Arius Musicians

Arius Chamber Music Society

	The Arius Musicians Downtown Music - Neighborhood Venues
Home About Arius Musicians Resource Links Contact Arius	Tom Austin, Cello, studied at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and with George Neikrug in Boston. He was the Assistant Principal Cellist of the Liceu Opera Orchestra in Barcelona, Spain and of the Chamber Orchestra of New England. His is currently a member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and Arius and is co-director and teacher of Stringworks Elizabeth Bell, Violin, has performed extensively over the past two decades, in a career spanning two continents. A former member of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the American Chamber Symphony, she was concertmaster and soloist with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra for ten years. Her experience includes opera, ballet musical theater, chamber music and studio recording. She played nearly 200 performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Donny Osmond and appeared with Rod Stewart on a recent tour. Ms. Bell is also a founding member of the Stratton Quartet. Alastair Brown, Violin and Viola, studied with Masao Kawasaki, Dorothy DeLay, Itzhak Perlman, Glenn Dicterow, Karen Dreyfus, Mary West, Helen Foli, and Lee Keng Kok. He has been a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the New England Symphony (Carnegie Hall Series), the Manhattan Virtuosi and is a substitute for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has played as a soloist with the California Music Festival Orchestra, The Schubert Club Recital Series, and the Macphail Faculty Orchestra. Laurel Browne, Viola, studied with Clyn Barrus at the University of Minnesota (BA in Music Performance) and Siegfried Fuhrlinger in Vienna, Austria. Recently she attended a Karen Tuttle workshop and has also taken some lessons with Mary West. Previously with the San Jose Symphony Ms. Browne is a current member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, Minnesota Sinfonia and Stratton String Quartet. Peter Douglas, Bassoon, started his professional career in 1977 as a bassoonist with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. Career highlights include 14 years in the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and also performing with the orchestras of Vancouver, CBC Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto; performing as a soloist with such groups as the Edmonton Symphony, Alberta Baroque Ensemble; recording numerous chamber recitals for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio France; and organizing chamber music series in Edmonton in the 1990s. Peter moved to the Twin Cities in 1998 where he freelances and works in the software industry. Peter is uniquely thrilled to be performing with the Arius Ensemble. Theresa Elliott, Violin. Bob Fried, Viola and Double Bass, is the founder of Arius, its President and Artistic Director. He studied composition with Robert Stoltz at Lewis and Clark College, Double Bass with Eugene Levinson at the Aspen Music Festival and in Minneapolis, with Stuart Sankey at the University of Texas, Austin and with Paul Ellison in Houston. His viola studies have been with Kenneth Freed in Minneapolis. He has played with the Long Beach Symphony, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Austin Symphony, Chamber Music Northwest, Portland Opera, Portland Chamber Orchestra, and Arius Chamber Players of Austin, Texas. His business background includes executive level management at several private and public companies. Lorie Hippen, Violin, holds a BS degree in Music Education from the University of Minnesota and has two additional years of post graduate work in violin performance there. She teaches at Washburn High School and the Ramsey International Fine Arts School . She has conducted for several Twin Cities area civic orchestras and has performed with the Minneapolis Opera, the North Star Opera, Vocalessence and the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra. Craig Randal Johnson, Double Bass, has played with the Florida Symphony (Principal), the Staatsorchester Braunschweig, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Columbus (OH) Symphony, and with other orchestras and ensembles in Europe and America. An accomplished pianist and conductor, Craig was Finlandia Foundation "Performer of the Year" in 1998-99, performing Finnish music piano programs across the United States. Craig Johnson has recently conducted Finnfest Symphony Orchestra concerts in Minneapolis and Marquette MI, the Arius Chamber Orchestra (MN), and the Superior Festival Orchestra (MI). Piano recital appearances in 2006 include the Nordic Spirit Symposium in California, at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter MN, as well as in Duluth and St. Paul. Craig Johnson is an organizer and conductor for the Finnfest 2007 Symphony concert, to be held in Ashtabula, Ohio. Steven Leung, Violin, began his musical studies on the violin at age eight where he quickly showed promise. Throughout secondary school, he was the Concertmaster of the Minnesota Youth Symphony and his school orchestras as well as a frequent soloist. He received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Oberlin College Conservatory in 1994 and a Master of Music in Violin Performance from Rice University. The many ensembles he has played with include the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, New World Symphony, Bill T. Jones Dance Company and the Minnesota Orchestra. He has performed throughout the country as well as overseas in Europe and Asia and with such artists as YoYo Ma, Gil Shaham, Itzhak Perlman, Christoph Eschenbach and Michael Tilson Thomas. Steven is also a sought after violin instructor, and teaches traditional and Suzuki violin to students in his home studio and at MacPhail Center for Music. Joanna Shelton, Violin, holds the Master of Music degree in Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Charles Castleman and members of the Cleveland Quartet. A longtime freelancer in the Twin Cities, Joanna has performed with the Minnesota Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra, visiting ballet companies and Broadway shows, the conductorless co-op chamber orchestra Philomusica, and the string quartet Pentimento (including numerous Mozart operas at Theatre de la Jeune Lune.) As a member of the period instrument Lyra Baroque Orchestra she toured Spain in December of 2003 and will return there in 2005. In addition to her home studio work, Joanna has taught at St. Olaf College and College of St. Benedict. Sarah West, Cello, studied at the Juilliard School of Music and the University of Minnesota . She was recently honored with the Teacher of the Year award for 2004 by the Minnesota String Teacher's Association. Beth Wolfe, Violin, is a student and former assistant of the legendary Mary West, and has studied with John Tartaglia (former violist with the Minnesota Orchestra, and Lea Foli (former Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra). She has been a professional performing artist and teacher in the Twin Cities for the last 30 years. She is a member of the Pentimento String Quartet which has performed as the chamber ensemble for the Mozart operas at Theatre De La June Lune for the past nine years. She has also been a founding member of both The Minneapolis Chamber Symphony and the artist directed Philomusica Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Wolfe has performed with many organizations in the Twin Cities area including: Minnesota Opera, Minneapolis Pops Orchestra, the Bloomington Civic Orchestra, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Opera St. Paul, the Guthrie Theater, Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, St. Paul Civic Symphony and Bloomington Civic Symphony. She performed as the solo country western Fiddlin Nun on the national tour of Nunsense Jamboree. This performance is available on video which was performed with Vicki Lawrence as the star on the Grand Ole Opry Stage in Nashville . Ms. Wolfe has taught in the Minneapolis Schools summer program, Breck School, Eden Prairie String Academy and MacPhail Center for the performing arts.

The Arius Musicians

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Tom Austin, Cello, studied at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and with George Neikrug in Boston. He was the Assistant Principal Cellist of the Liceu Opera Orchestra in Barcelona, Spain and of the Chamber Orchestra of New England. His is currently a member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and Arius and is co-director and teacher of Stringworks

Elizabeth Bell, Violin, has performed extensively over the past two decades, in a career spanning two continents. A former member of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the American Chamber Symphony, she was concertmaster and soloist with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra for ten years. Her experience includes opera, ballet musical theater, chamber music and studio recording. She played nearly 200 performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with Donny Osmond and appeared with Rod Stewart on a recent tour. Ms. Bell is also a founding member of the Stratton Quartet.

Alastair Brown, Violin and Viola, studied with Masao Kawasaki, Dorothy DeLay, Itzhak Perlman, Glenn Dicterow, Karen Dreyfus, Mary West, Helen Foli, and Lee Keng Kok. He has been a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the New England Symphony (Carnegie Hall Series), the Manhattan Virtuosi and is a substitute for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has played as a soloist with the California Music Festival Orchestra, The Schubert Club Recital Series, and the Macphail Faculty Orchestra.

Laurel Browne, Viola, studied with Clyn Barrus at the University of Minnesota (BA in Music Performance) and Siegfried Fuhrlinger in Vienna, Austria. Recently she attended a Karen Tuttle workshop and has also taken some lessons with Mary West. Previously with the San Jose Symphony Ms. Browne is a current member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, Minnesota Sinfonia and Stratton String Quartet.

Peter Douglas, Bassoon, started his professional career in 1977 as a bassoonist with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. Career highlights include 14 years in the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and also performing with the orchestras of Vancouver, CBC Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto; performing as a soloist with such groups as the Edmonton Symphony, Alberta Baroque Ensemble; recording numerous chamber recitals for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio France; and organizing chamber music series in Edmonton in the 1990s. Peter moved to the Twin Cities in 1998 where he freelances and works in the software industry. Peter is uniquely thrilled to be performing with the Arius Ensemble.

Theresa Elliott, Violin.

Bob Fried, Viola and Double Bass, is the founder of Arius, its President and Artistic Director. He studied composition with Robert Stoltz at Lewis and Clark College, Double Bass with Eugene Levinson at the Aspen Music Festival and in Minneapolis, with Stuart Sankey at the University of Texas, Austin and with Paul Ellison in Houston. His viola studies have been with Kenneth Freed in Minneapolis. He has played with the Long Beach Symphony, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Austin Symphony, Chamber Music Northwest, Portland Opera, Portland Chamber Orchestra, and Arius Chamber Players of Austin, Texas. His business background includes executive level management at several private and public companies.

Lorie Hippen, Violin, holds a BS degree in Music Education from the University of Minnesota and has two additional years of post graduate work in violin performance there. She teaches at Washburn High School and the Ramsey International Fine Arts School . She has conducted for several Twin Cities area civic orchestras and has performed with the Minneapolis Opera, the North Star Opera, Vocalessence and the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra.

Craig Randal Johnson, Double Bass, has played with the Florida Symphony (Principal), the Staatsorchester Braunschweig, Aspen Chamber Symphony, Columbus (OH) Symphony, and with other orchestras and ensembles in Europe and America. An accomplished pianist and conductor, Craig was Finlandia Foundation "Performer of the Year" in 1998-99, performing Finnish music piano programs across the United States. Craig Johnson has recently conducted Finnfest Symphony Orchestra concerts in Minneapolis and Marquette MI, the Arius Chamber Orchestra (MN), and the Superior Festival Orchestra (MI). Piano recital appearances in 2006 include the Nordic Spirit Symposium in California, at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter MN, as well as in Duluth and St. Paul. Craig Johnson is an organizer and conductor for the Finnfest 2007 Symphony concert, to be held in Ashtabula, Ohio.

Steven Leung, Violin, began his musical studies on the violin at age eight where he quickly showed promise. Throughout secondary school, he was the Concertmaster of the Minnesota Youth Symphony and his school orchestras as well as a frequent soloist. He received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Oberlin College Conservatory in 1994 and a Master of Music in Violin Performance from Rice University. The many ensembles he has played with include the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, New World Symphony, Bill T. Jones Dance Company and the Minnesota Orchestra. He has performed throughout the country as well as overseas in Europe and Asia and with such artists as YoYo Ma, Gil Shaham, Itzhak Perlman, Christoph Eschenbach and Michael Tilson Thomas. Steven is also a sought after violin instructor, and teaches traditional and Suzuki violin to students in his home studio and at MacPhail Center for Music.

Joanna Shelton, Violin, holds the Master of Music degree in Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Charles Castleman and members of the Cleveland Quartet. A longtime freelancer in the Twin Cities, Joanna has performed with the Minnesota Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra, visiting ballet companies and Broadway shows, the conductorless co-op chamber orchestra Philomusica, and the string quartet Pentimento (including numerous Mozart operas at Theatre de la Jeune Lune.) As a member of the period instrument Lyra Baroque Orchestra she toured Spain in December of 2003 and will return there in 2005. In addition to her home studio work, Joanna has taught at St. Olaf College and College of St. Benedict.

Sarah West, Cello, studied at the Juilliard School of Music and the University of Minnesota . She was recently honored with the Teacher of the Year award for 2004 by the Minnesota String Teacher's Association.

Beth Wolfe, Violin, is a student and former assistant of the legendary Mary West, and has studied with John Tartaglia (former violist with the Minnesota Orchestra, and Lea Foli (former Concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra). She has been a professional performing artist and teacher in the Twin Cities for the last 30 years. She is a member of the Pentimento String Quartet which has performed as the chamber ensemble for the Mozart operas at Theatre De La June Lune for the past nine years. She has also been a founding member of both The Minneapolis Chamber Symphony and the artist directed Philomusica Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Wolfe has performed with many organizations in the Twin Cities area including: Minnesota Opera, Minneapolis Pops Orchestra, the Bloomington Civic Orchestra, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Opera St. Paul, the Guthrie Theater, Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, St. Paul Civic Symphony and Bloomington Civic Symphony. She performed as the solo country western Fiddlin Nun on the national tour of Nunsense Jamboree. This performance is available on video which was performed with Vicki Lawrence as the star on the Grand Ole Opry Stage in Nashville . Ms. Wolfe has taught in the Minneapolis Schools summer program, Breck School, Eden Prairie String Academy and MacPhail Center for the performing arts.