Musicians    

Laurie D. Casseday, an Atlanta native, has been a member of the Jacksonville Symphony cello section since 1986. She earned a Bachelor of Music with Performers’ Certificate from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, and later was awarded her Masters of Music degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta. Mrs. Casseday has performed with orchestras across the United States, and locally has collaborated with Bach is Back! at St. Mark’s in Ortega as well as with the chamber groups Synergy, Collagrossa, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, and the Florida Arts Trio. She is married to double-bassist Kevin Casseday, with whom she has two boys (budding bass players as well), Sam and Pete.

Chris Chappell, violin, is Assistant Principal Second Violin of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. He is also active locally as a chamber musician and teacher. He has appeared in the St. Augustine Music Festival, in UNF recitals, Beaches Fine Art Series, as well as the San Marco Chamber Music Society. Chris is a co-founder of the Prelude Chamber Music Camp with symphony colleagues Jeanne Majors and Vernon Humbert. He maintains a private teaching studio as well. Chris was formerly Associate Concertmaster of the Savannah Symphony, and Acting Concertmaster for the Yamagata Symphony in Japan. In January-February of 2008, he joined the Pittsburgh Symphony for their European tour. He has appeared as soloist with the Jacksonville, Savannah and Yamagata Symphonies. He holds a Master's in Violin from Indiana University, where he studied with the legendary Josef Gingold, and a Bachelor's of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, his hometown Chris is married to Sara, and they have four children – Ruth, Leah, James, and Marie. His interests include cycling and “getting out into nature” on foot or in a canoe.

Betsy Federman, cello, has been a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra since 1994. Originally from New Jersey, she received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University while studying with Distinguished Professor Janos Starker. Before coming to Jacksonville, Betsy played with the New World Symphony (Miami) under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas and the Naples (Florida) Philharmonic. Betsy has participated in many summer festivals including Aspen, Colorado Music Festival, and Utah Festival Opera.

Ruxandra Marquardt, violin, was born in Bucharest, Romania. She attended the 'George Enescu' School of Music, Bucharest Conservatory of Music and Indiana University at Bloomington. Among her teachers are Modeste Iftinchi, Stefan Gheorghiu and Joseph Gingold. She has been active as a soloist and chamber musician since her early teens. She was a participant at the Indianapolis International Violin Competition, the Yehudi Menuhin Competition in the UK and the Richard Wagner International Festival in Bayreuth. She was awarded a Gold Medal at the Concertino Prague International Competition and a Silver Medal in the Henri Wieniawski International Competition in Poland. She has also made solo recordings for Romanian, German and Hungarian TV and radio. From 1988 to 2000, she was the Associate Concertmaster of the Syracuse Symphony and served on the faculty of Syracuse University. She also participated in the Grand Tetons and the Eastern Music Festivals. She is currently the principal second violin of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.   She is married to Paul Marquardt and they have a beautiful daughter, Marianna.

Edith Moore-Hubert (piano, harpsichord) received her Bachelor of Music from Birmingham-Southern College, and Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music. She has been a member of the music faculties at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham-Southern College Conservatory, Indian Springs School and teaches at Jacksonville University and Florida State College at Jacksonville. Edie was awarded a 2008 Individual Artist Grant from the Community Foundation at Jacksonville which funded the recording of her cd, Music for Body and Soul, a collection of classical pieces used in the healing arts. She has performed as accompanist in Leipzeig, Weimar, Nurnberg, Bern, Strasbourg, New York, Philadelphia, and throughout the Southeast. Edie performs each year in the St. Augustine Music Festival, is a musician with Body and Soul: The Art of Healing, and organist at Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist.

Ellen Olson, viola, is a native of Long Island, New York. Ms. Olson began her viola studies at the age of 8 in the public school string program. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Hofstra University, where she studied viola with Olga Bloom. She continued her viola studies with Barry Lehr, Rebecca Young, and Patricia McCarty. Before coming to the Jacksonville Symphony in 1985, she was a member of the Puerto Rico Symphony. She performs regularly as a chamber musician in the Jacksonville area, including an annual recital benefiting Diabetes research. She has been on the faculty of the Prelude Chamber Music Camp in Jacksonville since 2003. She is married to JSO principal oboist Eric Olson, and they have a beautiful daughter, Gina.

Eric Olson is principal oboist with the Jacksonville Symphony, a position he has held since 1986. Originally from Pennington, New Jersey, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, where he studied with Ray Still. He has also studied with Louis Rosenblatt in Philadelphia. Eric served as guest principal oboist with the Baltimore Symphony for five weeks in 2002, including a two week tour of Japan. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the orchestra of the Colorado Music Festival, and several times with the JSO, including the world premiere of Bruce Adolphe’s Voices of Moonlight for Oboe and Orchestra. He has participated in the Aspen, Tanglewood, and Marlboro Music Festivals, including a tour with Musicians from Marlboro. Eric served as principal oboist and faculty member at the Eastern Music Festival for six summers prior to winning a position as principal oboist with the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin in 2006. He is married to JSO violist Ellen Caruso Olson, and they have a daughter, Gina.

 
Karen Pommerich, violin, has been a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra since 1991, and has appeared as soloist with the JSO in Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante and Mozart’s Adagio and Rondo. Recently she also began performing with the IRIS Orchestra in Germantown, TN, was Principal 2nd Violinist of the 2008 Sarasota Opera Orchestra and has been a substitute violinist for the Florida Orchestra, the Sarasota Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony and the Louisiana Philharmonic. During the summer months she performs in the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder. Her Master's degree in Violin Performance is from Florida State University, where she studied violin with Eliot Chapo and viola with Pamela Ryan. She has performed both as a violinist and a violist in numerous chamber recitals and has coached chamber ensembles and sectionals of the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, and the Prelude Chamber Music Camp. Additionally, Karen teaches privately and is active in the Body and Soul program, which brings live music into health care settings. She is married to trombonist and composer, Michael Hosford.


Bonita Wyke, keyboard, has been part of the Jacksonville professional music community since 1985, as a vocal and instrumental accompanist and teacher. Originally from Los Angeles, she had performed for more than thirty years as a soloist and accompanist for chorales, opera and musical theatre, ballet and modern dance, orchestras and chamber music. She holds a B.F.A. in Piano Performance from Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri. Bonita currently is the full-time staff accompanist at Jacksonville University.