TESSA BRINCKMAN - BIO

Interdisciplinary flutist/composer Tessa Brinckman has been praised for her “chameleon-like gifts” and “virtuoso elegance” (Gramophone), and as "an adroit creator of sound worlds” (Fanfare). Originally from Aotearoa/New Zealand, she has premiered hundreds of new works (commissioning over forty), with prominent classical music creators across the globe. In New York since 2022, she builds work that honors synesthesia, dialect, innate meter and collaboration. Tessa is co-director of the bi-coastal duo, Caballito Negro, with percussionist Terry Longshore, commissioning ground-breaking flute and percussion works, including composers Juri Seo and Baljinder Sekhon. She directs WildLine, a new, interdisciplinary chamber group based in northern Manhattan. Her collaborative videos have won 22 film festival awards for music scoring, animation and experimental film.

Numerous recent projects include her critically acclaimed album Take Wing, Roll Back (New Focus Recordings), AEON (Rattle Records, New Zealand), commissions from flutists Lisa Bost and Lisa Cella, performances at Baltimore's Livewire Festival, Princeton Sound Kitchen, and headlining with Mexico's Duo Duplum at Festival Cervantino and New Music Forum (Mexico City). www.tessabrinckman.com

Kate Jackson’s first job was as a trumpet player in the Royal Canadian Navy. She now lives in Walla Walla, WA, where she performs regularly with the Walla Walla Symphony and other ensembles in the area. She is a founding member of the Blue Mountain Brass quintet.

Violinist Ruby Ro is an active orchestral performer in the San Francisco Bay Area, appearing with ensembles including the San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Silent Film Festival, I Cantori di Carmel, Berkeley Symphony, Marin Symphony, Modesto Symphony, Stockton Symphony, Livermore Opera, and Bach Millennium Opera production.

Her performance experience includes collaborations with DJ Kygo at the Chase Center, the Hip-Hop Orchestra Experience, the Video Game Orchestra at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Stewart Copeland at SFJAZZ, a Led Zeppelin tribute production at the Curran Theater, and Green Day at Super Bowl LX.

A full-scholarship graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Ruby earned her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance, where she studied with Simon James. This fall, she will begin her Master of Music studies at SFCM under Simon James and Chen Zhao also on a full scholarship. 

She has participated in multiple seasons of the University of Michigan’s Center Stage Strings and has performed in masterclasses for distinguished artists including Danielle Belen, Jinjoo Cho, Nathan Cole, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Paul Kantor, and Robert McDuffie.

JENNIFER NELSON received her undergraduate degree in Music Performance from USC as a student of Mitchell Lurie, and continued her clarinet studies at Temple University where she was a student of Anthony Gigliotti. Jennifer plays Principal Clarinet with Pacific Northwest Ballet and Auburn Symphony Orchestras. She also has a very active freelance career, including playing Broadway-style shows at the Fifth Avenue and Paramount Theaters, occasional extra with Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera orchestras, and records for various television and motion picture scores. Jennifer is an Affiliate Artist in Clarinet at the University of Puget Sound, and maintains a very busy private teaching studio in her home in north Seattle. Ms. Nelson has also traveled throughout the United States with the national touring companies of Phantom of the Opera and New York City Opera. In addition to her stateside concerts, orchestral and recital performances have taken her to Mexico, Japan, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, Honduras, Sweden, and India.

Mary Monaghan is currently a doctoral candidate in horn performance with a minor in ethnomusicology, and a University Fellow at the University of Arizona. There, she studies horn with Johanna Lundy. She completed her bachelors of music in performance with Lanette Lopez Compton at Oklahoma State University and her masters of music in performance with Dr. Rachel Hockenberry at Illinois State University. She is currently the fourth horn of the Sierra Vista Symphony in Sierra Vista, AZ, the fourth horn of the Tucson Pops Orchestra, and freelances in southern Arizona. In addition to performing, Monaghan teaches horn, trumpet, trombone, and euphonium lessons. She teaches students of all ability levels, from ages 8 to 88.

As an ethnomusicologist, Monaghan’s background is in ecomusicology, Latin American music, and applied research. For her doctoral research, she focuses on musical accessibility through culturally responsive teaching and integrating culturally specific music. After serving as a graduate instructor of Film and Television History for a year at the University of Arizona, Monaghan served as sabbatical replacement for the spring of 2026 semester at Illinois State University, as the Instructional Assistant Professor of Horn. There, she taught horn lessons, technique classes, studio class, horn choir, and played with the faculty brass quintet.

Hayley Monk is a freelance oboist currently based in the Tacoma area. She has performed in a variety of ensembles throughout the states of Washington and Louisiana including the Mid-Columbia Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra. She is also passionate about showcasing works composed by members of underrepresented groups. In 2024, she performed a collaborative recital entitled “Moments from Women” at the International Double Reed Society Conference in Flagstaff, Arizona to highlight lesser known compositions from women.

She received a Bachelor of Music from Central Washington University and a Master of Music degree in Oboe Performance from Louisiana State University. She will be returning to Louisiana State University to pursue her Doctor of Musical Arts in Oboe Performance in the fall.

Suzanne Feinstein is an active French‑hornist based in the Seattle area with a Bachelor of Music from the State University of West Georgia and a Master of Music from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since relocating to Seattle, Suzanne has performed with regional orchestras and chamber ensembles — including the Symphony Tacoma, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, North Corner Chamber Orchestra, Federal Way Symphony, Village Theatre, and in ballet, opera, and musical theater productions throughout the region. Suzanne serves on the faculty of Music Works Northwest alongside a diverse faculty of professional musicians. She contributes to community music education in the Puget Sound area, coaching and mentoring students of all ages and backgrounds.

Julia McConnachie (she/her) is a master's student on Horn at the Jacobs School of Music studying with Denise Tryon. Originally from Shoreline, Washington, Julia earned her Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance from Central Washington University, where she studied with Dr. Jeffrey Snedeker. During her time there, she was a part of both the Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, including for the Wind Ensemble’s performance at the 2024 World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles conference. She was also a member of the CWU Horn Ensemble. Julia is working towards a career as an orchestral musician, and has enjoyed getting to work with many orchestras, including the Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra and Yakima Symphony Orchestra. Julia is a two-time winner of the Northwest Horn Society’s University Solo Competition, and the 2025 Central Washington University Concerto Competition winner. She can be heard as a soloist on the recording of the world premiere of Catherine Likhuta’s Bad Neighbours for two horn soloists and symphony orchestra. Outside of the practice room, Julia can be found enjoying long walks, embroidering, and/or thinking about Gustav Mahler.

Born and raised on O’ahu, Hawai’i, Taylor DeCastro is a versatile violinist whose artistry spans period performance and experimental music. Now based in Seattle, she is currently finishing her Master of Music at the University of Washington, where she serves as a graduate teaching assistant.

Her orchestral experience includes recent appointments as Concertmaster of Philharmonia Northwest and Assistant PrincipalSecond Violin of the Olympia Symphony Orchestra. With Philharmonia Northwest, Ms. DeCastro has performed on Classical KING's Northwest Focus Live. She also performs with Philharmonie Austin (TX), a period-instrument ensemble, and appears on their recordings released by Navona Records. Past engagements include performances with Emerald City Music, the Auburn Symphony Orchestra, Yakima Symphony Orchestra, Bellevue Symphony Orchestra, and Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra (WI). In 2024, she was named a finalist in the Musicians Club of Women Competition in Chicago, IL, and has performed across the United States, Canada, and France.

Equally at home in early music and the avant‑garde, she has recently appeared as a soloist in J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 with the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra. Fascinated by intersections of the past and present, Ms. DeCastro also specializes in new music, previously collaborating with renowned composers inti figgis-vizueta and Michael Gordon. Reflecting her dual interests, Ms. DeCastro has served as the teaching assistant of both the Baroque and the Modern Music Ensembles at the University of Washington.

An advocate for equity and accessibility in music, Ms. DeCastro is continuously striving to create inclusive learning environments and diverse programming. She currently teaches violin and viola at the Epiphany Music Academy and coaches chamber groups and sectionals at UW. As a woman of color, Ms. DeCastro is passionate about bringing the works of underrepresented composers to life. Her performance for the Black Composers Project at the University of Washington has been featured on Minnesota Public Radio. Ms. DeCastro earned her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, summa cum laude, where she also minored in Studio Art. Her primary teachers include Rachel Lee Priday, Samantha George, and Colin Belisle.

Thea Weinbeck is a violinist currently based out of Seattle, Washington, and Amherst, Massachusetts. Thea has given solo performances across the United States and Southern France. Born in Burien, she has given many performances in the Seattle area, notably, a performance on Northwest Focus Live on Classical King 98.1. Thea was a finalist in the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition where she performed Korngold’s Violin Concerto. In Amherst, Thea served as Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin with the University of Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, Thea has participated in the Zodiac Chamber Music Festival and Lawrence Chamber Music Festival. She is driven by collaboration and exploring as many musical areas as she can. This included involvement with Appleton’s Mile of Music Festival, collaborating with singer Julie Williams; additionally, she participates in jazz combos in addition to being heavily involved in chamber and orchestral studies.

Currently at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Thea is pursuing a Master of Music in Performance, where she is involved in the Graduate String Quartet Program. She received her Bachelor of Music from Lawrence University in 2025, where she studied Violin Performance and minored in Art History and String Pedagogy. Her education has  focused on performing and teaching, including studies in viola, cello, and double bass. Her teachers include Elizabeth Chang, Wen-Lei Gu, Judith Beatie, and April Swansiger.

As a conductor, violinist, composer, pedagogue, philosopher, and musicologist, Dr. Christopher T. F. Hanson enjoys working across a number of disciplines to promote the transformative power of the arts. Dr. Hanson holds three master's degrees from Texas State University, in music history, music theory, and music composition. They also earned a PhD in Education from Texas State University, with a focus on educational research in teacher professional agency. While completing their doctorate, they earned a certificate of professional ethics from the Texas State Philosophy program.

Dr. Hanson has served as music faculty for schools in central Texas and Seattle. They have developed and facilitated a number of courses that explore creativity, imagination, and interdisciplinary pedagogy in grade school as well as higher education. Their research focuses on the transformative power of the arts, student and teacher agency, and the significance of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and belonging (DEIAB) in education. As a queer scholar, Dr. Hanson uses research platforms to challenge and “queer” professional spaces of teaching and learning, particularly within and through the arts.

Dr. Hanson works with a growing number of diverse organizations to expand and amplify their work in education and the arts. They are frequently requested as a guest conductor and clinician. They are a principal explicator for the Seattle Symphony, offering a number of pre-concert lectures throughout the season, which highlight the significance of historical and cultural context to the experience of listeners and performers. They serve as the artistic director of the annual Wintergrass Festival Orchestra and the conductor for the advanced orchestra of the Japan Seattle Suzuki Institute. They are the artistic director for the Rainbow City Orchestra, a nonprofit community music organization that serves and supports the LGBTQIA+ community in greater Seattle through the study and performance of contemporary and historically marginalized composers.

 Their compositions have enjoyed a number of premieres across the country, and address a wide range of personal and political issues.

Dr. Natasha Kubit is a passionate violinist, educator, and advocate for community engagement through music based in the Seattle area. She has performed with ensembles including the Cleveland Opera Theater, Jackson Symphony Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, and Northbrook Symphony Orchestra. As a performer, Dr. Kubit has appeared at renowned venues including Carnegie Hall and the Severance Music Center, while remaining deeply committed to bringing music into local community spaces. Dr. Kubit began studying violin at the age of three through the Suzuki method and is now a registered Suzuki violin teacher. Dedicated to accessible music education, she has taught with the Cleveland Say Yes to Education program, Sphinx Organization’s Overture program in Flint, Michigan, and currently serves on the faculty of Key to Change in South King County. 

Dr. Kubit recently completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance at Michigan State University. She earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Violin Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she also completed a Master’s degree in Suzuki Pedagogy. Outside of music, she enjoys hiking and exploring the Pacific Northwest.

Anna Elizabeth Gildon is a violinist, violist, music teacher, and music producer in the Pacific Northwest. She has performed with groups such as the Olympia Symphony Orchestra, Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra, and the Masterworks Choral Ensemble. She also founded The Hansen Quartet, which performs for weddings and other events at The Hansen Place in Sumner, WA. In addition to Classical music, Anna enjoys a wide variety of folk and contemporary music. She plays frequently at local Irish, Old-Time, and Klezmer sessions. Her Celtic-influenced band Whiskey Fiasco is set to have their debut performance at the Olympia Porchfest, and she will perform with local singer-songwriter Faith Martin at the Tacoma Porchfest. 

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Violin Performance as well as Broad Area Music Education from Central Washington University, and a Master’s Degree of Music Education from Eastern Washington University, graduating Summa Cum Laude from both universities. She has taught a variety of orchestra, guitar, and music theory classes at Graham-Kapowsin High School for nearly five years. She is especially proud to have founded the school’s Mariachi program, which recently performed at the WMEA State Solo and Ensemble competition in Ellensburg. 

Anna loves writing and producing music and sharing her musical creations with others. She has released music on streaming services under the name Anna Elizabeth and posts her various music production projects on her Instagram page, which has 30,000 followers (anna.elizabeth.violin). 

In her free time, Anna enjoys rock climbing, rockhounding, and listening to rock music.

Begin Nora (she/her), violinist and instructor, was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. With a strong passion for making music for all, she has studied with Emily Bean, Victoria Brown, Walter Schwede, Gennady Filimonov, and Svend Ronning. A graduate of Pacific Lutheran University in 2001, she has performed with several orchestras, including Symphony Tacoma, Seattle Rock Orchestra, Federal Way Symphony, Bellevue Symphony, Seattle Chamber Orchestra, and Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra. Along with performing, Begin also loves teaching and has worked with many students as a para-professional for the Edmonds and Everett school districts and the Seattle Youth Symphony orchestras. She also manages a private teaching studio in Lynnwood, Washington. Finally, Begin started nannying during the pandemic shutdowns and currently cares for newborn twins!

Sooyean Kim is a professional violinist and music teacher whose career reflects more than 15 years of dedicated performance, orchestral leadership, and artistic collaboration.  She earned her Bachelor's degree in Music performance in Seoul under a merit scholarship, and proceeded to get a Master's in Music Performance and Education from University of Minnesota.

She is an Assistant principal with Yakima Symphony orchestra, a concert master of Federal way chorale orchestra. She is also a member of Tacoma Opera, Tacoma City Ballet, Bellevue Symphony and maintains an active presence within the region's professional orchestra such as Symphony Tacoma, Auburn Symphony orchestra, Walla Walla symphony and Juneau symphony.

A committed chamber musician, she has performed with ensembles inducing NOCCO, ECCO, Seattle chamber orchestra and has collaborated with internationally acclaimed artist such as Josh Groban, Zuili Bailey, Chris Botti, and more. Her performance s are recognized for their refined musicianship, and expressive depth, reflecting a meaningful and thoughtful musical voice.

Kim Plewniak is currently a member of the Spokane Symphony and serves as Assistant Principal Bass.  An active orchestral musician, she’s performed with the Rochester Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, Billings Symphony, Lancaster Festival Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival, and the National Orchestral Institute. At present, she performs at the McCall MusicFest each summer.  

As an educator, she is currently the double bass instructor at Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga University, jazz bass instructor at Whitworth University and maintains a private studio. Kim also teaches Suzuki bass through the Spokane Youth Orchestra Suzuki program and often coaches middle and high school bassists through the Spokane Symphony’s Youth Mentor Program.  

Originally from Buffalo, NY, she earned her Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music and both her Masters of Music and a Performer’s Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music.  Her main teachers have been Orin O’Brien, Timothy Cobb and James VanDemark. 

Often on stage, you’ll see Kim playing jazz and electric bass for symphony pops shows. She performs locally with the Diva Show, Northwest BachFest, the Inland Northwest Opera, and frequently collaborates with local bands and songwriters around Spokane.   

Lea Eve Fetterman lives and works as a freelance violinist, session musician (violin/vocals), conductor, public speaker, and teacher in the Pacific Northwest. Alongside her music making, she composes and arranges music for a variety of ensembles and genres, including rock, singer/songwriter, folk, alternative, ambient, and classical. She leads the Vireo String Quartet, a session quartet made up of her local string colleagues. Fetterman is the author of two books, Like Sun Holds Shade and Innocent Skin, both available online at Barnes & Noble and on shelves at Ophelia's Books in Fremont. Her debut double album, Through the Concrete and its spoken word counterpart, and her most recent singles Snow White and Silver Horizon are available on all streaming services and available for download on Subvert and Bandcamp.

Fetterman performs with many regional orchestras and operas, including the North Corner Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Collaborative Orchestra, Vashon Opera, and more. Beyond classical music, Fetterman has performed as concertmaster for Apashe's Philharmonic Orchestra to a sold-out WAMU Theater, regularly plays with Andrew Joslyn & The Passenger String Quartet, and has performed with artists and bands such as the RAISE Choir, Daniel Ho, Sera Cahoone, Typhoon, Moon Fever, Ollella, and The Sam Chase & The Untraditional. Beyond Washington's borders, she has also performed in Oregon, Idaho, California, Pennsylvania, and Alaska. She coaches sectionals and chamber music for Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras, Seattle Conservatory of Music, and West Seattle Community Orchestras. Fetterman is a proud member of the Seattle Composers Alliance and Momentum Musician.

Fetterman is one of the founding orchestra members of the New Ground Orchestra Festival, an all-women orchestra festival and wellness retreat. July, 2025 was its debut year, lead by Rebekah O'Brien.

In May 2021, Fetterman completed her Master's in Music in Violin Performance at the University of Victoria, BC. She studied with Ann Elliott-Goldschmid, first violinist of the Lafayette String Quartet. Fetterman graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education in December 2017, Magna Cum Laude.

Fetterman grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington, and began playing the violin when she was nine years old. Throughout her childhood, Fetterman played instruments from nearly every family: violin, cello, trombone, euphonium, clarinet, piano, and marimba. This affinity with learning a diverse range of instruments and her desire to become an orchestral conductor drove her to complete her undergrad in music education. Fetterman has dedicated her work and livelihood to the violin, composing, conducting and teaching, but still experiments with other instruments in her improvisations and compositions.

Raisa Asriyants received her Master’s degree in Violin Performance from the Western Washington University with honors. She has performed in Europe and the USA, taking part in and winning different solo and chamber competitions across the continents. She is active as a soloist and chamber groups’ performer, having had recitals across the Pacific Northwest, teaching private lessons and group classes, playing with different orchestras, recording music, and scoring music for full feature films. Her music interests range from archaic medieval and baroque, to classical, and to contemporary compositions. As her musical accomplishments are a product of synergy of several different music education systems, Raisa possesses a unique diverse skill set as a strings educator, which gives her students access to the full array of teaching techniques to realize their music potential.

Sara Mayo is a native of the Pacific Northwest who now splits her time between the West and the East Coast, and therefore now mostly lives in the sky.

On the left side of the country, she is the principal trombonist of the Yakima Symphony, and has also previously performed with groups such as the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Symphony Tacoma, Eugene Symphony, and the Spokane Symphony. On the right side of the country, she works as a freelancer in New York City where she is the tenor trombonist of Calliope Brass and regularly performs with other groups such as the Wa Sinfonietta, the Turkish American Orchestra, and anyone else who'll hire her.

She has appeared as a featured soloist with the Yakima Symphony and the Tacoma Community College Concert Band, and has also appeared as a musician extra in Mozart in the Jungle, though she has no idea in what capacity because she refuses to watch the show. If you do watch the show and you see her in the trombone section, please let her know which episodes so she can tell her long-suffering parents.

When not playing trombone, she doesn't really know what to do with herself, but can sometimes be spotted knitting, folding origami cranes, reading genre fiction, and having opinions about coffee.

Christine Bastian, viola, enjoys making classical music relevant to audiences through her work as a performer, educator, and administrator.  Christine has served as associate principal violist with the Flint Symphony, section violist with the Lansing Symphony, and substitute viola with the Grand Rapids, Toledo, and Detroit Symphony. As a member of the ConTempus Initiative, a Michigan-based contemporary music collective, she has released two CDs and been featured as a guest artist with organizations such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, Whitworth University, Eastern Washington University, SUNY Potsdam, Michigan State University, Spring Arbor University, Albion College, Flint Institute of Music, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. In addition to her work as a violist, Christine developed Running Start, the music entrepreneurship program at Michigan State University, teaching courses on career development and financial management, directing several chamber series, and creating outreach and engagement initiatives for MSU students in the Greater Lansing community. She currently freelances in the Seattle area with groups including the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Lake Washington Symphony, and the Arbor Trio. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in Viola Performance and a Master of Music in Viola Performance from Indiana University.