KENN WAGNER (Violin)

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. 

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)

Jay Christy began studying the violin at the age of three in the Washington D.C. area with his mother Nancy. His other teachers include John Merrill of the Baltimore Symphony and Lev Gurevich of the Florida Symphony. Jay received his Bachelor of Music degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of David Cerone, David Updegraff, Victor Danchenko, and Eugene Gratovich. He received a Master of Music degree from Indiana University as a student of Franco Gulli, and later pursued orchestral studies with Stephen Majeske and Bernhard Goldschmidt of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Jay has been performing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 1991 and in 2002 was named Assistant Principal Second. He was also Assistant Concertmaster of the American Sinfonietta in Bellingham, Washington from 1993-2002, and has performed with the Grand Teton Music Festival since 2003. Jay has performed with the Georgian Chamber Players at Spivey Hall, is a frequent guest of the Emory Chamber Music Society, has performed with the Vega String Quartet, and has performed with Thamyris, a contemporary music ensemble. He is an active violin teacher and coach in the metropolitan Atlanta area, is an Artist Affiliate at Emory University, is on the faculty of Reinhardt College, and is an adjunct faculty member at Covenant College in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He also is a guest faculty member at Stringendo School for Strings, and has been teaching and performing in the Robert McDuffie School for Strings at Mercer University. This season he will be appearing with the Riverside Chamber Players. He completed his first chamber music recording, a collection of oboe quartets recorded with his two sisters and brother-in-law, who are also professional musicians. The name of the group is the Christy Oboe Quartet and they have played concerts throughout the Southeast and in Breckenridge, CO.

Jay has appeared as soloist with the Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Walton High School Orchestra on an Austrian tour, the Rome Symphony, the Florida Space Coast Philharmonic, the Florida Symphony Orchestra under Alfred Savia, and the Melbourne Community Orchestra. He also soloed with the National Repertory Orchestra under Otto Werner Mueller, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra under Louis Lane, the Ohio Ballet Orchestra, and the Congress of Strings Orchestra in a double concerto with Joseph Silverstein.

Jay resides in Marietta with his wife Katie and daughters Diana and Jeanette.

DAVID DILLARD (Violin)

WES COLLINS (viola)

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 (cello)

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. 

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)

Douglas Sommer, double bassist, has been a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 1989. Previously, he had been a member of the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. A California native, Douglas studied double bass at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and went on to receive his Masters degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, studying with Lawrence Wolfe. Douglas has played at the Spoleto Festival, was a fellow at the Tanglewood Institute, and has participated in the Grand Teton Music Festival. An active chamber musician, Douglas has performed with the Atlanta Virtuosi, Atlanta Winds, Lyra String Quartet, Emory Chamber Players, Kennesaw State University Chamber Players, the Riverside Chamber Players, and the Atlanta Chamber Players as well as participating in the Pensacola Chamber Music Festival. Douglas most recently performed with the Alexander Quartet at the Highlands Chamber Music Festival.

Douglas enjoys playing all styles of music and has had the opportunity to play bass and electric bass with many artists including George Benson, Clay Aiken, Michael Feinstein, and Mercedes Ellington. An active recording musician, Douglas has performed on the recordings of R.E.M., Shawn Mullins, and Kelly Price and has recorded numerous commercials including Delta, Hallmark, and the Cartoon Network.

Douglas is on the faculty at Kennesaw State University and Emory University and is a sought after clinician at schools and universities throughout the southeast. He is a former board member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

MICHAEL KURTH (COMPOSER IN RESIDENCE)

Composer-in-residence Michael Kurth is 38-years-old and has spent much of that time playing bass. He lives with his wife and three dogs in East Lake, near a really exclusive country club, but also near several abandoned and burned-out houses. His dogs are more welcome in those yards than on the country club's golf course. Of the three dogs, two and a half are deaf, one is senile, one has a nearly hairless hind end, one is spectacularly slobbery and flatulent, and all are sweet. His wife loves fresh flowers, so if you happen to see Michael around, please remind him to buy some for her. She certainly deserves them. Michael recommends the shrimp tacos at Taco Rancho at the State Farmers' Market in Forest Park off I-75 south of the city.