Tim Deighton is Professor of Viola at Penn State University, where he teaches viola, viola literature, pedagogy, and orchestral excerpt classes, chamber music, and directs the Penn State Viola Ensemble. He also serves as the coordinator of the Professional Performance Certificate (PPC) program and is the faculty advisor of the Penn State Viola Society.
A committed teacher, Deighton has received several teaching awards, including the Pennsylvania-Delaware String Teachers Association’s String Teacher of the Year, and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State. His former students hold positions in professional orchestras and on the faculties of music schools in the United States and overseas.
He has appeared at four International Viola Congresses as recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra, and as master class presenter and panelist. He has been a frequent participant in music festivals around the world, including the International Musical Arts Institute in Fryeburg, Maine, which he served as Artistic Director. His performances have been broadcast on American, European, and Australasian radio.
Last season he was honored to present the prestigious William Primrose Memorial Recital at Brigham Young University.
He performs regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Other recent chamber music collaborations include those with the American String Quartet and the New Zealand String Quartet, A Far Cry, and with musicians outside the traditional classical field, such as the Mäori (Taongo Puoro) instrumentalist Richard Nunns.
Having long held a fascination for new music, he has commissioned and performed the premieres of more than fifty works for solo viola and more than a dozen works for viola ensemble. Some of the works composed for his duo The Irrelevants (with saxophonist Carrie Koffman), are featured on their CD entitled Dialogues. His solo CD Viola Aotearoa, featuring music for viola by New Zealand composers, appears on the Atoll label, and his playing on it was described in The Strad as “brilliant and differentiated.”
He lives in State College, PA, with his pianist wife Ann, two sons, two cats, and a horse named Sherlock.
A committed teacher, Deighton has received several teaching awards, including the Pennsylvania-Delaware String Teachers Association’s String Teacher of the Year, and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Architecture at Penn State. His former students hold positions in professional orchestras and on the faculties of music schools in the United States and overseas.
He has appeared at four International Viola Congresses as recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra, and as master class presenter and panelist. He has been a frequent participant in music festivals around the world, including the International Musical Arts Institute in Fryeburg, Maine, which he served as Artistic Director. His performances have been broadcast on American, European, and Australasian radio.
Last season he was honored to present the prestigious William Primrose Memorial Recital at Brigham Young University.
He performs regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Other recent chamber music collaborations include those with the American String Quartet and the New Zealand String Quartet, A Far Cry, and with musicians outside the traditional classical field, such as the Mäori (Taongo Puoro) instrumentalist Richard Nunns.
Having long held a fascination for new music, he has commissioned and performed the premieres of more than fifty works for solo viola and more than a dozen works for viola ensemble. Some of the works composed for his duo The Irrelevants (with saxophonist Carrie Koffman), are featured on their CD entitled Dialogues. His solo CD Viola Aotearoa, featuring music for viola by New Zealand composers, appears on the Atoll label, and his playing on it was described in The Strad as “brilliant and differentiated.”
He lives in State College, PA, with his pianist wife Ann, two sons, two cats, and a horse named Sherlock.
Kathryn Dey
Originally from Lake Mills, Wisconsin, violist Kathryn Dey is active as a soloist and chamber musician and has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Ms. Dey is a Surdna Foundation fellow and was awarded a grant from that organization to study and perform works for unaccompanied viola by Lillian Fuchs. She performs regularly with organist David Turner as The Lila Duo and recent projects include a guest artist residency at the Zanmi Lasante school in Haiti and a series of recitals in France and Germany. Together the duo founded the Haiti Music Project, an outreach program connecting musicians in the United States and Cange, Haiti. She is principal violist of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra.
Active as an educator, her teaching has been recognized by the American String Teacher Association, Strings Magazine, Music Teachers National Association, the American Viola Society, the South Carolina Alliance for Arts Education, and the South Carolina Music Educators Association. Students from her studio are now performing and teaching around the world. Ms. Dey has given workshops to teachers and students throughout the United States and helped build rural string programs throughout South Carolina including Chester, Fairfield, Jasper, Laurens, and Pickens Counties. She is a frequent presenter at music teaching conferences and has been recognized nationally for her interdisciplinary work in the fields of music, creative writing and acting. Ms. Dey is on the faculty of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts, the Eastman Summer Viola Workshop and the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival. She earned degrees in viola performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a student of Sally Chisholm, and at the Eastman School of Music, where she served as teaching assistant to John Graham. Ms. Dey speaks fluent German, practices hatha yoga daily and together with her husband cellist Robert O’Brien, has been renovating a historic home in downtown Greenville, SC for the past twelve years.
Active as an educator, her teaching has been recognized by the American String Teacher Association, Strings Magazine, Music Teachers National Association, the American Viola Society, the South Carolina Alliance for Arts Education, and the South Carolina Music Educators Association. Students from her studio are now performing and teaching around the world. Ms. Dey has given workshops to teachers and students throughout the United States and helped build rural string programs throughout South Carolina including Chester, Fairfield, Jasper, Laurens, and Pickens Counties. She is a frequent presenter at music teaching conferences and has been recognized nationally for her interdisciplinary work in the fields of music, creative writing and acting. Ms. Dey is on the faculty of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts, the Eastman Summer Viola Workshop and the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival. She earned degrees in viola performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a student of Sally Chisholm, and at the Eastman School of Music, where she served as teaching assistant to John Graham. Ms. Dey speaks fluent German, practices hatha yoga daily and together with her husband cellist Robert O’Brien, has been renovating a historic home in downtown Greenville, SC for the past twelve years.
Hillary Herndon on leave 2017
Violist Hillary Herndon has earned a national reputation for her brilliant playing, insightful teaching and creative programming that draws from multiple disciplines. She has been heard on NPR and PBS and has collaborated with some of the world’s foremost artists, including Carol Wincenc, James VanDermark and Itzhak Perlman, who described Hillary as “having it all… a gifted teacher and an excellent musician.” She is currently finishing a 2-cd set of works for viola written by women of the early 20th century, many of which have never previously been recorded.
Hillary’s dedication to integrating music with other interests has led to collaborations with actors, dancers, social workers and sociologists, the first trans-Atlantic master class, the use of high-tech scientific equipment to analyze bow strokes, and performances reaching beyond the concert hall to venues such as the American Museum of Science and Energy.
Passionate about teaching, Ms. Herndon has published papers in the journals of the American String Teacher and American Viola Society. She has given guest classes at numerous schools including Juilliard, University of Arizona, SUNY Fredonia and the Perlman Music Program and she has also been invited to perform and teach at the 2012 International Viola Congress. Ms. Herndon teaches at the Round Top and Sewanee Summer Music Festivals and at the University of Tennessee, where she is the founder of the annual Viola Celebration. Herndon holds degrees from The Eastman and Juilliard Schools of Music where she studied with George Taylor and Heidi Castleman.
Hillary’s dedication to integrating music with other interests has led to collaborations with actors, dancers, social workers and sociologists, the first trans-Atlantic master class, the use of high-tech scientific equipment to analyze bow strokes, and performances reaching beyond the concert hall to venues such as the American Museum of Science and Energy.
Passionate about teaching, Ms. Herndon has published papers in the journals of the American String Teacher and American Viola Society. She has given guest classes at numerous schools including Juilliard, University of Arizona, SUNY Fredonia and the Perlman Music Program and she has also been invited to perform and teach at the 2012 International Viola Congress. Ms. Herndon teaches at the Round Top and Sewanee Summer Music Festivals and at the University of Tennessee, where she is the founder of the annual Viola Celebration. Herndon holds degrees from The Eastman and Juilliard Schools of Music where she studied with George Taylor and Heidi Castleman.
Anna Barbrey Joiner has performed with orchestras from South Carolina to South America and for more than two decades was a member of the Artist-Faculty of the Brevard Music Center. She has presented and co-authored research for international conferences in Chicago and Japan and written articles for numerous journals including The American String Teacher and American Suzuki Journal. Anna has served as President of the Suzuki Association of South Carolina and from 2009-2013 she was Director of the South Carolina Suzuki Institute @ Furman. A devoted educator she is a sought after clinician for public school string programs throughout the southeast. Before returning to her alma mater Furman University as Professor of Viola and String Education, Anna was Associate Professor of Music, Director of the Pre-College Division, and violist with the Franklin String Quartet at The University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music.
She performs with her violinist husband, Thomas, as The Joiner Duo. They have twice served as Artists-in-Residence at the Universidade de Rio Grande de Sul in Brazil and performed as soloist with the Orquestra da Camera Theatre Sao Pedro. After presenting a New York debut recital in 2000 on the Donnell Library Concert Series The Joiner Duo released a CD entitled "Intermezzo.” During a sabbatical leave in 2001 they lived in Versailles and Paris performing programs in local French schools for young children. In 2010 and 2015 she and her husband participated in the Furman Music Department Study Away Program in Arezzo, Italy.
Anna received the Doctor of Music in Viola Performance, Master of Music Education, and Master of Music in Violin Performance from The Florida State University and the Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Furman University. She was recently appointed Program Coordinator for Partners in the Arts; a Fine Arts Initiative at Furman University designed to enhance the curriculum through on-campus residencies, regional partnerships with arts organizations and community outreach.
She performs with her violinist husband, Thomas, as The Joiner Duo. They have twice served as Artists-in-Residence at the Universidade de Rio Grande de Sul in Brazil and performed as soloist with the Orquestra da Camera Theatre Sao Pedro. After presenting a New York debut recital in 2000 on the Donnell Library Concert Series The Joiner Duo released a CD entitled "Intermezzo.” During a sabbatical leave in 2001 they lived in Versailles and Paris performing programs in local French schools for young children. In 2010 and 2015 she and her husband participated in the Furman Music Department Study Away Program in Arezzo, Italy.
Anna received the Doctor of Music in Viola Performance, Master of Music Education, and Master of Music in Violin Performance from The Florida State University and the Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Furman University. She was recently appointed Program Coordinator for Partners in the Arts; a Fine Arts Initiative at Furman University designed to enhance the curriculum through on-campus residencies, regional partnerships with arts organizations and community outreach.
Kate Lewis
Violist Katherine Lewis enjoys a multi-faceted career as a teacher, and as a chamber, solo, and orchestral musician. Since 2006 she has taught courses on viola performance and technique, viola pedagogy, string pedagogy, and chamber music at Illinois State University where she is Associate Professor of Viola and Master Teacher for the ISU String Project. As a performer, she is a member of the ISU Faculty String Quartet and principal viola in the Peoria Symphony and Peoria Bach Festival Orchestras and gives numerous solo performances each year throughout the U.S. She is a past Artist-Faculty member at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Sewanee, Tennessee.
Dr. Lewis is active in the viola community at both a local and national level. She is currently serving as president-elect of the Illinois chapter of the American String Teacher’s Association. Recently, she completed a three-year term as an elected member of the American Viola Society Executive Board, where she served as chair of the Education Committee, working to broaden educational offerings through media and programming. She also hosts annual Viola Days at Illinois State University in order to provide students of all ages with opportunities to work with nationally recognized artists and teachers.
As a performer, Dr. Lewis has recently appeared as soloist with the Peoria Symphony, the Peoria Bach Festival Orchestra, and the ISU Symphony Orchestra. She premiered Libby Larsen’s viola duo “In Such a Night,” written for her and violist James Dunham for a performance at the 38th International Viola Congress. She has also recorded chamber music by composers Karim Al-Zand and John Allemeier for recordings on the Naxos Record Label. As an orchestral musician, her previous orchestral experience includes appointments in the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, TX and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as well as frequent work with the Houston and New World Symphonies.
Dr. Lewis is a recipient of several awards and grants for her teaching, research, and service including the ISU College of Fine Arts Outstanding Teaching Award, the ISU College of Fine Arts Research Initiative Award, and the ISU University Service Initiative Award. She has given recitals, presentations, and master classes at venues throughout the country. She has presented sessions at several conferences including the American Viola Society Festival, the Primrose International Viola Festival, the International Double Reed Society Conference, the American String Teacher’s Association National Conference, the College Music Society Great Lakes Conference, and the Chicago Viola Festival. Recent recital and master class highlights include appearances at the University of Tennessee Viola Celebration, Indiana University, Oberlin Conservatory, Kansas State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Lawrence University, Midwest Young Artists, and Valdosta State University.
Dr. Lewis earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she was a Brown Foundation Scholar. She holds a Bachelor degree from Lawrence University and a Master’s degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music.
Dr. Lewis is active in the viola community at both a local and national level. She is currently serving as president-elect of the Illinois chapter of the American String Teacher’s Association. Recently, she completed a three-year term as an elected member of the American Viola Society Executive Board, where she served as chair of the Education Committee, working to broaden educational offerings through media and programming. She also hosts annual Viola Days at Illinois State University in order to provide students of all ages with opportunities to work with nationally recognized artists and teachers.
As a performer, Dr. Lewis has recently appeared as soloist with the Peoria Symphony, the Peoria Bach Festival Orchestra, and the ISU Symphony Orchestra. She premiered Libby Larsen’s viola duo “In Such a Night,” written for her and violist James Dunham for a performance at the 38th International Viola Congress. She has also recorded chamber music by composers Karim Al-Zand and John Allemeier for recordings on the Naxos Record Label. As an orchestral musician, her previous orchestral experience includes appointments in the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, TX and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as well as frequent work with the Houston and New World Symphonies.
Dr. Lewis is a recipient of several awards and grants for her teaching, research, and service including the ISU College of Fine Arts Outstanding Teaching Award, the ISU College of Fine Arts Research Initiative Award, and the ISU University Service Initiative Award. She has given recitals, presentations, and master classes at venues throughout the country. She has presented sessions at several conferences including the American Viola Society Festival, the Primrose International Viola Festival, the International Double Reed Society Conference, the American String Teacher’s Association National Conference, the College Music Society Great Lakes Conference, and the Chicago Viola Festival. Recent recital and master class highlights include appearances at the University of Tennessee Viola Celebration, Indiana University, Oberlin Conservatory, Kansas State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Lawrence University, Midwest Young Artists, and Valdosta State University.
Dr. Lewis earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she was a Brown Foundation Scholar. She holds a Bachelor degree from Lawrence University and a Master’s degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music.
Wei-Chun Bernadette Lo
Taiwanese-born pianist Wei-Chun Bernadette Lo began piano lessons at the age of 6, and was trained under a national program for exceptionally gifted music students from the age of 9. In 1990, she came to the United States to attend the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Massachusetts, where she received her high school diploma and graduated cum laude.
Dr. Lo received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano performance under Robert McDonald and Ellen Mack from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, where she was a teaching assistant in music theory and staff coach for the opera division. She continued her education at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana where she was awarded accompanying assistantship throughout her 5-year study. Dr. Lo was often invited to perform chamber music with U of I faculty, including numerous duo performances with her piano teacher Gustavo Romero. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts in 2004.
Dr. Lo is a highly sought-after collaborative pianist and has enjoyed a successful career as a freelance pianist. She has worked for studios of world renowned sopranos Carol Vaness, Cynthia Haymon and Martina Arroyo, and has performed with acclaimed musicians such as Yuri Mazurkevich and David Thompson. Dr. Lo has also worked for several professional organizations as rehearsal pianist such as Sugar Creek Festival, Opera Illinois and El Paso Opera. Recently she was invited to serve as a collaborative artist for the Viola Celebration and the Tennessee Cello Workshop in Knoxville, TN, the Orpheus Vocal Competition in Murfreesboro, TN and the 41st International French Horn Symposium in Macomb, IL.
Dr. Lo also guest teaches in her native country Taiwan regularly, including Taipei Municipal University of Education, Fu-Jen Catholic University and National Chia-Yi University. She was invited twice as adjudicator for the TSMC Young Artist Piano Competition in Hsin-Ju, Taiwan.
Dr. Lo is on the faculty of Sewanee University in Tennessee and performs with her husband, Dr. Kevin Class as the “Lo-Class” piano duo.
Dr. Lo received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano performance under Robert McDonald and Ellen Mack from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, where she was a teaching assistant in music theory and staff coach for the opera division. She continued her education at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana where she was awarded accompanying assistantship throughout her 5-year study. Dr. Lo was often invited to perform chamber music with U of I faculty, including numerous duo performances with her piano teacher Gustavo Romero. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts in 2004.
Dr. Lo is a highly sought-after collaborative pianist and has enjoyed a successful career as a freelance pianist. She has worked for studios of world renowned sopranos Carol Vaness, Cynthia Haymon and Martina Arroyo, and has performed with acclaimed musicians such as Yuri Mazurkevich and David Thompson. Dr. Lo has also worked for several professional organizations as rehearsal pianist such as Sugar Creek Festival, Opera Illinois and El Paso Opera. Recently she was invited to serve as a collaborative artist for the Viola Celebration and the Tennessee Cello Workshop in Knoxville, TN, the Orpheus Vocal Competition in Murfreesboro, TN and the 41st International French Horn Symposium in Macomb, IL.
Dr. Lo also guest teaches in her native country Taiwan regularly, including Taipei Municipal University of Education, Fu-Jen Catholic University and National Chia-Yi University. She was invited twice as adjudicator for the TSMC Young Artist Piano Competition in Hsin-Ju, Taiwan.
Dr. Lo is on the faculty of Sewanee University in Tennessee and performs with her husband, Dr. Kevin Class as the “Lo-Class” piano duo.
Juliet White-Smith
Violist Juliet White-Smith is an active soloist and chamber musician. She has performed throughout North America, Europe and the Middle East. She has performed at International Viola Congresses around the world including most recently in South Africa. Her chamber music collaborations have brought her onstage with such luminaries as violinists Andres Cardenes and Benny Kim, pianist Gilbert Kalish, the Merling Trio and the Da Vinci Quartet. She has been a guest artist at various summer music festivals including Strings in the Mountains and Fontana Festival in Michigan.
A devoted educator with a history of printed contributions in American String Teacher and Journal of the American Viola Society, White-Smith has been a guest faculty at Mahidol University College of Music in Thailand and has presented master classes at the Eastman School of Music. She was a featured presenter at the ASTA National Conference in 2007 and 2010. She recently appeared in an interview article in the April 2010 issue of The Strad. She has served as string juror for various competitions including the William Primrose International Viola Competition and has taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Bravo! Summer Institute for Strings and Piano at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. White-Smith is Professor of Viola at The Ohio State University. Her debut CD recording of works by contemporary American composers George Walker, Michael Colgrass and Maurice Gardner (Fashionably Late: Juliet White-Smith Debuts!) was released in May 2009 on the Centaur Records label.
A devoted educator with a history of printed contributions in American String Teacher and Journal of the American Viola Society, White-Smith has been a guest faculty at Mahidol University College of Music in Thailand and has presented master classes at the Eastman School of Music. She was a featured presenter at the ASTA National Conference in 2007 and 2010. She recently appeared in an interview article in the April 2010 issue of The Strad. She has served as string juror for various competitions including the William Primrose International Viola Competition and has taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Bravo! Summer Institute for Strings and Piano at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. White-Smith is Professor of Viola at The Ohio State University. Her debut CD recording of works by contemporary American composers George Walker, Michael Colgrass and Maurice Gardner (Fashionably Late: Juliet White-Smith Debuts!) was released in May 2009 on the Centaur Records label.