at the UMKC Conservatory of Music in 2001. He then returned to Oregon as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Eugene Symphony and the Oregon Mozart Players, and regularly performs with the OSU Symphony, Camerata Musica Chamber Music Series in Salem, Chintimini Chamber Music Festival, and various Oregon ensembles. Noah is adjunct professor of cello and chamber music at Pacific University. He has performed as featured soloist with Willamette Valley Symphony, Salem Philharmonia, Pacific University Philharmonic and the U of O Symphony. Beyond music, Noah holds a Private Pilot license, and loves anything to do with aviation.

Tyler Abbott, bass

Tyler Abbott maintains an active performance schedule as an orchestral bassist, chamber musician, jazz bassist, clinician, and soloist, performing throughout the region and nation in both the classical and jazz music worlds. He has performed with, or is a member of, the Eugene Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival, Orchestra Next, Spokane Symphony, Astoria Music Festival, Oregon Ballet Theater, Oregon Mozart Players, Eugene Opera and others. As a jazz bassist, he has performed with Branford Marsalis, Ron Miles, Steve Wilson, Danilo Perez, Ken Peplowski, Ted Rosenthal, Ben Monder, Dick Hyman, Chuck Redd, Mark Ferber, Howard Levy, and others. Tyler frequently presents master classes regionally, nationally and internationally and has presented at International Society of Bassists Conventions. He can be heard on recordings on Bridge, Innova, Origin, OA2, and Ninjazz record labels. Tyler currently teaches double bass, jazz bass, and music theory at University of Oregon.

Issac Beu, clarinet

Isaac Beu is a clarinetist and educator currently based in Portland, Oregon. He currently holds the position of 2nd and Eb Clarinet with the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, where he has also performed as Principal and Bass Clarinet. Isaac has also been a guest musician with the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Oregon Music Festival, and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is also an avid chamber musician, having performed with esteemed artists such as Andres Diaz and Carol Leone, and has also been a member of the Leonard Sorkin Institute of Chamber Music and the Linfield University Collaborative Ensemble. Isaac considers teaching to be one of his great passions in life, and he serves as Adjunct Professor of Clarinet at Linfield University and Artist Associate of Clarinet at Willamette University. A native of Austin, Texas, Isaac began his clarinet studies with Dr. Vanguel Tangarov, Dr. Nicholas Councilor, and Alan Olson. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Music at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, where he studied with Paul Garner, and his Graduate Certificate in Chamber Music Performance at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts, where he studied with Todd Levy. Additionally, he has participated in festivals such as the Orchestra Academy of the Americas, Miami Classical Music Festival, and the Hot Springs Music Festival. Isaac is endorsed by Conn-Selmer and Silverstein Works, and plays exclusively on Selmer-Paris Recital and Privilege clarinets, and Silverstein ligatures. Outside of the classical music world, Isaac is a passionate SMU Mustang Football fan, a hobbyist weightlifter, and an avid concertgoer and world traveler with his partner, Chloe.

Alex Carlson, violin

Alex grew up in a musical household and began playing violin and piano at a young age. While studying classical music in college, he discovered jazz and the freedom of improvisation. After receiving his degree in violin performance he moved to NYC to work as a composer and studio musician for film and TV, all the while playing in jazz and rock bands. After his first son was born he moved back to Portland where he teaches music and plays in a few orchestras around town as well as various jazz and bluegrass groups.

Bryce Caster, violin and viola

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Andrew Duckles, viola

Canadian-born violist Andrew Duckles leads a diverse musical life as a recording artist, soloist, chamber musician and teacher. From a very tall family of musicians, Andrew is the “runt” of the Duckles family, standing at mere 6’4”. Formerly principal viola of the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet orchestras, Duckles now makes his home in Southern California and is the principal violist of the Long Beach Symphony. Duckles began his orchestral career with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has made appearances as principal viola of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, among others. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Duckles appears regularly as a guest artist on a number of chamber music series throughout the United States and Europe, frequently sharing the stage with the Alexander String Quartet and the Los Angeles-based Debussy Trio. For over fifteen years, Mr. Duckles has been in high demand as a recording artist for multitude of studio recording projects for television and motion picture soundtracks, including the recent Star Wars films. Andrew Duckles is married to Laura Strand, an instrumental music teacher in the Long Beach Unified school district. Together, they live in Long Beach, California with their two sons, Aidan and Kiefer.

Jason Duckles, cello

Cellist Jason Duckles is from Vancouver, Canada, leads an active life as a chamber musician, and is a founding member of the Amelia Piano Trio which has toured extensively in the United States and abroad. Also a member of the Humboldt Streichtrio, which Volker Jacobsen and Anthea Kreston (both formerly of the Artemis Quartet), he was invited to perform in the inaugural week of the famed Elbphilharmonie Hall Hamburg. As a chamber musician, Jason has been presented with an ASCAP award (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) for adventurous programming, and top prize in both the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the Munich ARD International Competition. Jason has performed as the solo cellist with the Mark Morris Dance group, and has toured with of YoYo Ma’s Silk Road Project in concerts from New York to Kazakhstan. He was a member of the Konzerthaus Orchestra in Berlin, Germany. Jason’s involvement in education has always been central part of his musical life - he has taught at several universities across the United States. He has had the honor of performing in concert with members of the Beaux Arts trio, and the Artemis, Cleveland, Orion, Emerson, and Guarneri String Quartets. Jason can be heard on the recording labels Sony, Naxos, Channel Classics, Traditional Crossroads, and Cedille Records.

Matt Fuller, violin

Originally from San Jose, California, violinist Matthew Fuller has been a member of the Eugene Symphony Orchestra since 2004 and became Principal Second Violin in 2007. Prior to moving to Oregon, Matthew earned a bachelor’s degree from Rice University, where he studied with Kathleen Winkler and Kenneth Goldsmith, and a master’s degree from Wichita State University, where he studied with John Harrison and was also a member of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. Since moving to Oregon, Matthew has continued to be an active chamber music and orchestral performer, and has performed with the Oregon Mozart Players, Eugene Opera, Eugene Ballet, Ballet Fantastique, Oregon Bach Festival, Oregon Festival of American Music, and Orchestra Next.

In 2011, Matthew embarked on a second career to pursue his interest in technology, and went on to complete a second bachelor’s degree in computer science. In his role as a software developer, Matthew has contributed software to support videoconferencing, health information systems, and cloud platform infrastructure. He currently works as a cloud software developer for Microsoft.

When he’s not performing or sitting in front of a computer, Matthew enjoys spending time with his family, exploring the Oregon coast, and snuggling with his cats, Croc and Gator.

Fritz Gearhart, violin

Violinist Fritz Gearhart has performed for audiences from coast to coast. He has appeared in major halls in the United States including Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y and the Kennedy Center as well as several concerts in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie. Internationally, Gearhart has performed in South Korea, Austria, Croatia, Spain and Germany. His recordings are heard frequently on National Public Radio, including live broadcasts on WFMT Chicago, WQXR in New York and KQAC in Portland Oregon. Gearhart has also been featured on NPR’s nationally syndicated program Performance Today. A sampling from the press: "...a sizzling performance..."(The Wall Street Journal), "...supple and imaginative..."(The New York Times), "...a superlative evening of musicmaking..."(New York Concert Review), and "Gearhart is a bold assertive player..."(Strad). Gearhart has recorded numerous compact discs for Albany, Koch Entertainment, Centaur Records and Bridge Records, as well as several live discs available on Spotify. Up until 2022, Gearhart spent much of his career teaching on the university level with positions at East Carolina University, Indiana University at South Bend, University of Oregon and University of Colorado Boulder. Recently he launched a music festival and nonprofit — the Redfish Music Festival on the southern Oregon coast.

Chris Kim, bass

A native of Colorado, but raised in El Paso, Texas, Chris received his Bachelor’s in Music from the University of North Texas (2010) and a Master’s in Music from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (2013). His prominent teachers include Jeff Bradetich and Bruce Bransby. He has spent three amazing summers in Aspen attending the Aspen Music Festival and School and in 2013 attended on a Mentor Fellowship. In 2015, he spent his summer in Breckenridge, CO attending the festival known as National Repertory Orchestra prior to joining the Oregon Symphony as an acting musician. Chris is also a finalist for the New World Symphony and has subbed with the orchestra in Miami, Florida. Chris works full time in Arts Administration with the Portland Opera but still keeps a busy schedule of freelance work with the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and many other local arts organizations in the Portland area. In his spare time, Chris loves to spend time outdoors hiking, camping, and capturing nature photography along with his new family and daughter. Chris plays on a 2011 Guy Cole double bass.

Anthea Kreston, violin

Currently first violinist of the Delgani Quartet, she was a member of a major European string quartet, Germany’s Artemis Quartet, the only American violinist to hold such a position. She travelled the world, performing on some of the most legendary stages a person could dream of, from Carnegie Hall to Wigmore - from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to Seoul. She was a Professor at the Universität der Kunste Berlin, where Clara Schumann and Schoenberg taught, a Master Teacher at the Queen Elizabeth Chapel in Brussels, and enjoys returning to teach at the Curtis Institute of Music, from where she graduated. 

Her recent release on Warner Classics received both the Echo Award (Europe's Grammy Award), and the Diaspason D’Or, France’s highest award from music critics.  She has hosted her own podcast from the Boulez Hall in the heart of Berlin and has played in the Berlin Philharmonic as well as concertmaster of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Her teachers include Ida Kavafian, Shmuel Ashkenasi, the Emerson Quartet and Isaac Stern. But most of all, she loves being with her family, growing tomatoes, and petting guinea pigs. 

John Livingston, piano

John Livingston has worked extensively as a collaborative pianist, getting his start at the age of 13. Since then he has had a continuous stream of collaborative experiences ranging from choirs, to musical theatre, to college instrumental lessons and recitals, and more. In 2009, Mr. Livingston partnered with a local community theatre company, Pentacle Theater, in their production of “My Fair Lady”. Hooked by this initial foray into musical theater, Mr. Livingston continued to work with Pentacle Theater on six of their following musical productions.

At the University of Missouri-Kansas City, John studied Piano Performance under Dr. Robert Weirich, earning his Bachelor’s of Music degree. John was subsequently accepted into the Master’s program at UMKC and was awarded one of the Opera Accompanying graduate assistantships. John has served as rehearsal pianist for Hänsel und Gretel, Poulenc’s La voix humaine, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, and Johan Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus. During his time at UMKC, John also did instrumental accompanying, playing for lessons and recitals for cellists, violinists, oboists, trombonists, and more.

John is a founding member and principal accompanist of Choral Spectrum, a LGBTQ and supporting choir which is the first of its kind in Kansas City. John completed his Master’s degree at UMKC having studied with the 2013 Van Cliburn third prize winner, Sean Chen. In recent years, John has developed a relationship with the Midwest Chamber Ensemble in Kansas City and the Kansas Lyric Opera. John serves as Adjunct Faculty at Avila University where he teaches Applied Piano, Music History, Music Theory, and serves a staff accompanist.

Rachelle McCabe, piano

Rachelle McCabe is Professor Emeritus of Music at Oregon State University and an internationally acclaimed concert pianist and artist teacher. She has concertized as soloist and chamber musician throughout North America and the United Kingdom, as well as in Europe, China, and Southeast Asia.

As concerto soloist she has appeared with many orchestras including the Seattle Symphony, Pittsburgh, Oregon and Victoria Symphonies. Her recital performances include concerts in Atlanta, Detroit, Seattle, The National Gallery in Washington DC, the Goethe Institute in Singapore, the Findhorn Institute in Scotland, and several concert halls in China. With her sister Robin McCabe, she performs duo piano concerts nationally and internationally. The duo has toured China twice, most recently in 2023. Her many chamber music partnerships include tours with the Philadelphia String Quartet, renowned clarinetist David Shifrin, Boston violinists Yuri and Dana Mazurkevich, and flutist Torkyl Bye of the Oslo Philharmonic. She performs regularly in chamber music festivals such as the Chintimini Festival in Oregon, the Highlands Festival in North Carolina, and the Victoria Festival in British Columbia.

Rachelle is Artistic Director of Corvallis-OSU Piano International with its prestigious Steinway Piano Series, community concerts and events, and educational outreach programs. She also co-directs the annual OSU Chamber Music Workshop, a summer camp for young musicians.

Believing in the power of music to affect change, Rachelle McCabe has created innovative programs with writer/philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore to address the crisis of global extinction and climate change. They have taken their programs across the USA and Canada. Their powerful program, Variations on a Theme of Extinction, weaves Rachelle’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Corelli with Kathleen’s spoken narrative. An acclaimed film version entitled The Extinction Variations was created by Brooklyn filmmaker Nara Garber in 2019 and is seen on YouTube.

A highly respected teacher, Rachelle taught hundreds of college students at Oregon State University until her retirement as a full professor from the university in 2021. She was named a Master Teacher at Oregon State. She now enjoys teaching a thriving independent piano studio and appears frequently as an artist teacher and adjudicator, nationally and internationally.

Rachelle holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from The University of Michigan where she studied with Gyorgy Sandor and Theodore Lettvin. She earned her Master’s degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Ania Dorfmann, and her Bachelor’s from The University of Washington with Béla Siki. Additional teachers were Willard Schultz, Gary Graffman, and Leon Fleisher.

Erika Nagamoto, violin

Erika Nagamoto is a multi-instrumentalist widely sought after throughout the Willamette Valley. From classical violin to pop cello, Celtic to Renaissance, she slips in and out of a variety of groups including the Corvallis-OSU Symphony and her trio, Fionnghal. Currently a student at OSU, she previously attended the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. Erika is a member of the 1st violin section of the Eugene Symphony.

Charles Nobel, viola

Charles Noble has been the Assistant principal viola of the Oregon Symphony since 1995. He holds degrees from the University of Puget Sound, the University of Maryland, and the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where his primary teachers were Joyce Ramée, Joseph de Pasquale, Michael Tree, and Roberto Díaz. As a member of the Oregon Symphony he as appeared as soloist in works of Mozart, Bach, Castaldo, and Bruch. Charles has also appeared as soloist with the Tacoma Youth Symphony, Vermont Youth Orchestra, Olympia Symphony, Sunriver Festival Orchestra, and the Rose City Chamber Orchestra. In addition to his orchestral work, Charles is an active chamber musician, performing as a member the Pyxis string quartet, 45th Parallel Universe, and the Oregon Symphony Players’ Classical Up Close concert series.

During the summer months Charles performs with the Oregon Bach Festival and the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival. He has performed at the 2002, 2004, and 2006 International Viola Congress recitals, and was a participant in the 2015 Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City. Away from the viola Charles can be found riding his bike, reading, enjoying Oregon craft beer and wines, and cooking with his wife Stephanie and their two cats. He plays on a 1997 viola by Gabrielle Kundert and a 2018 Darrell Hanks bow.

Victoria Parker, violin

Born into a musical household, Victoria Parker grew up performing and touring with her family quintet. Through this experience, she developed a deep connection to chamber music which remains an important part of her musical life. She has been a featured soloist with many orchestras, including One World Symphony, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, North Corner Chamber Orchestra, and Northwest Sinfonia, with which she recorded a violin concerto composed for her by Roupen Shakarian. She is a founding member of North Corner Chamber Orchestra and was a primary leader from 2014 to 2022. She performs with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera and can be heard on numerous popular albums and soundtracks, many of which feature her arrangements and improvisations. Victoria is also a visual artist and poet. Her passion for interdisciplinary arts is embodied in her projects and collaborations. Parker holds degrees from Western Michigan University and Manhattan School of Music. She lives in Seattle with her family.

Anne Ridlington, cello

Anne Ridlington is a Corvallis native who started her musical studies early, first taking violin lessons with Peg Varvel and Aida Baker, and later cello, with Nancy Sowdon and Hamilton Cheifetz of Portland. She spent many years playing in local youth orchestras under the direction of Ms. Sowdon, Penelope Wolff, and Charles Creighton.

Ms. Ridlington earned her Bachelor of Music in cello performance at Indiana University School of Music, where she studied primarily with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi but also took lessons with Helga Winold, Emilio Colón, and Janos Starker. She spent a year playing in the Lübeck Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, and a year in Santa Barbara, California, playing on the sidewalk for tourist dollars. Since returning to Corvallis, Ms. Ridlington has taught in the Elementary Strings Program and at the Corvallis Waldorf School and gives private lessons. Anne is a member of the Corvallis-OSU Symphony, Eugene Symphony, and the Oregon Mozart Players. She often performs with the Corvallis Repertory Singers.

In 2010 Anne performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Rachelle McCabe, Jessica Lambert, and the Corvallis-OSU Symphony.

Travis Scharer, cello

Cellist Travis Scharer grew up in Salem Oregon where his primary teachers were Eugene Symphony cellist Noah Seitz and Oregon Symphony cellist Marilyn De Oliveira. He then studied at Indiana University for five years under the tutelage of former Cincinnati Symphony principal cellist, Eric Kim. During his time in Indiana, he served as principal cellist of the the Philharmonic Orchestra, the school’s top ensemble, collaborated with faculty members Katherine Jolly, Stephen Wyrczynski, and Jorja Fleezanis, and was a member of the Kuttner Quartet, the university’s resident honors ensemble. Travis continued his schooling at the New England Conservatory where he studied with Boston Symphony Principal cellist Blaise Dejardin. In the summers, Travis has taken part in many music festivals including the Marrowstone Music Festival, and the Meadowmount School of Music, and has received fully paid fellowships to attend the Texas Music Festival, Port Townsend Chamber Music Workshop, and the Aspen Music Festival. As of 2023 Travis has been a cellist in the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Quapaw String Quartet.

Kimberlee Uwate, viola

Giving “performances from the heart” with “matchless precision” (Daniel Buckwalter, Eugene Scene), violist Kimberlee Uwate creates musical experiences rooted in connection and curiosity. As the violist of the Delgani String Quartet, she has been building community in Oregon since 2015 through projects like “How We Remember.” This trifold experience in early 2020 included origami paper-crane-folding community events among Delgani listeners; a commissioned work by composer Elena Ruehr (released on Icarus. Avie Records, 2022); and an immersive concert honoring the children of World War II. With audience-centered programs, she has lectured on topics from on concert listening skills to the cultural context of music. Kim has taught at the collegiate level (IL and OR), with one-on-one guidance in lessons for K-12, class presentations in third-grade, and also performs around Oregon in solo recitals, with the Eugene Symphony, Third Angle NewMusic, and Oregon Bach Festival. She formally studied her craft in New York City, Davis (CA), Urbana (IL), and Blue Hill (ME). Kim received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree with the completion of her dissertation, Toward a Business History of the String Quartet (2019), about American string quartet ensembles and the economic systems that have supported them. She plays a late eighteenth-century viola named Abby.

Jannie Wei, violin

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Alwyn Wright, violin

Alwyn's career in the entertainment industry began when she was seven years old after being selected with four other ballerinas from Marin County, California to dance in a nationally aired television commercial for Oscar Meyer. The decision to buy a piano with the royalties had a huge impact on Alwyn's future as a musician. Alwyn loved the piano immediately, and enjoyed playing it throughout her school years, but chose to focus on formally studying the violin as her primary instrument. After achieving notoriety as a promising young violinist in the San Francisco Bay area Alwyn was encouraged to study in Los Angeles, where she received a full scholarship at University of Southern California. While in college, Alwyn began working professionally in the Los Angeles music scene, and before graduating she won positions with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and the Long Beach Symphony. Her television appearances include episodes of CSI New York, the Agency, the Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Ellen DeGeneres, Good Morning America, and the Grammy and Academy Awards, and she has appeared on screen in many films, including the Soloist, Get Smart, and the Jonas Brothers Concert Experience. Alwyn has toured Europe, Asia and South America extensively with different ensembles, and has been the solo violinist along with a cast of 10 figure skaters in "Strings! A World Adventure on Ice". Alwyn recorded her first solo album, "Passages", in 2009. Alwyn joyfully moved to Eugene in June of 2019 with her family and is now a member of the Eugene Symphony, the Eugene Concert Choir Orchestra and the founder of the Wright Davies Community Music School.