musicians of valley ensembles
Rudolph Kremer
Rudolph Kremer is the founder and artistic director of Valley Ensembles. Mr. Kremer has been a member of the Sun Valley Music Festival first violin section since 1996 and is currently the violin and viola teacher at the Sun Valley Music Festival School of Music. He began his orchestral career with the San Francisco Symphony in 1995 and frequently plays with the Chicago Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony. His wide and international professional experience includes work with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the Florida orchestra, the International Orchestra of Italy, the Malaysian Philharmonic, and the Saigon Philharmonic. He is also a visiting artist and professor at the Saigon conservatory and the Auftdart Academy in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
RL Rowsey
RL Rowsey is currently the Education Artistic Director for the Sun Valley Music Festival and the Music Director for Light on the Mountains Center for Spiritual Living and Conductor of Caritas Chorale. Mr. Rowsey got his start in Richmond, Virginia where he studied voice and piano at Virginia Commonwealth University, and musical directing dozens of musicals at local theatres, Mr. Rowsey moved to the Washington, D.C. suburbs where spent time serving as Musical Director for a new American opera, singing the title role in Michael Nyman’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. He also taught and directed at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Studio Theatre and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Eventually, Mr. Rowsey left the area to tour the country as Musical Director and Conductor for numerous national tours of Broadway musicals. He returned to Richmond briefly as the Associate Producing Artistic Director for TheatreVirginia, then returned to the road—first as Conductor, then Company Manager, and finally General Manager for one of the nation’s leading producers of national tours.
Ellen Sanders
Cellist Ellen Sanders has been a member of the Sun Valley Music Festival for 27 years and has been teaching in the Summer Music Workshop since 1998 and is now a full-time teacher in the Wood River Valley. Ms. Sanders is a graduate of Oberlin College and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Prior to moving to Idaho Ms. Sanders was principal cello of the Santa Cruz Symphony, assistant principal cello of Opera San Jose and a member of the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed frequently with the San Francisco Opera. Ellen now divides her time between teaching in the Blaine County School District and the Sun Valley Symphony's year-round School of Music classes.
Lindsay Bohl
Lindsay Bohl is currently the Associate Principal Viola of the Boise Philharmonic and member of the Boise Philharmonic String Quartet. Prior to her position in Boise, Lindsay was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. As an active performer, Lindsay has also played with orchestras around the country including the Hawaii Symphony, the American Ballet Theatre, and Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. Lindsay maintains an active private studio of violin and viola students. She has previously served on the faculty of George Fox University in Oregon, and taught and directed high school orchestras in Arizona. Lindsay holds a Bachelor's Degree in Viola Performance and Music Education from the University of Arizona and a Master's Degree from Northwestern University in Viola Performance where she studied with Roland Vamos.
Joel Bejot
Joel Bejot, Director of Music, Organist, and Choirmaster, has been serving at St. Thomas Episcopal Church since December of 2013. Joel received a Bachelor of Sacred Music with an emphasis in organ from Concordia University – Nebraska in 2004. He also received a Master of Music in organ performance from Denver University in 2010. Joel has served churches in Nebraska, New York, Michigan, Colorado, and Idaho. Joel also maintains a private studio of piano, voice, and organ students. He believes his calling is to bring excellent sacred music to Christ’s church.
Elizabeth Field
Elizabeth Field enjoys an active career as a chamber musician and soloist on period and modern violin. She is the concertmaster for The Bethlehem Bach Orchestra and has served as a guest concertmaster for numerous ensembles around the country including Opera Philadelphia, The National Philharmonic, Washington Bach Consort, Opera Lafayette, and the Spire Ensemble in Kansas City. Field performs regularly with her chamber ensembles, The Vivaldi Project and ArcoVoce and is a frequent guest artist with the Mallarme Chamber Ensemble and Magnolia Baroque. In addition to period instrument recordings for Hungaroton, Naxos, MSR and Dorian, Field has performed and recorded extensively for Deutsche Gramophon with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
garrett fischbach
Garrett Fischbach has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1998. He was a member of the San Francisco Symphony from 1996-98 and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. from 1995-96. His 2CD recording of the complete works for solo violin by J.S. Bach was released to critical acclaim in 2004. He was a college division faculty member at Mannes School of Music from 2008-2015, and has been a guest adjudicator at Juilliard Pre-College and Manhattan School of Music. He has performed and taught at the Sun Valley Artist Series, Sun Valley Music Festival, the Sid & Mary Foulger International Music Festival, and International Workshops in Graz, Austria. Garrett holds a Bachelor of Music degree, magna cum laude, from Boston University, and a Master of Music degree from Northern Illinois University.
Uri wassertzug
Violist Uri Wassertzug has performed professionally in many locations around the world including Alaska, California, and Utah in the U.S. as well as the UK, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand. Since 1998 he has been a member of the Kennedy Center Opera House/ Washington National Opera Orchestra as well as Idaho’s Sun Valley Music Festival. He occasionally serves as Guest Principal Viola with the National Philharmonic. He has also performed with the San Francisco Opera and Symphony, the National Symphony, the Sacramento Symphony, the Cabrillo Festival, and the California Symphony, among many others. Mr. Wassertzug is on the faculty of George Washington University and lives in Virginia with his wife, violinist Elizabeth Field, and their son.
Ann Roggen
Violist Ann Roggen has been a member of the Sun Valley Music Festival since 1999 and is currently the president of the New York Viola Society. She has been awarded grants from Chamber Music America and the National Endowments of the Arts, and has been heard widely as a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Ms Roggen performs regularly as a visiting artist,and at the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City. Some of her recent creations include "A Celebration of Women in Music"(NYC) , "A Musical Mosaic“ (Billings, Montana), "The Forbidden Music – Music by Composers Banned by the Third Reich,”(NYC, Oberlin College, William Paterson University). She received her musical training at the Peabody institute of John Hopkins University, and The Juilliard School.
brian hodges
Cellist Brian Hodges is an active soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He is the co-author of Cello Secrets: Over 100 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Cellistpublished by Rowman & Littlefield (Amazon), and contributes regularly to The Strad magazine and website. Brian is the principal cellist of the Boise Baroque Orchestra and performs regularly with Classical Revolution: Boise, which has been featured at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and performed live on Radio Boise. He is a founding member of the Rothko Piano Trio, with Betsi Hodges on piano, and Jo Nardolillo on violin, which has performed nationwide and has commissioned several new works. Brian is currently Associate Professor of Cello and Coordinator of Chamber Music at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho.
Melanie Keller
Melanie Keller is Principal Flutist & Personnel Manager of the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Napa Valley and performs regularly with the Boise Philharmonic. She is a founding member of Boise-based Tree City Chamber Players and for 12 seasons was a member of The Avenue Winds, a Bay-area based woodwind quintet which specializes in performing contemporary music. She has spent recent summers performing at the Sun Valley Summer Music Festival and teaching at the Sun Valley Music Institute. A frequent prizewinner at national flute competitions, she won 1st Place in the 2005 Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair Young Artist Competition. She earned her MM in the studio of Timothy Day at the San Francisco Conservatory and her BM in the studio of Mark Sparks at the Peabody Institute. A passionate educator, she serves as Adjunct Flute Faculty at the College of Idaho and is the flute instructor at the Dunkley School of Music and Idaho Music Academy. When not playing her flute, Melanie loves spending time with her husband Blaise and her sons, Owen & Jacob.
Andrew Mille
Andrew Mille began his cello studies in the USC Strings Project in Columbia South Carolina and in 2000 was awarded the Harry Lightsey Cello Scholarship to study at the College of Charleston, SC. From 2001 to 2004 Mille attended the prestigious Meadowmount School of Music in upstate New York, a school that claims such distinguished alumni as Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma. Upon completion of his bachelor’s degree in 2005, Mille studied with internationally renowned cellist Natalia Khoma as part of the College of Charleston’s graduate-level Artist Certificate program. Mille currently is the founder and director of the Charleston-based company, Classical Charleston, a network of professional musicians and performers.
Jessica Harned
Jessica Harned has been fortunate to begin her career in Boise, Idaho. She became a member of the Boise Philharmonic in 2016 and has since performed with many professional ensembles including The Boise Baroque, Opera Idaho, McCall Summer Symphony, Ballet Idaho, and The Idaho Shakespeare Festival. Aside from ensemble work, Jessica has recently won a Graduate Fellowship for the Boise State Quartet Program (2018), a grant from the Alexa Rose Foundation (2019), and the Governors Award for Musical Excellence (2018) with the Mariachi Sol de Acapulco. Jessica enjoys a multi-faceted career and regularly collaborates with artists and composers. She is a huge asset to our very own Sun Valley Music Festival Institute this year where she will be coaching and instructing young students attending the summer music program. She cannot wait for what the future holds!