Meet the Orchestra Header 2022

BFO Principal Strings

STRINGS  |  WINDS  |  BRASS  |  PERCUSSION/KEYBOARD/HARP

Ignace Jang, Concertmaster

Ignace Jang 2022

Recognized for his ability to forge personal connections with audiences, Ignace Jang is the concertmaster of the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra and the Britt Festival Orchestra, and a faculty member of the Music Department at the University of Hawaii Mānoa. He has performed throughout the United States, South America, Asia and Europe in venues such as the Tokyo Bunkamura Hall, the Seoul Arts Center and Paris Théatre des Champs-Elysées. Solo and chamber music appearances include the Hawaii Symphony, Colorado Symphony, the Versailles Chamber Orchestra, L’Orchestre Provence-Alpes- Côte-d’Azur in France, Berlioz, Trièves and Chirens Festivals in his native France, the Jeju Isle Music Festival in Korea. A featured artist of the Music Teachers National Association, Jang recently released a CD of new music with Ebb & Flow Arts. Recent collaborators include pianists Jon Nakamatsu, Jon Kimura Parker, violinists Hilary Hahn, Chee-Yun cellist Franz Helmerson and ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro. Read More

Nicola Payne, Principal Violin II

Nicki Payne 2022

Nicola Payne has been a member of the Britt Festival Orchestra since 1995, and Principal Second Violin since 2003.  Born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, Nicola earned degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.  Currently based in the Boston area, Nicola performs with Vista Philharmonic (formerly the Orchestra of Indian Hill), Lexington Symphony (violin and viola), Rhode Island Philharmonic, as well as many other groups in the Boston area including most recently the Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms Society.  Nicola has performed with the Kansas City Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic serving as Principal Second Violin, Evansville Philharmonic, Owensboro Symphony as Principal Second, then Concertmaster, and New World Symphony as Assistant Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin. Nicola performed for seven seasons with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife, Spain.  She has had the privilege of performing in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and has worked under the batons of world-class conductors such as Sir Georg Solti, Michael Tilson Thomas, James DePreist, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, and Larry Rachleff. Read More

Amelia Clingman, Principal Viola

Amelia Clingman 2022

Amelia Clingman lives in New Orleans, where she is a member of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. During summer months, she holds the position of Principal Viola with the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon, and in 2014, she was named a Quarterfinalist in the Primrose International Viola Competition. As an avid chamber musician, Amelia became a founding member of the New Orleans-based Polymnia Quartet in 2015, and the Electric Yat Quartet in 2020.  She is also a new music enthusiast, and has taken part in many world premiere performances, as well as performances and recordings with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.  Amelia also enjoys crossing into other genres, and has performed with renowned artists including the Who, Peter Gabriel, Mumford and Sons, and Tank and the Bangas.  Amelia teaches violin and viola lessons privately, and has been part of many youth educational programs and masterclasses. In recent years, she has worked in various schools in New Orleans, through a grant from the Jazz and Heritage Foundation.

Amelia Clingman graduated from UMass Amherst with a BM in violin performance, and in 2008 she completed her Master’s degree in viola performance at the New England Conservatory. She has attended the Heifetz and Kneisel Hall music festivals, and served as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center from 2007-2009. Teachers include Marylou Speaker Churchill, James Buswell, Ed Gazouleas, Carol Rodland, and Kathryn Lockwood.

Isaac Pastor-Chermak, Principal Cello

Isaac Pastor-Chermak headshotIsaac Pastor-Chermak is Principal Cellist of Vallejo Symphony and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony; Assistant Principal Cellist of Opera San Jose and Fresno Philharmonic; and a member of Berkeley Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Monterey Symphony, and Reno Philharmonic. He spends his summers at the Eisenstadt Classical Music Festival in Austria, where he is Principal Cellist. In 2023, he will serve as Principal Cellist of the Britt Festival Orchestra in Oregon.

Mr. Pastor-Chermak is in constant demand as a solo artist, performing more than 100 concerts every season on an 1889 Riccardo Antoniazzi cello. Some highlights of recent and upcoming seasons include the complete Brahms Cello Sonatas (January 2022), the complete Bach Cello Suites (June 2022), the Haydn D-major cello concerto with Stockton Symphony (March 2023), and the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas (May 2023). His CD catalog includes The Shadow Dancer with the Auriga String Quartet; Backlash Bach with Red Cedar Chamber Music; and Preludes and Prologues with pianist Alison Lee. A limited edition vinyl LP, The Year 1948, is due out early 2024, and features cello sonatas by Prokofiev and Elliott Carter. Mr. Pastor-Chermak fits these creative projects around weekly symphonic programs throughout the country, as well as his local teaching and conducting obligations.

As an educator, Mr. Pastor-Chermak teaches a small-but-mighty studio of private students, who receive consistent high marks in regional competitions and have been admitted to the top conservatories in the country. He is Adjunct Professor of Music History at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and sits on the Board of Directors of East Bay Music Foundation and Calliope East Bay Music and Arts. Mr. Pastor-Chermak holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley (B.A. with honors) and San Francisco Conservatory of Music (M.M. with honors). Isaac and his wife, pianist Alison Lee, live in a 100-year-old house in the Berkeley Hills with their cat, Waffle.

Dave Anderson, Principal Bass

dave anderson 1HOMETOWN: New Orleans, LA
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE/BACKGROUND: Principal Bass at Louisiana Philharmonic since 1996. Performed extensively with many diverse ensembles including the Aspen Festival, Chautauqua (NY) Festival, Colorado Philharmonic (NRO), Colorado Music Festival, the LaSalle Quartet, and as a soloist with Richard Stoltzman, Gene Bertoncini, Nigel Kennedy, Bobby McFerrin, and many others. Has served as Bass Instructor for the Music School at Loyola University and also on the Board of Directors of the International Society of Bassists (ISB) as bassist/composer.
In 1984, he began his pursuits in composition, recognizing that the solo repertoire for his instrument was limited. Since then, his published work has expanded to other solo instruments, as well as for chamber orchestras and small ensembles. He has published many works and received acclaim for his compositions. In 1995, he won first prize in the Allen Ostrander International Trombone Composition Competition, sponsored by Ithaca college. Other works include his Concerto for Double Bass, Strings & Harp, commissioned by Philadelphia Orchestra and performed on the 1997-98 subscription series of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
YEARS AT BRITT: Since 1994
FAVORITE BRITT MEMORY: The commission and performance of Celebration, a tone poem for large orchestra, for the 50th Britt season in 2012.
Photo provided by Zack Smith Photography.

2023 BFO Strings

VIOLIN I
Iggy Jang, Concertmaster+
Eric Lee, Asst. CM+
Debbie Akerlund+
Samantha Bennett*
Leah Goor Burtnett*
Anne-Marie Chubet*+
Bruce Colson*
Diana Galimova
Juan Jaramillo
Megan Karls
Clara Lee
Jimin Lim*
Louanne Lotz+
Sabrina Parry
Dawn Posey*
Alexandra Preucil*
Zachary Ragent
Caroline Slack*
Bruce Sweetman*+
Michael Turkell
Emma Votapek*
Liuwenji Wang
Dillon Welch
Sofie Yang, Extra

VIOLIN II
Nicola Payne, Principal+
Jennise Hwang, Assistant Principal*
Sooyeon Kim, Assistant Principal
Michelle Black*
Michael Blaney
Jacob Buhler
Cynthia Burton
Sophia Cho*
Annie Daigle
Kei Fukuda
Paul Halberstadt
Emily Herdeman Kelly*
Anna Leunis
Mark Lotz+
Sarah Peters*
Kevin Tompkins
Sophie Therrell, Extra

VIOLA
Amelia Clingman, Principal
Rene Salizar, Assistant Principal*+
Kayleigh Miller, Assistant Principal
Karen Bea+
Wendy Edgar+
Andrew Francois*
Mary Harris+
E. Patrick Horn+
Jane Mitchell
Michele Parker*+
Monica Reilly+
Maggie Rojas Seay
Dana Rokosny, Extra

CELLO
Naomi Barron, Principal*+
Isaac Pastor-Chermak, Principal
Meredith McCook, Assistant Principal*
Bridget Pasker, Assistant Principal
Ian Greenberg*
Kirsten Jerme
Andrew Kolb
Ruth Marshall*
Ida Mercer+
Kevin Mills
Lisa Truelove+
Runen Li, Cello Fellowship

BASS
Dave Anderson, Principal+
Jim Karrer, Assistant Principal+
Robb Aistrup+
Mark Bergman+
David Connor*
Nate Farrington*
Peggy Johnston+
Olivia Salas


+ Britt Orchestra member for 20 or more years

* On Leave for 2023