Roy and Lynn Oakley, Violin and Viola
Directors Roy and Lynn Oakley have and extensive musical background with graduate degrees from San Francisco State University in music education and performance. They have taught in public and private schools, guest conducted at Cazadero Music Camp, and taught at Suzuki Institutes. Their approaches to teaching and playing reflect their years of study with Russell Gerhart, David Schneider, Frank Houser, Daniel Kobialka, Andor Toth, Sascha Jacobinoff, and Artur Argeiwicz. Lynn and Roy are members of the Musician’s Union Local 6 and have performed for years with San Francisco Bay Area musical groups including the Villa String Quartet, The Oakland East Bay Symphony, the Marin Symphony, The San Francisco Symphony, the Lamplighters, and others.

Susan Beauchamp, violin
Susan Beauchamp studied violin as a child and teenager in Rochester N.Y. public schools and at the Hochstein Music School. Paul Lippa, her teacher at Hochstein, inspired Susan to become a teacher. She was a member of the SUNY Buffalo orchestra and chamber orchestra from 1968-1972 under Pamela Gerhardt. Susan studied violin with Katie Juneau from 1985-1990, continuing her studies at the Oakley Violin Studio with Roy Oakley, adding ensemble work and beginning violin- teaching techniques. She is currently studying with Daniel Kobialka and Roy Oakley.

Gretchen Elliott, cello
Gretchen Elliott, cellist grew up in Phoenix, where her mother, an accomplished pianist, cellist, singer and teacher, saw to it that all five of her children received training in at least one musical instrument. For Gretchen, cello lessons began at the age of seven. Her education included a year at the Interlochen Arts Academy, followed by four years at Indiana University, where she studied with Janos Starker and obtained her undergraduate degree.
Her early professional experience included work with the Milwaukee and Houston Symphonies. After arriving in the Bay Area, Gretchen free-lanced extensively, performing as a member of various chamber music groups and as a substitute with both the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, in addition to being a member of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra for ten years.
Due to recurring hand and shoulder problems, she began to study the Alexander Technique in 1989. After completing a three-year teacher-training course at the Alexander Training Institute of San Francisco, she was certified to teach the Technique in 1993. Currently, she incorporates the Alexander Technique both in teaching her cello students and in helping professional musicians to avoid and/or resolve injuries that may prevent or restrict their ability to play.

Nancy Ewing-Wood, Viola
Nancy Ewing-Wood was an active free-lance violist and teacher in the Bay Area before moving to Nevada County in 1990. She appeared with the Oakland, San Jose, Marin Berkeley, and California Symphony Orchestras, as well as with Western Opera Theater and Lamplighters. She holds a B.M. from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Don Erhlich, Gennady Kleiman, and Dan Kobialka. She has played with all the valley orchestras from Chico to Modesto and is presently Director of the Sierra String Studio, starting students in a Suzuki-Style program and conducting her own orchestra made up of students and professionals.

Jonathan Haddox, Violin
Jonathan Haddox started studying the violin at the tender age of five and continued with Roy Oakley for 19 years. Through his studies, he has enjoyed much in chamber as well as solo performances. As a member of the Villa Sinfonia and Villa Chamber Orchestras, he has performed on tours to Hawaii, Germany, and Austria, as well as the British Isles and Carnegie Hall in New York. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University in the fields of history and the Japanese language. He is currently a student of Nathan Rubin and is a member of the Berkeley Symphony.

James Hurley, Viola
James Hurley, principal violist with the Oakland-East Bay Symphony, began his study of viola in public elementary school. He has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and as soloist with the San Francisco Chamber Players. He has recorded several movie sound tracks with the Skywalker Symphony and has worked with the Villa Sinfonia for over 20 years. He holds a B.A. in Music Performance and Music Teaching Credential from CSU Hayward. He has taught in public, private, and parochial schools since 1980, as well as in the Young Musicians Program at UC Berkeley and has served on the faculties of CSU Hayward and UC Berkeley. Mr Hurley has studied with Leonied Gestin, Detlev Olshausen , and Geraldine Walters. He and his wife are currently living in Florida, but he “commutes” to the Bay Area to play with the Oakland –East Bay Symphony and the Villa Sinfonia and to teach at the Villa Sinfonia Zephyr Chamber Music Camp.

Patrice May, Violin
As a toddler, Patrice was entertained by her mother Joyce’s practicing (Wieniaski, Paganini, Chausson, Saint-Saens) during afternoon naps and late at night while her Dad was at school. An advantage of being the first child was her mother’s undivided attention in those first years, which focused on singing and piano playing. At age eight, while living in the Central Valley, she began studying the violin with Alexander Vdovoin, and then Severin Saphir in Berkeley. In high school and at Mills College, Nathan Rubin guided her violinistic efforts, while Colin Hanpton nurtured her love of chamber music. A year in London at the Guildhall School of Music and two years at Brigham Young in Provo, Utah rounded out her education. Professionally, Patrice freelanced for a year in northern Germany, joined the Phoenix Symphony for a year, and then returned to the Bay Area to become a member of the Oakland Symphony and various chamber orchestras and smaller ensembles. She played the long-running Phantom of the Opera for almost five years, and since then, concurrently with the birth and growth of her and her husband Robin’s twins, has turned her enthusiasm to teaching, joining the staff of the Villa Sinfonia Foundation and building her own private studio in Berkeley. She credits her involvement in music, and the joy and satisfaction that this involvement brings, to her parents, who had the foresight and the willingness to sacrifice all the time, energy, and money necessary to provide a musical home environment and, of course, all those lessons!

Carol Rice, Cello
Carol Rice grew up in Morro Bay, just the other side of the hill from Kent Nagano, and both of them studied music with Mr. Korishelu, who started her on flute and him on clarinet. The cello quickly replaced the flute as Carol’s main instrument, and then she went to UC Santa Cruz, and studied cello with Laszlo Varga and Irene Sharp, and chamber music with Helichiro Ohyama. Ohyama, who subsequently became principal viola of the Los Angels Philharmonic, was a particularly strong influence on Carol, and through his friendship with Yo-Yo Ma, she had the opportunity to play chamber music with Ma and to study with him for one summer.
Carol did her graduate work at Hale University, where she met her husband, David Wishnia, also a cellist. When the moved to the Bay Area in 1983, she auditioned for principal cello in the Berkeley Symphony and a section position with the San Jose Symphony and won both auditions. She continues to play in both of these orchestras and to freelance in other groups. Carol enjoys working with kids, teaching in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Preparatory Division, is active in the Berkeley Symphony’s Music Education Program, and has many private students, from age 5 through adult.


David Ryther, Violin and Viola
Violinist David Ryther is a ubiquitous performer in the San Francisco contemporary music scene. He has recently appeared with such innovative ensembles as Earplay, the San Francisco Contemporary Players, and is a regular member of the intrepid S. F. Sound Group. Fueled by a passion for new music, David is completing his doctorate in contemporary violin performance at the University of California at San Diego, a world-renowned music department for contemporary music. His dissertation includes the original composition of violin etudes which explore contemporary violin techniques. While in San Diego, David performed with the UCSD faculty new music ensemble, Sonor, alongside such musicians as Harvey Sollberger, Steven Shick and George Lewis. He was also concertmaster of the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Harvey Sollberger, where he received the Thomas Nee Award for Excellence. David has brought his interpretive power to Darmstadt (200) and the Banff Centre (2002) as a resident performer and soloist. David has been a featured soloist up and down the Califonia coast in such festivals as the Green Umbrella Series in Los Angeles, the Ojai Festival, the “New Music for a New Century” festival in Santa Barbara and “April in Santa Cruz”. As an undergraduate at the University of California at Santa Cruz, he was first violinist in the University of California new music ensemble Octagon, which performed extensively at all UC campuses, and at Merkin Hall, New York City. A dedicated teacher, David has taught violinists and musician through the undergraduate level and has received the “Teaching Assistant of the Year” award from UCSD. Currently he is an affiliated teacher, member, and occasional conductor with the Villa Sinfonia and has coached chamber music at the Zephyr Point music camp. His association with the Villa Sinfonia goes back many years to his formative years as a young student in the program. David’s principal violin teachers have included Roy Oakley, Roy Malan, Henriek Kowalski and Janos Negyesy. Reflecting his diverse musical interests, David has also worked closely with such eminent musicians as Pauline Oliveros and Ravi Shankar.

Daryl Schilling, Violin

After playing violin for special concerts with the Villa Sinfonia for several years, Daryl Schilling began teaching with the organization in the Fall of 1999. Her previous violin teaching experience includes working with the Suzuki program at San Francisco State University and private teaching.
Ms. Schilling has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton College in Studio Art and a Master of Music degree in Violin from the University of the Pacific. She has done further study in violin and chamber music at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Indiana University and San Francisco State University. Her private teachers include Ralph Matesky, Irving Ilmer, Andor Toth and Leonard Austria.
Before settling in the Bay Area, Ms. Schilling was a member of the Milwaukee and the Indianapolis Symphonies. Her Bay Area professional experience includes the Golden Gate, Orpheum, and Curran Theatre Orchestras; the Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra; and the Western Opera Theatre. She often plays with the Lamplighters Music Theatre, Pocket Opera, and the Berkeley and Modesto Symphonies.

Julie Smolin, Violin
Julie Smolin grew up in Rochester, MN, and began playing the violin when she was eight. At the age of fourteen, she joined her mother to become a member of the Rochester Symphony Orchestra. After graduating from high school, she was awarded a full scholarship to participate in the Congress of Strings in Cincinnati. There, she was concertmistress under the direction of Morton Gould. After receiving a B.A. in Music Education from Luther College in Decorah, IA, she taught junior high and elementary orchestra in Red Wing, MN. During that time, she also studied the Suzuki Method of teaching violin. After two years of teaching, Julie continued her violin studies with Eduard Melkus at the Hochsschule fur Musick und Kunst in Vienna, becoming a member of the Maurice Ravel Chamber Orchestra and performing throughout Europe. Now lind in San Francisco, she is teaching Suzuki violin at the Villa Sinfonia Foundation.

Gordon Thrupp, Viola
Gordon Thrupp began violin lessons at age five. In his senior year of high school, he was a recipient of a scholarship from the American Federation of Musicians for the Congress of Strings in Cincinnati. In college, he also began studying the viola, preferring the viola sound and finding that there was a greater demand for violists in chamber ensembles and orchestras.
Gordon holds a B.S. in Geology from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Earth Science from UC Santa Cruz. As a research geologist, he studied the ancient magnetic record in rocks to investigate plate tectonics. As a consultant, he has focused on quantitative analysis of subsurface flow of groundwater and has developed numerous numerical groundwater slow models for tools in assessing engineering design alternatives.
Although Gordon’s primary employment is as a geologist and environmental consultant, his true passion is music and he has been playing viola professionally for 25 years; including performances with the Berkeley Symphony, Lamplighters, Pocket Opera, Santa Cruz Symphony, Monterey Symphony, the Villa Sinfonia Foundation and a variety of other ensembles and orchestras in the Bay Area and in Australia. He is a coach at the Villa Sinfonia Zephyr Music Camp in the summer.

David Wishnia, Cello
David Wishnia has been involved with the Villa Sinfonia Foundation for over five years, first as a professional cellist in the Villa Sinfonia concerts and now in dual roles as both performer and parent of two children involved in the program. He is a member of the Marin Symphony and has performed with many Bay Area ensembles during the past two decades, including the Sacramento Symphony, the Berkeley Symphony, the Russian Chamber Orchestra, and others. David received his M.M. from the Yale School of Music and a B.S. in Mathematics from SUNY Stonybrook.

Barbara Wampner, Cello
After seeing the first Japanese Tour Group in 1964, Barbara Wampner became interested in the ideas of Shinichi Suzuki and, in 1976, graduated from the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, Japan. She has taught at many summer institutes in the U.S., Canada and South America and has been on the faculty for international conferences in Ireland, Australia, Korea, Canada, Japan and the U.S.. Barbara has a private studio of approximately forty cello students in the San Francisco Bay Area and directs the Suzuki School of Music at Dominican University of California at San Rafael. She has a B.M.E. degree from Northwestern University and an M.A. degree from San Francisco State University with cello studies with Margaret Rowell. For thirteen years she taught instrumental music in the San Francisco Unified School District middle schools.