Kevin Bartram
Dr. Kevin P. Bartram is director of the University of Mary Washington Philharmonic in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he also teaches courses in conducting and music education. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts in music education from Shenandoah Conservatory of Music and has degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia in orchestral conducting and Northwestern University in music education.
Dr. Bartram is active as an adjudicator, guest conductor, and clinician, having conducted honor orchestras and judged orchestra and band festivals throughout the nation. Bartram is past president of the College Orchestra Directors Association.
Bryce Bunner
Senior Master Sergeant Bryce Bunner has been a member of the Air Force Strings since 1999, and was appointed principal violist in 2006. Bunner studied at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, earning Bachelor of Music degrees in viola performance and music education in 1998. He subsequently studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music from 1998-99. In 2004 he completed his Master of Music degree at the University of Maryland College Park.
As a freelance musician in the D.C. area, Bunner is a founding member of the Inscape Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with the Baltimore Symphony, National Gallery Orchestra, National Philharmonic, Maryland Symphony and the Fairfax Symphony. Prior to joining the Air Force, he was a member of the Erie Philharmonic, Canton Symphony and the Evansville Philharmonic, as well as principal violist of the Oberlin and Cleveland Institute orchestras.
Bunner attended the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, the Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Festival-Institute at Round Top, and the Encore School for Strings. His principal teachers include Carol Dallinger, Roland Vamos, Lynne Ramsey, Mark Jackobs and Katherine Murdock.
Andrea Priester Houde
Andrea Priester Houde is an American violist whose genuine love and dedication to her craft can be seen in performances around the world and in the unique environment of her teaching studio. Ms. Houde is Assistant Professor of Viola at West Virginia University and Violist of the WVU Chamber Players. She serves on the artist faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp and the Master Players Festival and is a board member of the American Viola Society.
Ms. Houde has performed as soloist, chamber musician, and in orchestras in the United States, Canady, Europe and Asia. Her versatility has led to such opportunities as performing tango with Astor Piazzolla’s godson and playing in a rock band on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center. Chamber music collaborations include a world premier for the American Viola Society with George Taylor and other performances with violinists Jonathan Carney, Igor Yuzefovich, James Stern, Renata Knific, Hagai Shaham; cellists Ross Harbaugh and Nicholas Tzavares; and bassist DaXun Zhang.
Ms. Houde has a zeal for teaching and pedagogy that equals that of her performances. She was formerly on the faculty of the University of Delaware and has given performances and master classes at the International Viola Congress in New Zealand, the American Viola Society Festivals at the Colburn School and Oberlin Conservatory, Quebec Conservatory, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Virginia, Penn State University, Tennessee Viola Celebration, Virginia Violapalooza, University of Arizona, University of Georgia among others. Ms. Houde has presented at four American String Teachers Association National Conferences and is an active clinician and adjudicator. She provides outreach through hosting Viola Days at West Virginia University and directing the WVU Viola Bootcamp. Studies were at the University of Memphis with Lenny Schranze and at the Peabody Conservatory with Victoria Chiang. Other teachers include Heidi Castleman, Jeffrey Irvine, Mark Jackobs, and David Holland. Pedagogy studies were with Rebecca Henry and Drs. Laura and Harland Parker.
Nancy Kredel
Nancy Kredel studied violin with Paul Rolland at the University of Illinois (M.M. and M.S. in Music Ed., 1968), and she has used his teaching ideas ever since. She directed the Elementary String Program at the NC School of the Arts in the 1970’s, a program designed by Paul Rolland. She has presented Paul Rolland workshops throughout her career, in the US, Hamburg, and London and at National ASTA Conferences, NafME Conferences, and in schools. She served as Assistant Principal Viola in the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra and as Principal Viola in the Greensboro (NC) Symphony. She retired from serving as an elementary string specialist in the Fairfax (VA) County Public Schools and currently teaches viola privately, coaches middle and high school violists in the area and presents workshops and sessions. She was Artistic Coordinator of the Paul Rolland Kids Camp and a faculty member of the Paul Rolland Workshop at the University of Illinois in the summers of 2017 and 2018. She served on the faculty of Paul Rolland Workshops at George Mason University, summers 2009-2016.
Nancy produced, with other Rolland students, the “Paul Rolland Legacy DVD”, and the recent DVD, “Applying Paul Rolland Pedagogy in Public and Private Schools”.
Although Mr. Rolland died in 1978, his pedagogy is world renowned and experiencing a Renaissance. His ideas have influenced every method book used in schools today. He believed that through good posture, balance, and large motions students can learn to play free from excessive tension. He believed students even in the early stages can learn advanced techniques like shifting, vibrato, and bouncing the bow, if presented in a simple form.
Nancy Thomas
Nancy Thomas is a member of the National Symphony Orchestra viola section since 1989. She has played under four music directors, including Mstislav Rostropovitch, Leonard Slatkin, Christoph Eschenbach, and Gianandrea Noseda. She has also worked under guest conductors such as Loren Maazel, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Naemi Jarvi, Kurt Sanderling and many others. Ms. Thomas has participated in numerous domestic and international tours, including the historic 1990 tour to Russia during which Rostropovitch returned to perform Russia after a long exile.
Ms. Thomas has participated as an orchestra mentor during the NSO Conducting Institute with Leonard Slatkin, as a chamber and orchestral rep coach in the NSO Summer Music Institute program, and has taught master classes in orchestral rep at George Mason University, as well as coaching chamber and orchestral rep for American Youth Philharmonic and Senior Regional Orchestra, among other youth groups.
Ms. Thomas maintains a small private studio in her home where she teaches and coaches students from middle school though college, as well as adult amateurs and young professionals preparing to audition for professional orchestras. Her students have gone on to Boston University, Eastman School of Music, Liberty University and others. She enjoys teaching the viola holistically, using traditional methods as well as employing pilates and other concepts for injury free playing.
Nancy Thomas was a student of Joseph de Pasquale at the Curtis Institute, Karen Ritscher, and Karen Tuttle. She also studied with Ann Rylands. She has been a soloist with the National Symphony, The New Jersey Symphony, the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra and others, and she has played in chamber music in the DC area in such venues as the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Terrace Theater, and the Smithsonian Museum.
In her spare time, Ms. Thomas enjoys riding dressage, working out at the gym, yoga, and playing with her dog.
William Wassum
William Wassum, whose primary instrument is violin, was introduced to the viola by his public school junior high orchestra teacher Mrs. Jacquetta Shaw who believed that every violinist should learn viola. He immediately fell in love with the dark rich tones of the viola and Mrs. Shaw allowed him to continue learning at home for the rest of the school year. While in college he was given the opportunity to learn chamber music on the viola. His private violin teacher, Mr. Alfred P. Lanegger, inspired him with his viola playing and told William about how he had survived the Great Depression in New York City by carrying a double case and being able to play viola as well as violin. In a time when many excellent violinists were unemployed Mr. Lanegger credited his ability to play viola with saving his life.
William earned both his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and Master of Arts in Violin Performance degrees at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. In his quest to be a lifelong learner William has studied with Paul Rolland at a University of Illinois summer workshop shortly before his untimely death, participated in many string pedagogy workshops and Suzuki Institutes, attended the American String Teachers Association National Conferences (where he presented for six consecutive years), and is one of a handful of Americans who has studied the Colourstrings method with its founder and author Geza Szilvay and Yvonne Frye, the leading Colourstrings tutor from the East-Helsinki Music Institute and pedagogy lecturer at the Sibelius Academy. William also studied with Lucy Furlie of the Columbus Symphony; and attended Masterclasses with William Preucil, Sr., Yizhak Schotten, Victoria Chiang, and Roger Tapping.
Like his mentor Mr. Lanegger, Mr. Wassum has played professional viola almost as much as he has played professional violin. Mr. Wassum was assistant principal viola in the Brazos Symphony while in Texas. In Michigan, while teaching viola sectionals and technique classes at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, William was assistant principal and acting principal viola in the Festival Orchestra, as well as playing viola in the pit orchestra in a local theatre’s performance of “Lil’ Abner”. While living in South Carolina Mr. Wassum performed in the viola section of the Spartanburg Symphony. Here in Virginia William has played with the Rappahannock Pops Orchestra viola section and as acting principal viola; and with the University of Mary Washington Philharmonic Orchestra where he has played in the viola section and as acting principal viola in the summer pops orchestra.
For twenty years William Wassum taught orchestra at Thornburg Middle School in Spotsylvania County and was one of the three founders of the Spotsylvania County String Orchestra Program. Although recently retired from public school teaching, William stays busy as an adjunct instructor for the University of Mary Washington and teaching many private studio violin and viola students. Currently Mr. Wassum is interested in researching intermediate to advanced viola repertoire to create a sequence of etudes and concertos.