The Riverside Chamber Players
KENN WAGNER (Violin)
Kenn has appeared as soloist and concertmaster with the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra, performing the Barber, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Glazanov violin concertos, with a reengagement this season performing the Beethoven concerto at Atlanta Symphony Hall. Last season he also joined the Camerata at Kennesaw University as soloist performing the Haydn C Major concerto and was reengaged to play Navarra by Sarasate with Helen Kim. One special engagement this season has been his solo opportunity with the Dekalb Symphony performing Bach Double concerto with Olga Shpitko. Mr. Wagner has served as Acting Assistant Concertmaster for Atlanta Symphony Orchestra during the 2004-05 season and has been Principal Second and Assistant Concertmaster of the Wintergreen Music Festival in Wintergreen, Virginia.
JAY CHRISTY (Violin)SOU CHUN SU (Violin) A
native of Taiwan, Mr. Su began his violin studies at the age of
three with his father and received numerous local and national awards.
Mr. Su received his Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute
of Music in 1990 and was immediately appointed to his current position
as the Associate Principal Second Violin of the Atlanta Symphony
Orchestra. At the time, he was the youngest member of the ASO at
the age of 22. At the Cleveland Institute of Music, his teachers
included Bernhard Goldschmidt, and Daniel Majeske, both late principals
of the Cleveland Orchestra. He also attended the Encore School for
Strings where he studied with David Cerone. As a member of the Kosumast
String Quartet, he worked extensively with the members of the Juilliard,
Guarneri and Tokyo string quartets. Mr. Su has performed as soloist
with the CIM Symphony Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra
in Colorado, and has been featured in the ASO’s Champagne
and Coffee concerts. As a chamber musician, Mr. Su has performed
with the Georgian Chamber Players and is the founding member of
the Amadeus String Ensemble. Extending his interests beyond classical
music, Mr. Su also participates frequently in the local recording
scene. He has recording credits with the group R. E. M (Automatic
for the people), the Indigo Girls and commercials for Disney, Delta,
Coke and many others. Mr. Su is married to violinist Sheela Iyengar
and has a three-year old daughter, Julia. When he is not performing,
Mr. Su enjoys traveling abroad, cooking, and watching sporting events. WES COLLINS (viola)
JOEL DALLOW (cello)
In addition to his orchestral career, Mr. Dallow is a chamber musician and founder of Riverside Chamber Players, Inc. Created in 2003, this ensemble is dedicated to performing high quality chamber music concerts in the outlying suburbs of Atlanta. As part of its mission, the group provides educational concerts for the Fulton County School System. As a soloist, Mr. Dallow has performed with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Gettysburg Symphony Orchestra and with the Philharmonic Orchestra of New Jersey. He performed regularly with Music For All Seasons, Inc., an organization devoted to the importance of providing the healing power of music to those most in need: residents of hospitals, nursing homes, geriatric centers, prisons, and special facilities for children. His teachers included Stephen Kates, Orlando Cole, William Stokking, Myron Lutzke, and David Geber. Mr. Dallow is a 1994 graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University and a recipient of the Israel Dorman memorial award for achieving excellence in performance. Joel Dallow, born as the second of triplets, grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey in a musical family. His mother is a concert pianist and writer, and his father is a pianist and composer. He currently resides in Roswell with his wife Mary Ellen and their three children.
BRAD RITCHIE (CELLO)Brad Ritchie is from Portland, Oregon and is in his seventh season with the Atlanta Chamber Players and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University, where he studied with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Janos Starker. His graduate degree was earned at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, where he studied with Adriana Contino. As a member of the Felici String Quartet, Mr. Ritchie was a winner of the Kuttner String Quartet Scholarship at Indiana University and subsequently played in Japan, France and Germany. Prior to coming to Atlanta, he was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida. He has twice performed chamber music on Japanese TV and recorded a CD in Tokyo, Chocolate Fashion. In the spring of 2001, he was featured in an ACP performance of the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the DeKalb Symphony Orchestra. Over the past five seasons, Mr. Ritchie has also collaborated with performers in Mammoth Lakes, Ca. as part of the Chamber Music America Rural Residency Program. The 2001 releases of Footeprints and Sacred Theory of the Earth marked his CD debut with the ACP.
DOUGLAS SOMMER (BASS)MICHAEL KURTH (COMPOSER IN RESIDENCE) |
Kenn Wagner, first violinist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, began focusing his studies toward a musical career at age thirteen ,after soloing with the New Orleans and Arlington, Virginia Symphonies. Driven to play in a great orchestra someday, he trained under Joseph Gingold, former Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, and Vernon Summers, violinist with the National Symphony. Before graduating from Indiana University, he won his first position with the New Jersey Symphony. While finishing his Bachelor Degree, playing with New Jersey, and substituting in the Baltimore Symphony, Kenn auditioned and joined the Atlanta Symphony in 1994, with the aid of coaching from William Steck, Concertmaster of the National Symphony. With his dream realized, he has enjoyed substituting with chamber music groups such as The Riverside Chamber Players, The Atlanta Chamber Players, fund raising concerts with the Georgian Chamber Players, and Awadagin Pratt’s Next generation festival. 
Wes Collins joined the viola section of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in May, 2008. He completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music in May of 2007, where he was a student of Robert Vernon. In Cleveland, Wes played as a substitute with the Cleveland Orchestra and also played in the Canton Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, City Music Cleveland, and was
Assistant Principal Violist with the Akron Symphony. He has always been active in chamber music and was a founding member of the Vesuvius String Quartet from 2004-2006. His summer activities have included the Tanglewood Music Center, Sarasota Music Festival, ENCORE School for Strings, and the Pacific Music Festival. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Wes began studying violin with his mother, Sandy, at the age of four. He also played trumpet under the instruction of his father, Philip Collins, former Principal Trumpeter of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Wes later switched to viola at the guidance and inspiration of Michael Klotz, Violist of the Amernet String Quartet.
Joel Dallow has been a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 1999. He has previously held principal positions in the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Reading Symphony Orchestra, and the Haddonfield Symphony. He has performed regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.