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The
 Blossomwood
String Quartet
Friday, May 6, 2011 7:00 P.M.
Fayetteville - Lincoln County Public Library
Elk Ave N & Monroe St
Jeffrey Dortch, Violin
Lisa Wiggins, Violin
Charles Hogue, Viola
Veneta Billmayer, Cello
Jeffrey
Dortch is a
graduate of Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York where he studied
with violinist/conductor Pamela Gearhart. Before attending
Ithaca, Mr. Dortch studied for one year at the Eastman School of
Music in Rochester, New York where his teacher was noted
violinist Sylvia Rosenberg. He has also worked with well-known
Israeli violinist Yair Kless and with Henry Rubin, formerly
professor of violin at the University of Alabama.
While at Ithaca College, Mr. Dortch was one of a select group of
students to perform in a master class for world-renowned
violinist Kyung-Wha Chung. He was concertmaster of the Ithaca
College Orchestra.
Mr. Dortch was concertmaster of the Huntsville Symphony
Orchestra for nine seasons, appearing as guest soloist in 1986
and 1990. He is currently associate concertmaster of the HSO and
the Huntsville Chamber Symphony, and performed as soloist with
the latter group in 1996 and 1998. He also frequently performs
with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in Birmingham, Alabama. As a
recitalist and chamber musician, he has performed throughout the
Southeast. An active teacher, Mr. Dortch is a member of the
music faculty at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and
maintains a large class of private students.
Lisa
Wiggins, founder and CEO of Harmonic Strings,
is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music in Violin
Performance. She has played professionally for over 20 years and
has lived and taught music in the United States, Europe and
South America. Currently living in N. Alabama, Lisa continues to
play professionally while focusing her efforts on providing the
best possible instruments for her clients.
Charles
Hogue, a native
of Rochester, N.Y., grew up in Las Cruces, N.M. His principal
teachers were Julia Hardie and Dr. Marianna Gabbi. After
graduating from high school he attended Baylor University to
further his studies with Dr. Hardie. He then transferred to the
Mannes College of Music in New York City where his teacher was
Paul Doktor. Hogue then spent two years in the Civic Orchestra
of Chicago, a training orchestra run by the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra where he studied with the assistant principal violist
of the CSO, Li-Kuo Chang. Mr. Hogue has participated in
masterclasses with such eminent teachers as Dorothy Delay,
Joseph dePasquale, William Magers, Glen Dichterow, Robert Vernon
and Michael Tree.
As an orchestral musician, Mr. Hogue has been a member of the
Las Cruces, El Paso, Chattanooga and Tuscaloosa symphonies as
well as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He is presently the
principal violist with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and
teaches part time at UAH. Hogue has performed under the batons
of Sir George Solti, Andre Previn, Leonard Slatkin, Erich
Leinsdorf and Daniel Barenboim. In addition, he is the founder
and director of the Hogue Sinfonietta, a local community
ensemble.
Veneta
B. Billmayer,
cellist, is a graduate of the University of Alabama, with a
Bachelor of Music degree in cello and a minor in piano. She
studied cello with well-known professor/artist Margaret Christy;
Theo Salzman, principal cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony; and
with Walter Steinhaus and Donald Shoemaker, both former
principal cellists with the Atlanta Symphony. She studied piano
with Joseph Maerz, who was accompanist for Madam Schumann-Heink
and an authority on Chopin.
Veneta formerly served as principal cellist of the Huntsville
Symphony Orchestra and the University of Alabama Symphony. She
was a member of the Marshall University and Huntington, W.Va.
Chamber Orchestras, and has performed with other chamber groups
in Colorado, Rhode Island and the southeast. Ms. Billmayer has
given live performances over WCFT Tuscaloosa, WLRH Huntsville
and WMAZ radio and television in Macon, Ga.
She is currently and adjunct instructor of cello at The
University of Alabama, Huntsville and Alabama A&M University in
addition to Ars Nova. She toured professionally with the
Contreras Trio and currently performs and tours with the Trio
Cantabile. She also teaches cello privately in Huntsville.
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