Alumni
Alumni of the Texas Music Festival have gone on to enjoy careers in all aspects of the arts, from performance to management:
- Hovhannes Alanakyan, cello, Jacksonville (FL) Symphony
- Alex Amsel, bassoon, resident conductor, Houston Grand Opera
- Palina Arnadottir, violin, Iceland Symphony
- Benjamin Atherholt, assistant principal and contrabassoon, Louisiana Philharmonic
- Alan Austin, violin, director, Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival
- Leah Craft Bedard, oboe, U.S. Coast Guard Band
- Timothy Bedard, horn, U.S. Coast Guard Band
- James Blanchard, flute, Des Moines Symphony
- Andrew Brady, bassoon, Louisiana Philharmonic
- Ryan Brewer, trumpet, U.S. Army Field Band
- Zach Bridges, tuba, U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own"
- Kayla Burggraf, flute, Kansas City Symphony
- Mark Butin, viola, prin. Hawaii Symphony
- Russell Campbell, trumpet, assoc. prin. Dallas Symphony
- Steven Campbell, tuba, prin. Minnesota Orchestra
- Nicholas Cathcart, bass, prin. New Haven (CT) Symphony
- Stanley Chyi, oboe, Austin Symphony
- Brian Conger, clarinet, faculty, Interlochen Arts Academy
- David Cook, clarinet, Witchita (KS) Symphony
- Dr. Nathan Cooke, bassoon, faculty, Sam Houston State University
- Alan Daowz Mendez, cello, member Catrina Quartet, faculty, New Mexico State University
- Greg Ewer, violin, Oregon Symphony
- Terrence Fay, trombone, New Haven (CT) Symphony
- Derek Fenstermacher, tuba, New Jersey Symphony
- Pedro Fernandez, percussion, Indianapolis Symphony
- Phillip Freeman, bass trombone, Houston Symphony
- Kamalia Freyling, clarinet, Rochester Philharmonic
- David Gamble, principal horn, Dallas Symphony
- Ira Gold, bass, National Symphony
- Aaron Goldman, flute, prin. National Symphony Orchestra
- Lorento Golofeev, viola, Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera orchestras
- Hunter Gordon, bassoon, Buffalo Philharmonic
- Andrew Gott, bassoon, St. Louis Symphony
- Rudy Hoehn, bass trombone, Santa Barbara Symphony, Hawaii Symphony
- Anni Hochhalter, horn, WindSync
- Eric Hopkins, percussion, Utah Symphony
- Frank Huang, violin, concertmaster, New York Philharmonic
- Sarunas Jankauskas, clarinet, Witchita (KS) Symphony
- Colleen Matheu Johnson, flute, Houston Ballet Orchestra
- Shelli Mathews, violin, co-founder, Divisi Strings
- Joe Joyner, viola, Arkansas Symphony
- Rasa Kalesnykaite, violin, Houston Ballet and Houston Grand Opera orchestras
- Lachezar Kostov, cello, associate principal, Baltimore Symphony
- Agnieszka Kozlowska, violin, GM, Baltimore Symphony
- Kara Lamoure, bassoon, WindSync
- Trent Leisure, percussion, Nashville Symphony
- Evan Leslie, cello, director, KGMCA Community Arts Academy
- Min Long, viola, faculty, Wuhan Conservatory, prin. Oriental Symphony
- Carter Loud, tuba, U.S. Air Force Band of the West
- Allison McGillivray, cello, Academy of Ancient Music
- Miles Maner, contrabassoon, Chicago Symphony
- Michael Martin, double bass, Cincinnati Symphony Diversity Fellow
- Stephanie Mientka, viola, asst. prin. Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Boulder Philharmonic
- Jacob Moore, tuba, U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West
- Jonathan Mueller, viola, Louisville Orchestra
- Mikylah Myers, violin, faculty, University of West Virgina
- Jonathan Ong, 1st violin, Verona Quartet
- Robert Pagan, flute, Dir. Operations, New York Youth Symphony
- Spencer Park, horn, St. Louis Symphony, Houston Ballet Orchestra
- Natalie Parker, clarinet, principal, San Francisco Ballet
- Guglielmo Pellarin, horn, principal solo horn, Rome Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
- Caity Piccini-Massoud, flute, Witchita (KS) Symphony
- Caleb Quillen, double bass, Kanasas City Symphony
- Liu-Yi Retallick, violin, assoc. concertmaster, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
- Tony Sanville, violin, co-founder, Divisi Strings
- Abhijit Sengupta, viola, Director of Artistic Planning, Carnegie Hall
- Sarah Shellman, violin, prin 2nd violin, The Florida Orchestra
- Zhan Shu, violin, Cleveland Orchestra
- Thomas Siders, trumpet, associate principal, Boston Symphony
- Elizabeth Priestly Siffert, oboe, principal, Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet,orchestras
- Jacob Sustaita, viola, conductor, Pacific Symphony
- Amanda Swain, bassoon, principal, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, and member, Houston Ballet Orchestra
- Blake Taylor, percussion, principal, Arkansas Symphony, Austin Symphony
- Shaun Tilburg, percussion, Phoenix Symphony
- Nash Tomey, double bass, Kansas City Symphony
- Chris Torrisi, tuba, U.S. Air Force Heartland of America Band
- Ernesto Tovar-Torres, horn, Philadelphia Orchestra
- John Turman, horn, Seattle Symphony
- Margaret Tung, horn, faculty, Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
- Kristen Turner, TMF Marketing/PR Intern, Director Digital Marketing, San DiegoSymphony
- Courtenay Vandiver Pereira, cello, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra
- Andres Vela, double bass, Boston Symphony Diversity Fellow
- Ari Vilhjalmsson, violin, Iceland Symphony
- Xiao Wang, violin, faculty, Manhattan School of Music
- Bradley White, trombone, Houston Symphony
- Dawson White, viola, Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet orchestras
- Christopher Wickham, bassoon, faculty, Rutgers University
- Jacob Wiggins, horn, U.S. Army Band
- Yu Yuan, violin, Cleveland Orchestra
- Rebecca Zabinski, TMF Operations/Personnel Intern, Artistic Administrator,Houston Symphony
- Tian Zhao, violin, Singapore Symphony Orchestra
- Mingzhao Zhou, violin, Detroit Symphony
- Dan Zhu, violin, international soloist
TMF wants to hear from our alumni! Please complete the TMF Alumni Form to let us know what you are doing. Also check out our Facebook page to stay connected with the festival and other past participants.