Conductors
Basil Vendryes
Symphony Orchestra Conductor
Basil Vendryes has been heard frequently as soloist and chamber musician. He is the Principal Violist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and is a former member of the San Francisco Symphony (1982-95), New York Philharmonic (1984-85) and Rochester Philharmonic (1979-82) orchestras. As violist with the Aurora String Quartet (1986-95) Mr. Vendryes performed extensively, including recitals in New York , London and Tokyo . He currently is on the faculties of the Lamont School of Music of the University of Denver , where he teaches both viola and chamber music, and California Summer Music at Pebbe Beach . Mr Vendryes has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Summer Music West, the Quartet Program and the Raphael Trio Chamber Music Workshop. In Denver he participates in many educational programs that bring music to schools throughout the area.
Basil Vendryes was born in New York in 1961 to West Indian parents, and began his musical training in the public schools at the age of eleven. He received scholarships to the Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Sally O'Reilly, Francis Tursi and Heidi Castleman. Mr. Vendryes has won several awards, including prizes in the 1981 American String Teachers Association and 1988 Bruno Giuranna Viola Competitions. Festival appearances include Spoleto, Heidelberg, Marin (CA), Lake Winnepesaukee (NH), Ouray (CO), Brittish Virgin Islands, Easthampton (NY) and the Grand Tetons (WY). He has appeared as soloist with the Colorado, Aurora, Jefferson, Lamont and Biola Symphonies, Evergreen and Artea Chamber Orchestras, Sinfonia San Francisco, the American Chamber Orchestra, the Oakland and Boulder Youth Symphonies and the Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble.
Activities in the last few years include master classes in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Reno and San Diego , service on the jury of the Sphinx National Competition ( Ann Arbor , MI ), a performance of the Weber Andante e Rondo Ungarese with the Centennial Philarmonic (CO), and chamber music appearances in Colorado, New Hapshire and Southern California . He has recorded chamber music for the CRI and Naxos labels. He plays on a rare Italian viola made in 1887 by Carlo Cerruti.
Yin-Feng Keynes Chen
Philharmonia Orchestra Conductor
Mr. Chen has been teaching violin since 1994 and received his Suzuki pedagogy training under Dr. William Starr. He has taught in Englewood and also coaches the Boulder Youth Symphony String Quartet Program. Mr. Chen also serves as the president of the Board of Directors for the Boulder Youth Symphony, as well as being the executive director of A Mid-Summer Day's Dream String Camp. He attended Shanghai Music Conservatory and received his Master's Degree of Music Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder and has received numerous awards including the Koromzay Chamber Music Award, and Concerto Competition winner at CU Boulder in 2000. Mr. Chen currently performs with the Boulder Philharmonic, Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Colorado Symphony Chamber Musicians' Up Close and Music Concert Series.
Regan Kane
Sinfonia Conductor
Regan Kane has studied the violin since the age of five when she began with the Suzuki Method. She received her Bachelor Degree in violin performance from Drake University where she received the Frank Noyes Violin Award and has won first-prize of the Drake University Young Artists Competition. She achieved a masters degree in violin performance at the University of Colorado while studying with the Takacs Quartet as a member of the Graduate String Quartet in Residence with full scholarship. Ms. Kane has continued to be an active performer in the Front Range area. She is a member of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, and Boulder Chamber Orchestra and has performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Colorado Symphony Chamber Musicians Up Close and Musical Concert Series. She has also performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the New World Symphony in Miami, and the Colorado Music Festival. Ms. Kane performed in Berlin, Germany with the Nacht Quartet in 2003 after intensive study at the Hans Eisler Music Conservatory where they studied with members from the Vogler and Cherubini Quartets, as well as the renowned Professor Ebhard Felz. She continues to perform often in solo and small ensemble concerts such as the Chen Quartet and Boulder Chamber Orchestra. Recently, in the spring of 2007, Ms. Kane finished a USA tour with the well-established Carl Rosa Opera Company of London as a member of the opera orchestra. Ms. Kane has extensive experience teaching violin in private and group settings and has had Suzuki training with the well-known Suzuki pedagogue, Dr. William Starr. She has taught violin privately since 2000 and conducted the orchestra program in 2004-2005 at Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colorado. She has also served as a violin sectional coach for Boulder Youth Symphony for the past several years. In the summer of 2007, Ms. Kane became the second violinist of the established Illuminati Quartet to perform and teach for the String Quartet Program of Northern Colorado. Ms. Kane and her husband, Mr. Yinfeng Keynes Chen, founded a high-standard string school in Boulder called Flatirons Strings Academy as well as a successful string and fiddle summer camp called A Mid-Summers Day Dream String Camp.
Michelle Eudeikis
Executive Director
Michelle began teaching music in the Texas public schools in 1980. In addition to her work there, she led sectionsals for youth orchestras in Amarillo, Dallas, and Fort Worth. She has been an orchestral clarinetist with the Dalas Opera Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphoy, East Texas Symphony, Ballet Arlington Orchestra, Plano Symphony, Texas Chamber Orchestra, and the AMarillo Symphony. After relocating to the Denver area she became a highly sought-after performer locally and now plays regularly with the Colorado Ballet Orchestra, the Colorado Chamber Players, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. She works with the CYSO Chamber Arts Program devoted entirely to chamber music ensembles. In additon to string quartets, CYSO is currently making plans to include a woodwind quintet and brass quintet.
Jerome Fleg
Wind Ensemble Conductor and Assistant to the Executive Director
Jerome Greyson Fleg has worked as a conductor and clarinetist throughout the United States and Europe. He currently is the conductor of the Colorado Youth Symphony Wind Ensemble and the assistant conductor of the Colorado Youth Symphony Philharmonia Orchestra. Jerome has also served as the conductor for the Archipelago Music Festival. As a clarinetist, Mr. Fleg plays with the Central City Opera (clarinet/bass clarinet), Wyoming Symphony, and Arundo Wind Quintet (clarinet). He has toured as the principal clarinet with the Mantovani Orchestra. Mr. Fleg has also played clarinet with the Colorado Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Ft. Collins Symphony, Gettysburg Symphony, and Columbia Symphony Orchestra. His performances have included many venues such as Carnegie Hall, and he has worked with many musicians such as Grammy award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch. Mr. Fleg graduated from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore with Bachelor degrees in clarinet performance and music education. He then completed a Master's degree in clarinet performance at the University of Northern Colorado and is currently a Doctoral student and teaching assistant at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His principal teachers have included: Bil Jackson, Andy Stevens, Mark Nuccio, Steven Barta, Dan Silver and Bill Welty. Jerome has received awards such as the Silver Medal in the National Fischoff Chamber Music Competition (Arundo Winds), 1st place in the University of Northern Colorado Orchestra Concerto Competition, Dean's Scholarship from the University of Northern Colorado, "Martha and William Bill" Memorial Prize at the Peabody Conservatory, and the 'Best Should Teach' Silver Award at the University of Colorado.
Catherine Beeson
Outreach Program and Chamber Music Program Coordinator
Catherine Beeson received her Bachelor of Music in both Viola and Violin Performance from the University of Texas, Austin, and her Master of Music in Orchestral Performance (viola) from the Manhattan School of Music before joining the CSO as Ass't Principal Viola in 1999. She is on faculty at Regis University, and serves as Artistic Director of Loon Lake Live, a chamber music series in the northern Adirondack Mountains of New York. Catherine has performed with a variety of organizations including the New York City Opera National Company, the Handel-Haydn Society of Austin, the Asian Cultural Council (Tokyo and New York), the Lenape Chamber Ensemble (Philadelphia), Santa Fe Pro Musica, two jazz quartets, and a rock band. In addition to performing, she has taught private lessons, led masterclasses, and coached chamber music for more than 15 years. Dedicated to outreach, she has served as Teaching Artist in New York for the New York Philharmonic and Little Orchestra Society, and in Denver for Up Close and Musical and Friends of Chamber Music. She has also authored curriculum for the New York Philharmonic KidZone website. Besides spending time with her two children, Catherine's non-musical interests include hiking, cross-country skiing, terrible golf playing, and canning all sorts of tasty stuff.
