Our Musicians

Below is a list of the musicians who played during the 2019-2020 half-season.

First Violin

Jody Crafford

Kristen G. Price

Ueli Schweizer, concertmaster

Debbie White

Kim Whitney

Second Violin

Miriam Bryant, principal

Hannah Hendricks

Ken Hoyle

Rebecca Laster

Carolina Mijangos

Brittany Pence

Emily Rubio

Anne Marie Schwankl

Viola

Richard Hoyle

Karen Huey, principal

Karla Perez-Hernandez

Emily Troutman

Cello

Elisabeth Crandall, principal

Jessica Dunham

Dr. Bill Hall

Alexa Hughes

Caitlin Laster

Manly Lucas

Sophie Miller

Bass

Mark Snyder

Reinette S. Stephenson, principal

Flute

Kayla Brockhoff

Paula Rolka

Jessica T. Simmons, principal

Robin Whitten

Oboe

Aria Milsap, co-principal

Janna Steinson

Thomas Turanchik, co-principal
 

Clarinet

Lauren Winkens, principal

Pat Wright

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Bass Clarinet

Melissa Mitchell

Bassoon

Georgia Barrett

Jack Fanning

Brianna Souza, principal

Jan Streifer

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Horn

Sue Agazzi, acting principal

Eric Keith, principal

Matt Miller

Robert Stagg

Robert Thomas

Denise Wallace

Trumpet

William E. Boyce, principal

John Enloe

Daniel Simmons

Trombone

Van Groce, Jr., principal

Ella Mitchum

Don Wazenegger

Baritone

Sarah Miller

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Tuba

Ian Dunham

Brad Simpson

Timpani & Percussion

Reid Haslup

Gregory Lewis

Melissa Mitchell

Jeff Neal

Tony Waller

Harp

Joe Hanna

Concertmaster

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Ulric (Ueli) Schweizer is in his nineteenth season as concertmaster of the LCCO.  A native of Georgia, Ueli began playing violin at age ten when his family moved to South Carolina.  With a B.A. in music from UNC-Greensboro, he is an active performer, playing regularly in a myriad of venues and for a variety of occasions in the Piedmont region.  As concertmaster, he has been highlighted as a soloist in several LCCO concerts, including performances of Dvorák's Romance and Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending. One of his interests involves acting and playing in Let Your Children Tell, a play produced by the Touring Theatre of North Carolina about children who were sent to concentration camps in WWII. He lives in Greensboro with his wife, pianist Dr. Mayumi Osada, and repairs string instruments at Moore Music Company.

Music Director, emeritus

Tara Villa Keith served as LCCO's music director for eleven seasons, and is currently in her eighteenth season as music director of the Davidson College Symphony Orchestra (DCSO) in North Carolina where she is an associate professor of music. With the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, she has served as a cover conductor and pre-concert speaker for several seasons, and was the premiere instructor for their Symphony 101 adult education program. Tara was a two-time assistant conductor for the Hot Springs Music Festival (Arkansas) and has guest conducted the Northwest School of the Arts Symphonic Orchestra, North Carolina All Eastern Regional Strings Orchestra, Union Symphony Orchestra (North Carolina), Macon Symphony Orchestra (Georgia), and Opera at USC (South Carolina).

Tara has been recognized as a 2019 Honored Artist of The American Prize, a series of non-profit national competitions in the performing arts. Honored Artists are individuals who have proven themselves to be artists of sustained excellence over a number of seasons as laureates in the competitions. Under Tara's direction, the DCSO was the national winner of The American Prize 2018 for orchestral performance in the collegiate division. Also in 2018, Tara was the national second place winner of The American Prize Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming for her programming of the DCSO’s 2016-17 season. Tara placed second for the same prize in 2012 and 2013 for the LCCO’s “The Elements” and “An Orchestral Bouquet” seasons. The American Prize awarded Tara third place for Orchestral Conducting in 2018 for her work with the DCSO and in 2013 for her work with LCCO. As a grant recipient and competition winner, Tara has also had the fortune of working with orchestras abroad such as the Campos do Jordão Music Festival Orchestra (Brazil), Das Kritische Orchester (Germany), the Vidin State Philharmonic (Bulgaria), and the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic (Czech Republic).

Off of the podium, Tara enjoys competitive ballroom dancing, practicing yoga, free-lancing as a percussionist, playing with her many cats, and birding with her husband and principal horn, Eric (and yes, he was already principal horn before Tara began directing the group, in case you were wondering!) They enjoy sharing music with their beautiful daughter, Naia.