Section Chairs

Heather Austin-Stone

CONCERTMASTER VIOLIN 1

Violinist, Heather Austin-Stone, began violin studies at age 10 in the public schools. In high school, she had the honor of being chosen as a National Symphony Orchestra Youth Fellowship student where she was able to study with 1st violinist, Luis Haza on scholarship. She attended Shenandoah University on full scholarship and studied with Dr. Kenneth Sarch. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance, Summa cum Laude in 1994. A year later, she graduated with a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University where she studied with Blair Milton, a Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1st violinist.

Ms. Austin-Stone is currently the Concertmaster of the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, the Assistant Concertmaster with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra in Hagerstown, MD, and a section 1st violinist with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra. In March 2012, Ms. Austin-Stone was the featured soloist with the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E-minor. In September 2014 Ms. Austin-Stone was featured by the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major.

Ms. Austin-Stone has taught violin in private and public schools and in addition to teaching violin and viola at Shepherd, she teaches at the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts in Hagerstown, MD. She also teaches violin and viola in the preparatory division, and is the 1st violin sectional coach for the Shepherd Preparatory Orchestra. Her other duties at Shepherd University, include teaching Music Appreciation, Music Psychology, and Music History.

Petr Skopek

PRINCIPAL VIOLIN 2

Petr Skopek is a violinist and a music educator. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance from the University of North Texas, College of Music, and a Maryland State Professional Teaching Certificate from the State of Maryland.

Mr. Skopek keeps a busy performance schedule, mostly as a chamber musician and an orchestral violinist. He is currently a contracted member of several orchestras – The Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, The Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra and The Shippensburg Festival Orchestra. Over the years, Mr. Skopek has performed with many professional orchestras in Texas, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, including the East Texas Symphony, Richardson Symphony, Amarillo Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, Concert Artists of Baltimore, National Philharmonic, Washington Concert Opera, and The Choral Arts Society of Washington DC, at venues such as The Music Center at Strathmore, The Meyerhoff Symphony Center, and the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.

In addition to maintaining a busy performance schedule, Mr. Skopek serves as a full-time band and orchestra director for Frederick County Public Schools. He also devotes much of his time to serving as a clinician, conductor, adjudicator, and a string coach.

JASON DIGGS

PRINCIPAL VIOLA

Jason Diggs began studying violin at the age of 9 in Baltimore City Public Schools. He received his B.M. in viola and Artist Diploma in Quartet Studies from Shenandoah Conservatory. His teachers included Doris Lederer and C. Thomas Shaw of the Audubon Quartet, and Olivia Hajioff and Marc Ramirez of the MarcOliva Duo.

He received his M.M. in viola performance from the San Francisco Conservatory under the instruction of Jodi Levitz of the Ives Quartet and received chamber instruction from pianist/violist Paul Hersh and violinist Axel Strauss.

He has participated in masterclasses given by Kim Kashkashian, Christoph Wyneken, John O’Conor, and the Juilliard Quartet as well as an orchestral master class given by Sir Simon Rattle serving as principal viola.

Mr. Diggs has performed with several orchestras including, The Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, The National Philharmonic, Harrisburg Symphony, Maryland Symphony , Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra and the National String Symphonia. He was the violist in the Foreign Landscapes CD by Hauschka, principal violist for the R. Kreutzer Violin Concertos 17-19 CD released by Naxos featuring violinist Axel Strauss, and violist for the 2008 Grammy nominated album Indigo Road by lutanist Ron Mcfarlane.

He is an active Suzuki violin/viola instructor at Frederick Community College, and has participated in the Starling/Delay Teaching Symposium at the Juilliard School in New York.

DONOVAN STOKES

PRINCIPAL BASS

Donovan Stokes has presented solo performances throughout the U.S., and in Mexico, Norway, Italy, England, France and the Czech Republic. His solo recording Gadaha garnered two JPF Music Award rankings for Best Album and Best Instrumental Song. Described as a musician who “paints primary colours and subtle shades to considerable effect” (The Double Bassist), Stokes is also noted for his “eye-popping display of technical wizardry and showmanship” (Madison Jazz).

As a chamber musician he has had the honor of collaborating with musicians such as Julian Schwarz, Alaria Ensemble, Frisson Ensemble, Clyde Thomas Shaw, Fry Street Quartet, Agua Va!, members of the Audubon Quartet, Stuart Malina, Blanka Bednarz, John O’Connor, David Oei and Seymour Lipkin, among others.

A Full Professor at Shenandoah University-Conservatory, he teaches jazz and classical bass. As a composer, he has enjoyed commissions from DiscoverDoubleBass.com, Berry College Orchestra, Barry Green, Blanka Bednarz, The International Society of Bassists Young Bass Division, the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra and Jerry Fuller. He is also a specialist in the life and work of bassist and composer Rodion Azarkhin.

Dr. Stokes earned degrees from Vanderbilt University (B.M.) and Indiana University (M.M. and D.M.), where his major instructors were Lawrence Hurst, and Edgar Meyer. He studied fiddle styles with Crystal Ploughman and Mark O’Connor, string pedagogy with Lawrence Hurst, Helga Winold, Inez Wyrick and Mimi Zweig, and composition with Michael Alec Rose, Michael Kurek and Mary Jeanne Van Appledorn.

Stokes is a former President of Virginia String Teachers Association, Former Board Member for the International Society of Bassists.

Camilo Perez-Mejia

PRINCIPAL CELLO

Mr. Pérez-Mejía earned a Bachelor of Music in 1998 from the Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. In 2000, he moved to Winchester, VA to study at Shenandoah University to study with Julian Tryczynski, cellist of Trio Cracovia. While there, he earned an M.M. (2002) in Cello Performance, then returned to earn an Artist Diploma in Quartet Studies (2008) under the guidance of the Audubon Quartet. Concurrently, he completed all the coursework in the DMA performance program, while studying with C. Thomas Shaw.

He was a concerto competition winner with both the Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, Universidad Javeriana and Shenandoah University Conservatory Orchestra. During his time as a student and as a young professional, he performed with diverse ensembles in North, Central, and South America, as well as Italy.

Currently, most of his performing happens in the greater D.C. Metro area as principal cellist for the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, as a member of the Argot String Quartet, Two Rivers String Quartet, flute/cello duo Entropy In Two, and as section cellist or soloist for various ensembles and events. He has served as principal cellist for Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra of Greater Washington, assistant principal for Loudoun Symphony Orchestra, and member of the Temple Trio.

It was teaching that ultimately led to his conducting career, which started while completing undergraduate studies in Colombia. Since then he has directed string ensembles for schools in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. He teaches cello and bass at Barbara Ingram School for the Arts in Hagerstown, MD.

In 2012 Mr. Pérez-Mejía became the founding music director of the Charles Washington Symphony Orchestra and continues to direct this semi-professional ensemble in unexpected community settings. In the summer of 2022 he had the honor of conducting his fellow faculty cellists at the Farewell Concert of Cellospeak. He is the adjunct cello professor at Shepherd and also music director and conductor of the Shepherd Community Orchestra, a home to community members, Shepherd University students as well as selected High School students from the area.

BARBARA SPICHER

PRINCIPAL FLUTE

Barbara Spicher is an active performer throughout the mid-Atlantic region. She is founding flutist of the award-winning Appalachian Wind Quintet and principal flutist of the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, the Mercersburg Chorus and Orchestra, and travero player for the L’Arabesque Baroque early music ensemble. For four years she served as Artistic Fellow for the Washington, DC based LaGesse Foundation under whose auspices she performed solo recitals at Carnegie Hall in New York, the French Embassies of US and Canada, and at the LaGesse Festival in Toulouse, France. She was awarded a medal from the French government in recognition of her participation in these cultural exchanges. She has a Bachelors of Music degree from West Virginia University and has studied flute with Toshiko Kohno, former principal flutist with the National Symphony, and Timothy Day of the San Francisco Conservatory, and baroque period flute with Colin St. Martin of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. She has performed with the Shippensburg University Festival Orchestra, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, York Symphony, Millbrook Orchestra, Garrett Lakes Festival Orchestra, and the Cumberland Valley Chamber Players. Barbara is the adjunct instructor of flute at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, where she is a member of the Hood Chamber Players.

NOELLE DREWES

PRINCIPAL OBOE

Noelle Drewes is Assistant Professor of Oboe at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College, where she also plays with the faculty artist ensemble the Sunderman Wind Quintet. In addition to Two Rivers, she is Principal Oboe with the Apollo Orchestra and the Gettysburg Chamber Chamber Orchestra. She has appeared extensively as a substitute with the National Symphony Orchestra and NSO Pops, as well as with the Richmond, Annapolis, Maryland, Fairfax, Arlington, and Charlottesville Symphony Orchestras. Noelle received her Bachelor of Music degree in oboe performance from Ithaca College and both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Maryland. Noelle is also a double reed repair technician. Please visit www.ndrewes.com for more info.

Sponsored by Donna & Charles Printz, Jr.

DAVID DROSINOS

PRINCIPAL CLARINET

David Drosinos received his diploma from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. He studied clarinet with Loren Kitt, principal clarinetist with the National Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Drosinos won the Sidney Jensen Memorial Award for outstanding clarinet performance and has been guest artist at the Greek, French, and Russian Embassy’s in Washington DC and the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.

Mr. Drosinos is the principal clarinetist and soloist with the Maryland Lyric Opera and the Concert Artist of Baltimore. He has performed in Greece, Ireland, Moscow, Finland, and Bahamas and all over the continental United States. His Greek Folk Band Zephyros was a featured act at the International Clarinet Association in Washington, DC. The Washington Post praised him as “playing with an unusually smooth and agile touch.” On The Finzi Clarinet Concerto the Baltimore Sun noted “He played the idyllic score with technical security, tonal warmth and exceptionally eloquent phrasing.”

In 2010 David traveled to St Petersburg, Russia where he produced the CD Portals and did the International premiere and recording of the Sowash Clarinet Concerto with the St Petersburg Symphony. David is a versatile and seasoned clarinetist who has enchanted audiences from ‘Maryland to Moscow.’ Mr. Drosinos resides in Cockeysville, Maryland and is in much demand with performing groups in the greater Baltimore-Washington area. He teaches at Shepherd University, The Baltimore School for the Arts, and The Peabody Preparatory.

DAN CARTER

PRINCIPAL HORN

Daniel Carter is originally from Baltimore, MD and received his Master’s Degree in Horn Performance from Ithaca College. There he studied under Alex Shuhan, Professor of Horn and founding member of professional brass quintet Rhythm and Brass. Prior to earning his Master’s Degree, Daniel studied with James Vaughn of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra at Shepherd University, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education.

Mr. Carter is principal horn of the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra and teaches Elementary Band and Orchestra in the Howard County Public System. When not at Shepherd, Mr. Carter maintains an active schedule of teaching and performing in the Baltimore area.

LYNN MONCILOVICH

PRINCIPAL BASSOONIST

Originally from Johnstown, PA, Lynn Moncilovich is a bassoonist, music educator, and clinician in the Mid-Atlantic area. In addition to her appointment as Adjunct Professor of Bassoon at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music, she serves as the contrabassoonist of the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra and second bassoonist with the Apollo Orchestra. As an active performer she frequently performs with the National Philharmonic, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony, and Maryland Lyric Opera. Moncilovich holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the University of North Texas, an Artist’s Certificate from Southern Methodist University, and a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory.