Leanne Kelso League  Leanne Kelso League is the associate concertmaster of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the assistant concertmaster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.  She is also the adjunct violin instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.  For three seasons, she was a fellow at the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas.  During that time, she also performed at the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi in italy for two summers.  Playing Baroque violin, Leanne has performed with the Madison Bach Musicians, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, and the Tallahassee Bach Parley.  Leanne completed her M.M. at the UW-Madison studying with Vartan Manoogian.

Robin Ryan is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Robin, originally from Massachusetts, studied violin at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with Eric Rosenblith and Marylou Speaker Churchill. She played in the Conservatory’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Benjamin Zander.  For many summers Robin attended Greenwood music camp in Cummington, Massachusetts and then the Yellow Barn Music Festival in Putney, Vermont.  Robin majored in government at Harvard University, has a master's degree in public affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, and received her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.  She served as an attorney for the Wisconsin State Legislature for 10 years.   Robin is currently the Director of Correctional Services for ARC Community Services, Inc., an organization that provides services for women in Wisconsin. 

Marika Fischer Hoyt concertizes extensively on both modern and baroque viola. She is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, and principal violist of the period-instrument Madison Bach Musicians and of the Bach Collegium of Fort Wayne, IN. Before moving to Madison in 1999 Marika played with many orchestras and string quartets around the country, including the Richmond (VA), Charleston (WV) and Des Moines (IA) Symphonies. Marika earned her B.A. in Music from Smith College, graduating Cum Laude, and her M.M. in Viola Performance from the Indiana University School of Music. Her musical training also includes a year at the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, Germany, two years at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, one year at IU's Early Music Institute, where she studied with noted baroque violinist Stanley Ritchie, and five summers at the Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival in Putney, VT, where she was coached by faculty from New England Conservatory. Her major teachers include violists Kim Kashkashian, Csaba Erdélyi, and Abraham Skernick. 

Dr. Benjamin Whitcomb,

Benjamin Whitcomb, cellist and music theorist, has earned a national reputation as a highly skilled performer and teacher of music. An active recitalist and chamber musician, he performs more than twenty concerts a year. He appears regularly on the "Sunday Afternoon Live from the Chazen" concert series broadcast live on Wisconsin Public Radio. He collaborates with pianist Vincent de Vries in frequent recitals around the country, and he is a member of the Ancora String Quartet and the UW-Whitewater Piano Trio. He performs concertos with local orchestras, and he has also been a member of several orchestras in Texas and Wisconsin, including serving as Associate Principal Cello of the Madison Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. He has produced several CDs of his recordings, including his 2007 release of solo cello works by Bach and Gabrieli on the MSR Classics label. 

Dr. Whitcomb is a frequent guest clinician and performer at high schools and summer camps, including the National String Workshop, and universities throughout the country. His book, The Advancing Cellist’s Handbook, is now available for purchase through various on-line bookstores. He is a contributing author to the third volume of Teaching Music through Performance in Orchestra. He has presented papers on cello and on music theory at several national conferences, including those of the American String Teachers' Association and the Society for Music Theory. He is also an articles reviewer and the editor of the Cello Forum of the American String Teacher journal. He is past president of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American String Teachers’ Association. Dr. Whitcomb served as chair of the instrumental faculty at the La Musica Lirica music festival in Nova Feltria, Italy, from 2004 to 2007. 

Dr. Whitcomb is Associate Professor of Cello and Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, where he initiated and continues to coordinate the Theory/History Colloquium speaker series, the Musical Mosaics Faculty Concert Series, and the UW-Whitewater String Chamber Music Camp. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Oklahoma State University, and he has studied with Phyllis Young, George Neikrug, and Evan Tonsing.