Sara Cumming - Cello

Sara received her Bachelor of Music degree in Cello performance from the University of Illinois, and her Master of Music degree from Rice University. Another three years of study was completed at the University of Houston. In addition to attending Banff and other music festivals, she has experience with orchestral performing and chamber music. She has freelanced with the Houston Symphony, the Melbourne Symphony and the movie recording industry in Melbourne. A founding member of the Chelsea Chamber Players, Sara participates in this concert series. She has taught private cello lessons in Scotland and Australia, and currently has a cello studio in Chelsea, Michigan.

Ian Cumming - Violin & Viola

Ian studied violin and viola at the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Melbourne, Australia.  He was then a regular member of the Elizabethan Melbourne Orchestra, playing for Opera and Ballet, and later joined the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He has wide experience as both performer and tutor of chamber music.  Ian currently teaches in Chelsea.  He is a founding member of the Chelsea Chamber Players.

Nathan Peters - Violin & Viola

Nathan received his Bachelor's degree in Violin Performance in 1992 and his Master's degree in Viola Performance in 1993 from the University of Michigan. His teachers were Paul Kantor and Yizhak Schotten. As a fellowship student, he performed at the Aspen Music Festival in 1993 and 1994. He has performed in Symphony Orchestras and in Chamber Ensembles throughout Southeast Michigan. Nathan currently teaches orchestra classes at Beach Middle School in Chelsea and teaches private violin and viola lessons to students in both Chelsea and Ann Arbor.

Paula Sokol-Elliott - Violin

Paula began violin studies at the age of five with her father, the renowned teacher and conductor Vilem Sokol.  She served as concertmaster of the Seattle Youth Symphony under the direction of her father for several years.  After attending the University of Washington on a Breecheman Scholarship, Paula graduated with honors from Indiana University where she studied with the legendary violinist and teacher, Josef Gingold.  She subsequently joined the Minnesota Orchestra at the invitation of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski where she recorded the complete works of Ravel and Bartok for orchestra.  She performed with the Vancouver Symphony, and as associate concertmaster of the Kalamazoo Symphony.

Paula won the Saunderson Award at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in Los Angeles, CA, and later formed the Leclair String Quartet, which toured and recorded for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.  Her Chamber Music coaches and teachers included Jaime Laredo, Ruggiero Ricci, Michael Kuttner of the Hungarian Quartet, Robert Koff of the Juliard Quartet, and Bernie Goldschmit from the Cleveland Orchestra.

Paula has performed with the West Point Grey Chamber Players, the Vancouver Chamber Players, the Bach Festival at Mt Angel, OR, the Michigan Chamber Players, and the Chelsea Chamber Players.  She has been on the faculties of the Marrowstone Music Festival, McPhail College, the New Brunswick Music Festival, the Rocky Mountain Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, CO, and the Meadowmount School of Music.  Solo appearances include the Seattle Youth Symphony, The Seattle Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, and the Flint Symphony where she received a glowing review for performance of John Williams' masterful violin solo "Remembrances" from Stephen Speilberg’s Schindler’s List.

Currently Paula is director of the St Thomas String Ensemble in Ann Arbor, MI, and continues to perform with the Ann Arbor Symphony, and as acting concertmaster of the Flint Symphony.  She coaches chamber music ensembles, maintains a private studio, and in the summer teaches at the Interharmony International Music Festival in Hinterzarten, Schwarzwald, Germany.

Paula is the mother of four daughters, all of whom have pursued the arts, including film, art, dance and music.

Priscilla Johnson - Violin

Priscilla has been performing and teaching in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area for fifteen years, having acquired both a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree from the University of Michigan.   Among her teachers have been Marylou Speaker, Camilla Wicks and Paul Kantor.  She is a founding member and First Violinist of The Arbor String Ensemble and has played in back up orchestras for Smokey Robinson, Anne Murray, Mannheim Steamroller, and Harry Connick Jr.

Cynthia Standefer - Flute & Piccolo

Cynthia Standefer received both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in flute from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. She served as principal flute with the Abilene Philharmonic, Texas for ten years. She has taught flute privately in Chelsea for the past nine years.

Jed Fritzemeier - Bass

Jed graduated from the University of Michigan in 1985 with a Master's degree in double bass performance. He has been a member of the Toledo Symphony, the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Meadowbrook Festival Orchestra, the Northwood Symphony, the Flint Symphony, the South Dakota Symphony, and the Waukesha Symphony. He has also performed with the Doc Walker Jazz Quartet, the Saline Big Band and various polka, country, rock and folk bands throughout the country.

Jed is currently the Orchestra Director at Chelsea High School. He returned to Chelsea in 1995, after six years in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He previously directed the Chelsea string program from 1985-1989, during which time he grew the program from 59 to 130 musicians. At the present time, there are about 100 string players at the High School and 380 students enrolled in strings grades 5-12. Jed's most recent innovation is a Celtic music ensemble called the Chelsea House Orchestra, founded in 1998. This group, which includes violins, violas, cellos, guitar, bass guitar, harp, flute, oboe, djembe, bodhran, and various percussion instruments, has recorded two compact disks.

Jed was the founding artistic director of the Wisconsin American String Teachers' Elementary String Camp. In Minnesota, he founded an eclectic music ensemble called "The Morning Show" performing a variety of folk, jazz and classical music. Jed has presented workshops at the Midwest Convention in Ann Arbor, Michigan three times; at the Kentucky Music Educators symposium; as part of the Minnesota All-State teacher training program. He has conducted festival orchestras in Minnesota, Kentucky, South Dakota and Wisconsin.