Simon Lapointe Over the last few years,Simon served as concertmaster of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra,the Peabody Conductors Orchestra and the Drummondville Symphony.During the 2002-2003 season,he was Acting Concertmaster of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra as well as first violin of the Montclaire String Quartet.Some of his performances were broadcast by the National Public Radio (NPR)in the United States.

He was a prizewinner of many competitions,including the Canadian Music Competition,the Baltimore Music Club and the Trois-Rivieres Symphony.As a soloist,he has played with the Trois-Rivieres,Drummondville and Peabody Conductors Symphony Orchestras.He also collaborated in many chamber music projects and master classes with Leon Fleisher,Pamela Frank and the Juilliard String Quartet.

Simon earned his MM at the Peabody Conservatory of Music with Martin Beaver.He also obtained his Diplôme d'Etudes Superieures I at the Trois-Rivieres Conservatory.He played the last two seasons as Assistant Principal Second of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra in Canada.He currently is Principal Second of the Virginia Symphony. Simon would like to thank the Canimex Foundation for their support through the loan of a 1844 G.F.Pressenda violin and a Sartory bow




Jennifer Snyder, viola, is in her fourth season as Assistant Principal violist with the Virginia Symphony. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she began her studies at the age of 4. She completed her high school degree at the well-known Interlochen Arts Academy and her Bachelor of Music in viola performance at the Ohio State University. She then went on to receive her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School where she studied with Karen Tuttle. While in New York, she became a member of the Vaux String Quartet with which performed quite frequently throughout New York including Alice Tully and Weill Hall for two years. Ms. Snyder has performed with the Columbus Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, Norfolk Chamber Consort, Virginia Chamber Players, Venus Chamber Players and Manhattan Virtuosi. She has participated in music festivals such as; The Breckenridge Music Festival, The National Orchestral Institute, The Aspen Music Festival, The National Repertory Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan and The Interlochen Arts Camp. Ms. Snyder is a seven time scholarship winner of the American Symphony Orchestra League and grant recipient from the International Congress of Symphony and Orchestra Musicians. She was also a Diehn Scholar, (NY) ASTA scholarship recipient and has also been honored as an Outstanding Young Woman of America. Ms. Snyder continues also to be a strong advocate and advisor for the Sphinx Organization (Music Scholarship Assistance Fund) which aids in the mentoring and financial support of minority student musicians in America.

An enthusiastic educator, Ms. Snyder has been on the viola faculty at Denison University, Christopher Newport University, The New England Music Camp, and the Chamber Music Connection as an instructor, chamber music coach, advisor, and lecturer. She is currently teaching viola at ODU and the Academy of Music where she is also the director of the Chamber Ensemble Program. Ms. Snyder has taught at the Harlem School for the Arts where she was a member of the active West Side String Quartet which performed as a mentoring ensemble for inner city children. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, writing, singing and has even been seen on a few music videos as well!



Rebecca S. Gilmore, an orchestral and chamber musician, is currently a Cellist with The Virginia Symphony as well as a substitute for The Philadelphia Orchestra. Previously she was Principal Cellist of The Greensboro Symphony where she made her solo debut performing Tchaikovsky's "Rococo Variations". Earlier in her career she soloed with the Charlotte Symphony and the Charlotte Repertory Orchestra and the latter with which she performed Haydn's "Cello Concerto in D Major". In the Hampton Roads area (Norfolk, Virginia Beach) Ms. Gilmore has been a featured solo and chamber artist with the Virginia Arts Festival, The Virginia Symphony, the Norfolk Chamber Consort and Old Dominion University's modern music group, Creo. Her cello career has taken her abroad to The Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada, England, The Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and China . Within the United States she has both taught and performed with numerous music festivals including the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra, The Brevard Music Center, Garth Newel Chamber Music Center, The National Repertory Orchestra, The National Orchestral Institute, and the North Carolina School of the Arts' International Music Program where she soloed with orchestra throughout Europe. In Canada she and pianist/composer Gabriela Frank performed Frank's world premiere of "Rios Profundos" which was recently released on a Capstone Records label titled, "It Won't Be The Same River" with the Mallarme Chamber Players of Durham, North Carolina.

As a chamber musician, her latest joint venture is Ambrosia 3, a professional performing chamber ensemble, of which she is a founding member. The group came together in the fall of 2002 in order to perform a vast range of chamber music literature. Their most recent debut was on the Feldman Chamber Music Society Series where they entranced a full house of patrons of works by Shostakovich, Brahms and Beethoven. More recently Ambrosia is exploring the String Trio repertoire in pursuits of future recordings and travels abroad.

Ms. Gilmore holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Master of Music degree in Cello Performance from Indiana and Rice Universities. Her teachers include Janos Starker, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Norman Fischer and Desmond Hoebig. Ms. Gilmore is currently a faculty member with The Academy of Music and Virginia Wesleyan College.

Mayu Kuroda Cipriano was born in Tokyo, Japan and began studying the violin at the age of five. Immediately she began to show promise as a young musician, performing her first recital at the Yamaha Hall in Ginza,Tokyo at the age of seven. At 12, she won the Special Prize in the All Japan Mainichi Competition; and at 13, played with the NHK second symphony. At the behest of Cho-Liang Lin, she came to the United States to study with Ms. Dorothy Delay at the Juilliard Pre-College. Mayu continued her undergraduate studies at Juilliard, earning a Bachelor of Music in 1998. In addition to Juilliard, she also attended the Aspen Music Festival for six consecutive summers beginning in 1991, earning a second prize in the Nakamichi concerto competition. As a result, she performed in recital at the Wheeler Opera House. While in New York, Mayu performed at the Cremona Exhibition at the Christoph Landon Gallery, played several recitals around the city with her sister Ai, a Juilliard graduate in piano, and made several appearances on Japanese radio and television during her other summers away from the city.

Currently Mayu is in her fourth season with the Virginia Symphony, previously holding positions with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, and the San Antonio Symphony. In addition, she also has substituted with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Alabama Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony. Mayu is also an avid chamber musician; in New York, Mayu was member of the Astor Quartet, which performed throughout the city and toured South America, appearing on Colombian television. She has also performed the the Ambrosia Quartet on the Virginia Symphony's Salon chamber music series. Currently, she resides in Virginia Beach with her husband, Armed Forces School of Music instructor James, and their beloved cat George.

Dr. Amanda Halstead is an accomplished pianist and chamber musician in the Tidewater area. After relocating to the Virginia Peninsula in 2005, Dr. Halstead quickly established a reputation as one of the best chamber musicians and accompanists in the area. She performs frequently on faculty and student recitals at Old Dominion University where she teaches academic classes and private lessons. For the past two seasons, Dr. Halstead has performed for the Virginia Arts Festival as resident pianist for the John Duffy Composers Institute, a symposium dedicated to contemporary music. As an orchestral pianist, Dr. Halstead performs with the Virginia Symphony, the Richmond Symphony, and Project Copernicus, an emerging chamber ensemble dedicated to innovative programming and musical outreach in Miami, Florida. In the past, Dr. Halstead has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the National Repertory Orchestra, the Repertoire Orchestra of CCM, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, and Columbus Symphony Orchestra. She has participated in many prestigious summer festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Pianofest in the Hamptons, and the Opera Theater and Chamber Music Festival of Lucca, Italy. Dr. Halstead received her Bachelors degree from Rice University in Houston, and her Masters and Doctorate of Music in Piano Performance from the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati. Her former teachers include Robert Roux, Eugene and Elizabeth Pridonoff, and Frank Weinstock.

James Nesbit, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, received his B.S. from Duquesne University in 1981. His professional experiences include solo clarinet with the New York Harlem Opera Ensembles European tour of Porgy and Bess in 1981-82, lead alto saxophone with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (1982-84). Mr. Nesbit performs regularly with the Virginia Symphony, Virginia Symphony Pops, Virginia Opera, Richmond Symphony, and numerous touring Broadway productions on saxophone, clarinet, flute, and bassoon. He has also appeared with such entertainers as Tony Bennett, Wayne Newton, Barbara Mandrell, Natalie Cole, Mel Torme, Lou Rawls, Nancy Wilson, The Ojays, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Spinners, Lynyrd Skynyrd and jazz artists Lionel Hampton, Frank Foster, Jimmy Heath, Milt Hinton, Al Jarreau, Christian McBride, Diane Schuur, Terrell Stafford, Arturo Sandoval and Jon Faddis to name just a few. As a soloist, he has appeared at Carnegie Hall and has been featured with the Virginia Symphony. Currently Mr. Nesbit performs with the American Saxophone Quartet and the Great American Music Ensemble and can be heard on their upcoming album "It's All In The G.A.M.E.". Additionally, he can be seen with a variety of groups in the Eastern United States performing in everything from jazz, R&B and recording work to symphony orchestras and chamber music. Mr. Nesbit was instructor of woodwinds at the Armed Forces School of Music and currently serves as instructor of saxophone at Old Dominion University, instructor of saxophone, clarinet and bassoon at Hampton University, instructor of woodwinds at Chowan University and instructor of saxophone and jazz winds at the College of William and Mary. He resides in Virginia Beach with his wife Kerri and daughter Erin.