Meet the Musicians
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Violin I
Augusto Diemecke, Concertmaster Debrah Devine, Assistant Concertmaster Craig Evans Jessica Tae Anthony Lisa Lantz Rei-Chi Liao Chet Chang Herbert Poetzl Violin II
Denise Nosewicz, Principal Margaret Matthews Gary Chollet Don Webster Tracey Ingerick Viola
Max Buckholtz, Principal Joanne Lowe Ashley English Tobin John Paul Tobin Keegan Donlan Katie Marshall Cello
Christine Lowe-Diemecke, Principal Shade Zajac Gilbert Antoine Eric Johnson Rintaro Wada |
Bass
Mario Pietra, Principal Nic Mathisen Leo Gonta Flute
Jeanne Sperber, Principal Laura Campbell Melissa Moore Oboe
Susan Laib, Principal Anita Pawlak Lesley McClelland Clarinet
Emily Dobmeier, Principal Richard MacDowell Bassoon
Peter Ecklund, Principal David Resig French Horn
Tyler Ogilvie, Principal Terry Martens Rebecca Dodson-Webster Linda Bergstrom |
Trumpet
Frank Gabriel Campos, Principal Lindsey Burroughs Larry Burroughs Trombone
Duane Smith, Principal Sarahjane Harrigan Craig Harrigan Tuba
Timpani
Simon Bjarning, Acting Principal 22-23 Emily Ickes, *on leave for 22-23 season Percussion
Christopher McAllister, Acting Principal 22-23 Harp
Rosanna Moore, Principal |
Meet our Principals
Every instrument family (or section) of the orchestra has a principal musician who is generally responsible for leading the group and playing orchestral solos. This is your chance to learn about the extraordinary talent that you can hear at each of our concerts.
We are very proud to have such a wonderful group of musicians.
We are very proud to have such a wonderful group of musicians.
Augusto Diemecke, Concertmaster
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Augusto Diemecke started his violin studies at age 11 with his father Emilio Diemecke. Mr. Diemecke continued his violin training with Joanna Maikovska, Enrique Espin Yepes, Jorge Risi, Manuel Suarez, Fredell Lack, and Kenneth Goldsmith. Augusto has participated in master classes with Itzhak Perlman, Henryk Szeryng, and Sergui Luca. Mr. Diemecke is a very active performer. He has played with orchestras such as the Mexico City Philharmonic, OFUNAM, Guanajuato Symphony, Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra do Norte do Portugal, and as concertmaster with Orquesta Philharmonique du Tuornon in France. He is currently the concertmaster with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes (OSFL). As a soloist he has performed with the Guanajuato Symphony, Morelia Symphony, Orquesta Ollin Yolistly, Orquesta de Camara de Bellas Artes, Corning Youth Orchestra, North Houston Symphony, Orquesta do Norte do Portugal, and Colgate Symphony. He has performed chamber music recitals in France, Portugal, Peru, Mexico, and the United States.
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Debrah Devine, Assistant Concertmaster
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Debrah Devine studied Violin Performance at SUNY Fredonia and CUNY Brooklyn College with Cornelius Dufallo and Liang Chai. Her talent has placed her on stage with many regional orchestras and performing organizations including the Binghamton Philharmonic, the MostArts Festival Orchestra, the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra, the Catskill Symphony Orchestra, the Clinton Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Theater Orchestra, the Catskill Choral Society, the Glens Falls Symphony and the Colgate University Orchestra.
As an in-demand violin and viola teacher in the Cooperstown NY Region, Debrah has been teaching strings in Upstate NY for thirteen years. She maintains private teaching studios in Norwich, Oneonta and Mt. Vision NY and has a combined 35-40 students in her studio. In June 2016, Ms. Devine was appointed to the role of Conductor for the Preparatory Orchestra of the Little Delaware Youth Ensemble based in Oneonta, NY. Additionally, Ms. Devine conducts the Junior String Ensemble. |
Denise Lowe-Nosewicz, Principal Second Violin
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Denise Lowe-Nosewicz has been principal second violinist with the OSFL for years. Previous teachers include Kenneth Sarch (Tanglewood Institute for Young Artists),Christian Badea(Faculty, Julliard School of Music), Charles Treger (Hartt College of Music) and Daniel Kobialka (SFSU, San Francisco).
Orchestral positions include The Oakland Symphony, Marin Symphony, San Francisco Opera Company and Tri-Cities Opera. As an active Suzuki educator, Ms. Lowe-Nosewicz has maintained studios in Ithaca and Horseheads. She has implemented and performed at educational outreach programs for local school districts. Teaching positions include The Camerata School, CSMA, and University of Connecticut Community Music School. A founding member of the Finger Lakes String Quartet, Ms. Lowe-Nosewicz is an active chamber music performer. FLS Quartet has performed numerous recitals and benefits in the area. She has been a featured soloist in the Ithaca Bach Festival as well as quartet recitals through the "Musician's Choice" chamber series. |
Max Buckholtz, Principal Viola
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Max Buckholtz began playing the violin at the age of three under the direction Mary Cay Neal (the founder of The Buffalo Suzuki Strings) with whom he toured beginning at the age of ten to Europe, the Former Soviet Union and Hungary under Dr. Shinichi Suzuki’s philosophy of world peace through music. He began his studies on viola at the age of 11.
Max has participated in Master classes and collaborated with Leila Josefowicz, Hilary Hahn, David Kim, Yair Dalal, Gangadar Pradhan, and Oguz Kaan Birhekimoğlu. He has also served as a guest artist/lecturer at Cornell University and Ithaca College lecturing and performing Jewish Moldavian, Romanian Lauteri, Turkish and Indian Music, and has advised students participating in The National String Project at SUNY Potsdam: Crane School of Music. Other appointments include accompanying dance installations in Rome, Italy and collecting Jewish Moldavian Music from Botosani, Romania with a grant from Ithaca College. Max performed and composed music to go along with selected readings and spoken word from internationally renowned Fulbright Scholar Indian Author Kiran Nagakar in a program entitled There is Only One God and Her Name is Life. Max currently serves as the Principal Violist for the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, as a lecturer at Wells College where he conducts chamber orchestra and Jazz Band and as a Dance Accompanist, performer, and composer at Cornell University. In addition to his academic life Max is involved in music education and publishes ethnic string scores through www.newdaymusicscores.com He also directs and performs in the ensemble Journey West which explores melody as it moves across borders - www.journeywestmusic.com |
Christine Lowe-Diemecke, Principal Cello
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Christine Lowe-Diemecke holds a degree in music performance from the University of Connecticut. She is currently the principal cellist at OSFL and the assistant principal cellist in the Tri-Cities Opera. She maintains a studio of over 35 cellists at 171 Cedar Arts, Ithaca Talent Education and the Ithaca Waldorf School. Lowe-Diemecke was formerly a cellist in the Mexico City Philharmonic, as well as principal cellist in Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, TX.
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Mario Pietra, Principal Double Bass
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Mario Pietra is an upright and electric bassist, composer, and educator from Upstate New York. He performs and records actively in the northeast with a variety of jazz groups, orchestras, and other musical projects. Mario holds a master’s degree in music from Syracuse University and is the principal bassist for the OSFL.
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Jeanne Sperber, Principal Flute
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Jeanne Sperber has been known to Southern Tier audiences for over twenty years, as a soloist and orchestral flutist. She serves as principal flute of the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes in Corning and the MostArts Festival Orchestra, performing each summer in Alfred, New York. She also teaches flute privately and at Binghamton University and SUNY Broome.
Before relocating to beautiful upstate New York, she was a freelance flutist in New York City, performing in legendary venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall and Trinity Church. She has toured South America and Cuba twice as a concerto soloist. Radio and television coverage have included a BBC broadcast of one of her Trinity church recitals as well as various television commercials and public radio and television broadcasts. Now happily settled in the Binghamton area of New York, she has been critically acclaimed for “...her brilliant, as usual, display of musicianship.” Williamsport Sun-Gazette. |
Sue Laib, Principal Oboe
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Susan Laib, principal oboist of OSFL since its inception, previously held the same positions in the Corning Philharmonic and Elmira Symphony. She came to the Twin Tiers in 1989 to join the faculty of Mansfield University, where her primary duties are teaching oboe, bassoon and coaching chamber music. An active performer, she is also principal oboe in the Williamsport (PA) Symphony Orchestra. In frequent demand as a free-lance oboist and double reed clinician, she has performed with numerous organizations throughout Pennsylvania and New York, including the Williamsport Chamber Choir and Orchestra, Lycoming College (PA) Close-Up Concert Series, Ithaca Bach Festival, Rochester Bach Festival, and presented master classes in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Sue was an invited performer at the 2007 International Double Reed Society convention at Ithaca College as a member of the Mansfield Wind Trio and was also a featured performer at the 1988 IDRS convention at the University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C. Previously, Sue was a member of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and on the faculty of Tennessee Technological University. As a member of Tennessee Tech’s Cumberland Quintet, Sue toured Belgium and Holland in the spring of 1988 and performed in the group's successful 1986 debut in the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City. Sue’s students have been frequent winners of the MU orchestra’s concerto competition, and double reed alumni who have chosen to continue their studies on the graduate level have been accepted by such schools as the University of North Texas, The Eastman School of Music, Arizona State, Louisiana State, Stoney Brook, and Carnegie-Mellon. Sue holds degrees from The Eastman School of Music, University of Colorado, and Florida State University. Her teachers include Robert Sprenkle, Thomas Stacy, David Abosch, Ronald Roseman, Richard Killmer, and she has attended master classes with Barrick Stees, Christopher Weait, John Mack, Joseph Robinson, and the 2005 Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp. |
Emily Dobmeier, Principal Clarinet
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Based in Rochester, New York, Emily Dobmeier is an active clarinetist and educator, currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Clarinet Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music. She is a faculty member at the Eastman Community Music School, teaching private instruction and leading their Pathways Clarinet Choir. In addition to her teaching and performing career, Emily serves as Program Director at Luzerne Music Center in Lake Luzerne, New York, combining her love for music and the outdoors.
Emily has appeared as a featured artist at Midwest ClariFest and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp’s Summer Music Series and has performed with the Oistrakh Symphony in Chicago and Madeline Island Chamber Music Camp in La Pointe. She has held teaching positions as a Teaching Assistant at the Eastman School of Music, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and as the Woodwind Fellow for the DePaul University Community Music Division in conjunction with the Chicago Public School System. A native of Central New York, she completed her bachelor’s degree in Music Education and Clarinet Performance from Ithaca College and received her master’s degree at DePaul University, studying under Chicago Symphony Orchestra Principal Clarinetist, Stephen Williamson. Other primary teachers have included Jon Manasse, Kenneth Grant, and Richard Faria. |
Peter Ecklund, Principal Bassoon
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Peter Ecklund is a Rochester-based bassoonist, where he completed his masters at the Eastman school of music studying with George Sakakeeny. He holds a bachelor of music from the University of Michigan. Peter joined the OSFL in 2022. In recent summers, he supplemented his education by performing at the Eastern Music Festival, the Round Top Institute (virtually), the Chautauqua Institution, the Texas Music Festival, and the Sarasota Music Festival. When not playing the bassoon, Peter enjoys baking for his friends and practicing his German.
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Tyler Ogilvie, Principal Horn
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Tyler Ogilvie received his training in music from Ithaca College. Ogilvie earned his bachelor's degree (B.M.) in music education, with which he served the public schools of New Jersey and Connecticut before returning to Ithaca College to further pursue his studies in horn performance (M.M.).
Currently, Tyler serves on the music faculties of Susquehanna University, Dickinson College, and Colgate University teaching horn performance studies and coaching chamber music. During the summer, he instructs horn at the Susquehanna University Wind Ensemble Institute as well as the Ithaca College Summer Music Academy. Ogilvie is principal horn in the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes and freelances regularly with regional orchestras and ensembles throughout New York and Pennsylvania. In addition to his freelance orchestral work, Ogilvie composes works for brass and woodwinds and has served as a composer in residence with the Society of New Music's "Composer In our Schools" program since 2015. The aim of his music is to make cross-curricular connections to the sciences, math, nature, history, and visual arts. |
Frank Gabriel Campos, Principal Trumpet
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Frank Gabriel Campos is professor emeritus of Ithaca College and a jazz and classical trumpet soloist, teacher, and author. He has played principal for the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Texas Baroque Ensemble, Glimmerglass and Tri-Cities Operas, Binghamton and Fresno Philharmonics, and he is a founder of the Dallas Brass. He has soloed with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Winnipeg Symphony, and performed with Natalie Cole, Johnny Mathis, and Ella Fitzgerald. His recordings have won three Global Music Awards and he has appeared on Performance Today a dozen times.
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Norm Wilcox, Principal Trombone
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Duane Smith is currently principal trombone with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes and principal trombone with the Northern Tier Symphony. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Duane has also performed with the Akron Symphony and the Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic and recently retired from thirty-three years as an instrumental music educator.
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Emily Ickes, Principal Timpani (on leave 22-23 season)
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Emily Ickes, a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, received her Bachelor’s degree in percussion performance from Western Michigan University in 2007, studying under professor Judy Moonert and timpanist Mark Guthrie. She went on to complete her Master’s degree at Ithaca College in 2009, studying with professor Gordon Stout.
While at Ithaca College, Emily was a member of the IC Percussion Ensemble, Steel Band, and Ragtime Marimba Band. In addition to being principal timpanist in both the IC Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, Emily had the privilege of performing as soloist in Akira Nishimura’s Concerto for Timpani and Percussion Ensemble with the IC Percussion Ensemble. Emily was also honored be part of a commemorative concert celebrating composer Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday, where she performed selections from his Eight Pieces for Four Timpani. Emily has appeared as timpanist and percussionist in both the Southwest Michigan and Battle Creek Symphony Orchestras. She began playing percussion for the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes in 2008, and became the orchestra’s principal timpanist in the 2012. She has also performed with several other local groups, including the Ithaca Chamber Singers, Music’s Recreation, the Hangar Theater, and the GrassRoots Festival Chamber Orchestra. She is also an active private instructor throughout the Southern Tier region. While not performing music, Emily enjoys spending time outdoors, gardening, knitting, and reading. She resides in Brooktondale with her partner, Dane, and their mischievous Weimaraner, Remy. |
Simon Bjarning, Principal Percussion
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Simon Bjarning is originally from Denmark and has a Master’s degree in Classical Percussion from the Royal Danish Academy of Music. He has performed professionally with the Danish Radio Sinfonietta, Copenhagen Philharmonic, the Lancaster Symphony, Ensemble X, Endless Mountain Music Festival and MostArts Music Festival. Simon has performed several musical theater productions ranging from shows such as Phantom of the Opera, The King and I, Chicago, The Producers and Wicked. Simon is an active member of the Sabian Education Network and D’Addario Education Collective and plays Sabian Cymbals exclusively.
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Rosanna Moore, Principal Harp
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Rosanna Moore holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts, with a minor in theatre and an Arts Leadership Certificate, from the Eastman School of Music. She studied in the studio of renowned harpist Kathleen Bride, and was gratefully supported by the Eileen Malone Scholarship. Originally hailing from the UK, Rosanna graduated with honours from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in 2011, where she studied with the renowned Welsh harpist Eira Lynn Jones. She is currently the Instructor of Harp/Artist in Residence at the University of Oregon.
She was the first harpist ever to become a finalist in the RNCM's Gold Medal Weekend, the first harpist to be awarded the Stan Barker Memorial Prize for jazz improvisation, and placed third in Europe's first Jazz and Pop Harp competition. Most recently she was awarded the Robert Wayne Barlow Award for excellence in harp performance and Eastman’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate. As an avid chamber musician, Rosanna is a founding member of Trio Alexander (flute, viola, harp) and Sticks&Strings percussion and harp duo. Trio Alexander recently returned from their first UK tour having been supported by an Eastman Development Grant and perform regularly in the Rochester area. Sticks&Strings aims to build a repertoire for harp and percussion duos, and are currently working on a new show which will premiere in 2017. Finally, as a passionate educator, Rosanna wishes to bring the harp to as many people as possible. She has recently started working as the harp instructor at the Eastman Community Music School where she teaches students of all ages and runs the harp ensemble. |
Musicians for Hire
Looking for classical musicians for a wedding, cocktail party, wine tasting, or other special event? The Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes can help put you in touch with talented professional musicians who will dazzle your guests. Please feel free to contact the office with any questions at (607) 936-2873, or via e-mail info@osfl.org.
OSFL Brass Quintet at GlassFest 2022
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OSFL Viola Section at Holiday Concert 2019
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