ARTISTS

CMC Core Musicians

Frances Hsieh, violin
Alan Molina, violin
Megan Molina, violin
Nonoko Okada, violin and viola
Ben Weiss, viola
Timothy O'Malley, cello
Regina Helcher Yost, flute
Mark Gainer, oboe
Charles Messersmith, clarinet
Sandra Nikolajevs, bassoon
Debra Sherrill, horn
Irina Pevzner, piano
Suzanne Atwood, soprano

Guest Artists for the 2011-2012 Season

John Samuel Roper, flute
Julia Harlow, harpsichord
Chris Blumel, tuba
Todd Jenkins, trumpet
Kate Jenkins, trombone
Sue Messersmith, trumpet

Actors' Theatre of South Carolina

Core Musician Biographies in Alphabetical Order

Soprano Suzanne Fleming-Atwood is an active performer and music educator in Charleston, South Carolina.  A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she received a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Catholic University of America.  Ms. Fleming-Atwood studied opera and voice in Milan, Italy as a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar.  She has sung as a soloist with the Charleston Symphony on various occasions and performs regularly with Chamber Music Charleston. Currently, Ms. Fleming-Atwood is an Artist-in-Residence at the College of Charleston, where she teaches voice, ear-training and phonetics.

Mark Gainer, oboist, is principal oboist of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and the Savannah Philharmonic and co-principal of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra.  He holds degrees from The Hartt School and The Juilliard School of Music.  Besides performing with the Mexican State Symphony and the Filarmonica de Caracas, he has performed as principal oboist in various regional orchestras in the southeast, including the North Carolina and Savannah Symphony Orchestras.   As an active chamber musician, he has organized and performed in recitals all over the Americas and is a founding member of the Charleston Chamber Players. He has spent his summers participating in the Vale Veneto Festival (Brazil), the Colorado Music Festival, and was a soloist in the Spoleto Festival and Savannah Music Festival Chamber Music Series. He is a faculty member of the College of Charleston.

Frances Hsieh, a native of Chapel Hill, began studying violin at age five under Dorothy Kitchen of the Duke University String School.  She continued her studies with Eric Pritchard as an A.J. Fletcher Scholar at Duke University earning degrees in Music and Biology.  Under the tutelage of Charles Castleman, Frances received her Masters in Violin Performance at the Eastman School of Music.  There, she performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra through an internship with the Eastman Orchestral Studies Program.  Frances is an active chamber musician of Chamber Music Charleston and has performed with numerous symphonies including the North Carolina and Phoenix Symphonies and has won positions with the Colorado Music Festival, Richmond, Asheville, and Charleston Symphony Orchestras.

Charles Messersmith, clarinet, attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and received a Bachelor of Music degree while studying with Franklin Cohen of the Cleveland Orchestra. He received a Master’s of Music Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music while studying with David Breeden of the San Francisco Symphony.  After graduation, he became the principal clarinet of the Augusta Symphony and performed there for four years.  In 1998 he was appointed to the Second Clarinet position with the Charleston Symphony, and in 2005 to the Principal Clarinet position. Along with regular performances with Chamber Music Charleston, the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, and the Charleston Symphony, he teaches at Charleston Southern University and, The College of Charleston.  Mr. Messersmith also performs in Piccolo Spoleto programs in the spring, and in Virginia at the Wintergreen Music Festival in the summers.  He was recently appointed to the "gig of a lifetime", playing in a symphony orchestra on board the Celebrity Cruise Line, with Symphonic Voyages, cruising annually to the Caribbean and other exotic ports of call.

Megan Molina began violin studies at age four in New Zealand. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in violin performance with First Class Honors from Victoria University of Wellington and a Master’s Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has performed solo recitals in New Zealand and San Francisco and performed as a soloist with the Victoria University Orchestra, Wellington Chamber Orchestra and the Manawatu Sinfonia Orchestra. As a chamber musician, she has had the opportunity of working with and being coached by many world class musicians including Robert Mann, Gilbert Kalish, Sadao Harada, Mark Sokol, Ian Swensen and the New Zealand String Quartet. Megan has played with numerous professional ensembles including the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, Vector Wellington Orchestra, Seraphic Fire Chamber Orchestra, Miami, and in 2011 toured China and Europe with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Mrs. Molina has been a member of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra since 2005.

Alan Molina, violin, received a Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance at Indiana University where he was a student and teaching assistant to Mauricio Fuks. He earned his Master’s Degree in Chamber Music at the San Francisco Conservatory where he had the opportunity to perform with acclaimed artists such as Menahem Pressler, Jorja Fleezanis, Gilbert Kalish, and Ian Swensen. During his time in San Francisco, Alan began working in recording studios, playing the violin for rock bands and films. Some of these recordings are “Ghosts of the Great Highway” by Sun Kil Moon which reached number one on the college radio charts, and the film “Ballets Russes” which was recorded at Skywalker Sound. Mr. Molina spent two seasons with the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas and other conductors such as Robert Spano, Franz Welser-Möst, Roberto Abbado, and Sir Roger Norrington.   He is currently Principal Second Violinist of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and a regular member of Chamber Music Charleston.

Born and raised in central Massachusetts, bassoonist Sandra Nikolajevs began her formal musical education at the Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music in Ohio and continued studies at the Juilliard School in New York City and at the Paris Conservatory.  Ms. Nikolajevs has participated in the National Repertory Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center summer music festivals and worked with such notable conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez and Robert Spano.  She has performed chamber music at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  Ms. Nikolajevs is currently Principal Bassoonist of the Savannah Philharmonic and has held the same position with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic and Augusta Symphony.  She is Director and Founder of Chamber Music Charleston.

Nonoko Okada, violin, started her violin training at the age of six in her native Japan. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance from the Mannes College of Music and later received a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School in New York City.  She has performed recitals throughout Japan as well as New York. She has also participated in Spoleto Festival USA, the Cape May Music Festival, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts and Festival Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. As an orchestral player and chamber musician, Ms. Okada has appeared at Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Juilliard Theater at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall and Symphony Space in New York City.

Cellist Timothy O'Malley was first introduced to the cello at the age of nine when he participated in a strings program in Tucson, Arizona. Since then his studies  have brought him across the United States and to Europe. Before entering college he studied in Albany, NY and at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna, Austria. Mr. O'Malley then went on to receive his Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studying under Norman Fischer and Catherina Meints, and his Master’s Degree in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Alan Stepansky of the New York Philharmonic. Mr. O'Malley is a regular member of Chamber Music Charleston and plays frequently with the Charleston and Hilton Head Orchestras. 

Irina Pevzner, pianist, was born in Ukraine and raised in Latvia. After graduating with honors from the Riga National Music Conservatory, she moved to the United States with her family. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance and Music Education from Mansfield University of PA and a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance from Carnegie Mellon University. In 2005 she received the Artist Certificate from the College of Charleston. Her principal teachers include Larisa Zakke, Marina Smirnova, Nancy Boston and Enrique Graf.  Irina has performed throughout Latvia, Ukraine, Spain and the east coast of the United States. She is a frequent participant at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC.  Currently she is on the faculty of Charleston Academy of Music and the College of Charleston.

French Hornist Debra Sherrill hails from Danville, Illinois and currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina. Debra is in her 6th season as a core member of Chamber Music Charleston. In addition, she maintains an active teaching studio and is a member of both the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. She also frequently performs with the Savannah Philharmonic, the Greenville Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the Syracuse Symphony and the Colorado Symphony. During the summers, she is a participant with the Endless Mountain Music Festival, Loon Lake Live, the St. Augustine Music Festival and the Mozart in the South Festival. Before moving to the Lowcountry of South Carolina, she held the positions of Associate Principal Horn of the Barcelona (Spain) Symphony and Principal Horn of the South Dakota Symphony. Debra has studied with Roger Collins at Western Illinois University, Erik Ralske at Manhattan School of Music, and Jerome Ashby at the Juilliard School. Outside of playing her horn, Debra’s hobbies include traveling, karate, hiking, kayaking, scuba diving and she is an avid birder.

A native of Indiana, violist Ben Weiss attended the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  During his eight years of study there Mr. Weiss completed his Bachelor of Music degree and Performer Diploma in violin as well as a Performer Diploma in viola. While at Indiana University he was a member of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Terre Haute Symphony, Carmel Symphony and the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. Ben and his wife Jenny enjoy performing together as the Weiss Duo and he has made Charleston his home to teach violin and viola at the Ashley Hall School.  In addition to Chamber Music Charleston, he also performs regularly with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the College of Charleston.  Mr. Weiss is a regular member of Chamber Music Charleston.