Johanna Beaver is Instructor of Violin and Viola at the University of Mary Washington. As a founding member of the Afton String Quartet, Johanna performs throughout Virginia in recitals and education programs, collaborating with composers and friends, to spread the joy of chamber music. Ms. Beaver also performs with the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra, the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, and Richmond Symphony. Before moving to Virginia, Johanna was a freelance musician in New York City, where she worked with several of today's acclaimed composers, including Elliot Carter, David Lang, Tristan Murait, Sheila Silver, and Richard Wernick. She held the teaching internship with the Opus 118, Harlem Center for Strings, and assistantship at SUNY Stony Brook. Johanna has served as viola faculty at the University of Virginia, Suffolk Community College, Stony Brook Pre-College, the Interlochen Arts Camp, and Ann Arbor Summer Arts Institute. In 2006, Johanna received her DMA from Stony Brook University, under the mentorship of its world class performance faculty, especially the Emerson String Quartet, Kathy Murdock, and the late Mitchell Stern.

MM, Violin, Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, 2007.
BM, Violin, School of Music at Boston University's College of Fine Arts, 2005.
Violinist Elise Blake is a versatile and experienced performer of chamber, solo, and orchestral repertoire. She has appeared at many exciting venues including Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York, The Music Center at Strathmore in Maryland, the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater in Washington, DC, and the "Globe Theatre" of Villa Borghese in Rome. Elise relocated to Virginia in late 2007, where recent projects and events include collaborating on a recital with Dr. Lise Keiter on the Mary Baldwin College Sunday Recital Series; working with Netherlands--based composer Ellen Linquist with the Afton String Quartet; performing Copeland's Sextet (1937) with the string faculty of the University of Virginia's McIntire Department of Music; serving as Principal Violin II for performances of Lucia di Lammermoor under the baton of acclaimed maestro Steven White; playing with the luminous violinist Gil Shaham and the Virginia Symphony for Barber's Violin Concerto; and raising money for the charity "People Helping People" through a benefit concert with the Afton String Quartet. Please visit www.eliseblakeviolin.com for more information.

Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Mary Washington & Director of the UMW Jazz Ensemble, Flute Ensemble, and the principal instructor of flute, clarinet, oboe, saxophone and jazz piano.   

■ Active performer as well as an educator.  As a multi-instrumentalist, specializing in woodwinds and jazz piano, toured and performed throughout the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe.

Works within various jazz and classical genres including clinics, solo appearances, chamber, and club date performances.

■ Former Artist/Clinician with Boosey & Hawkes/Buffet Clarinets.

■ Former member and featured soloist with the USAF Airmen of Note, in Washington DC., the premier jazz ensemble of the United States Air Force. Credits include performances with Jazz Artists, Arturo Sandoval, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Watrous, Louis Bellson, Stanley Turentine, Bob Mitzer, Jon Faddis, and Sammy Nestico.

■ Credits also include performances with Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennet, Nancy Wilson, Bob Hope, Spinners, Temptations, Crystal Gayle, the Manhatten Transfer, and the National Symphony Orchestra.

Kansas City based pianist Kari Johnson has been heard at a variety of new music venues. Recent performances include solo recitals at Washington State University and Montana State University, and appearances at EMM, SEAMUS 2010 and 2011, and the 2011 Thailand International Composition Festival. She can be heard on Irritable Hedgehog’s 2012 release of Scott Blasco’s Queen of Heaven. Her playing has been praised for its firm musicality and “sensitivities [that are] rather extraordinary.” In addition to keeping an active performance schedule Ms. Johnson teaches at the UMKC Community Music and Dance Academy and Avila University.

Cheryl Melfi has served as principal clarinetist in the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the Catalina Chamber Orchestra, and the Michigan Pops Orchestra. She is a past member of Quadrivium, the Crosswinds Ensemble, the Arizona-based wind quintet Fünf, and the contemporary music quartet THUD. With Quadrivium, she was a featured artist at the 2010 Electro-Acoustic Juke Joint and the 2011 Thailand International Composition Festival. Other festival performances include the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest, Electronic Music Midwest, and SEAMUS. Recent performances include Digital Reeds with the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance and an appearance as guest artist at West Virginia University.