Gretchen Gettes
Cellist Gretchen Gettes earned an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a Masters of Music degree in cello performance from USC where she studied with Lynn Harrell. She was a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra for six years, and in addition to performing the Nutcracker over 150 times, played on numerous film soundtracks and commercials. Gretchen freelances in the Baltimore/Washington area and is a member of the Gliss ensemble and the band, Maycat. She is principal cellist and soloist with the Baltimore’s Bach Concert Series and the Orchestra of St. John in Ellicott City. She teaches privately and is on the faculty at Goucher College, Peabody Preparatory, and Baltimore School for the Arts.
Nathan Southwick
Dr. Nathan Southwick is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, where he was named a Minerva Scholar, as well as the instructor of violin and viola at Campbell and Gardner-Webb Universities. An avid recitalist and soloist, Nathan has performed across the United States and Europe, including Italy, Austria, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Slovenia. As a devoted chamber musician, he has been a participant in master classes with such acclaimed groups as the Shanghai Quartet, the Cypress String Quartet, the Claremont Trio, the Carducci Quartet, the Emerson Quartet and the Jerusalem Quartet, alongside regular coachings from the Fry Street Quartet. Nathan performed with the Elysian Quartet, the Graduate String Quartet at Texas Tech University, the UNCG Graduate String Quartet, and as a an acting violinist in the Permian Basin String Quartet. Nathan is a Hayes Fellow, Minerva Scholar, Presidential Scholar, recipient of the Presser Award, an Eccles Scholar, Moore Fellow, an Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities Grant recipient and was a selected Hesse Scholar at the Aldeburgh Festival in Suffolk, England in 2012. After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Utah State, he has been teaching assistant to three established pedagogues, violinists Annie Chalex Boyle, Charles Wetherbee, and Marjorie Bagley at Texas Tech, the University of Colorado-Boulder, and UNCG respectively.
Dave Phillips
Violist Dave Phillips is a member of the Greensboro Symphony and is Associate Principal of the Fayetteville Symphony. He has coached chamber music at Harbor Front Music Festival in Port Jefferson, NY and has performed chamber music throughout the Northeast and, more locally, with A la Carte Greensboro, Catchfire Collective and at Garth Newel Music Center. He holds degrees from SUNY Potsdam and Penn State University, and is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Simon Ertz
Simon Ertz is principal viola of the Winston Salem Symphony, North Carolina Opera and plays as a regular substitute in both the Charlotte and North Carolina Symphonies. He has appeared as soloist with the Winston Salem Symphony and regularly performs on the Greensboro Symphony Chamber Music Series. After graduating from the Royal Northern College of Music Simon worked with orchestras across the UK including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Northern Chamber Orchestra. As a member of the Degas Quartet from 2002 until 2010, Simon has performed in venues across the country including appearing as guest artists at the Aspen Music Festival, the Chicago Chamber Music Society and at the Library of Congress where he performed on the Tuscan Medici Stradivarius. Since moving to North Carolina, Simon completed a Doctoral of Musical Arts at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and now teaches at Duke University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He plays a viola made by his brother, Neil Ertz.
Kati Sebestyen
Kati Sebestyen, a native of Hungary, is Professor of Violin and head of the string department at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. She has played as a part of the Haydn Quartet and leads the Sebestyen String Ensemble.
Wendy Rawls
Violinist Wendy Rawls is an active performer and teacher. She is presently assistant concertmaster of the Greensboro Symphony and recent concertmaster for the Greensboro Opera. Ms. Rawls is a member of the GSO String Quintet, an educational outreach ensemble that performs chamber music annually for hundreds of public school children across Guilford County. She has also performed as guest concertmaster with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and as first violinist with Palm Beach Opera, Opera Roanoke, North Carolina Opera, Charlotte Symphony, Eastern Music Festival Orchestra and Bach Choir of Bethlehem. As an independent contractor, she has enjoyed collaborating and touring with a wide variety of artists from Rod Stewart to Mannheim Steamroller. She has been on the faculty of the Brevard Music Center since the summer of 2008 and for many summers, she performed in Italy at the Spoleto Festival, in the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and at the American School at Fontainbleau, France. As chamber artist, she has recently performed with Sitkovetsky and Friends, Bach’s Lunch @ Starmount, at the Brevard Music Center and with the new ensemble À la carte. Ms. Rawls is founder and director of the Gate City String School in Greensboro, N.C. She was formerly on the artist faculty at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and C.W. Post University. Ms. Rawls has received degrees from Ithaca College, New England Conservatory, and Mannes College of Music. Her major teachers include Linda Case, Paul Kantor and Hiroko Yajima.