Musician Profile Archives - Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra

Susan Shaw

Sinfonia — Wed, 07 May 2025 18:46:11 +0000

Susan Shaw, bassoonist, received her Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music. Her main studies have been with Jane Taylor of the Do rian Quintet and Stephen Maxym of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She is principal bassoonist with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, the Allentown Symphony Orchestra and the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. Ms. Shaw also enjoyed a 10 year affiliation performing with the orchestra of the Lake George Opera. She has taught bassoon and chamber music at Bethlehem’s Lehigh University, the New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music program, and Usdan Center for Performing Arts in Long Island. Along with a continuous variety of freelance performing, Susan’s performance roster includes the Houston Grand Opera, the American Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Queens Symphony and Broadway runs of Miss Saigon, Carousel and The King and I. Along with performing, Ms. Shaw serves on the music faculties of the public schools in Westchester, NY.

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Nancy Merriam

Sinfonia — Wed, 07 May 2025 18:25:07 +0000

Nancy Merriam, double bassist, has performed throughout the United States and her native country, Canada. Her concert activities include orchestra, ensemble, and solo performances for a variety of audiences including the young, the elderly, and everyone in between.

As a double bass enthusiast since her studies with Gary Karr and Jon Deak, Nancy has particularly enjoyed performing contemporary music and concerts for children. Along with performing, she teaches music and creative movement to preschoolers and has a blast exploring all her instruments (guitar, ukulele, recorder, drums, and various acoustic and electric basses including her 6-foot basso guitar) with the children.

A former member of symphony orchestras in San Antonio, TX, Reading, PA, Prince George, BC, and Grande Prairie, AB, Nancy is currently a freelance musician in the greater Philadelphia area.

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Agnès Maurer

Sinfonia — Wed, 07 May 2025 16:44:27 +0000

Agnès Maurer, violist, is a native of France, where she studied the violin privately. At the age of sixteen, she joined the Ensemble Instrumental Andrée Colson, a professional chamber orchestra. In the United States she studied with Karen Tuttle at Peabody Conservatory, Kim Kashkashian at New School of Music and Geoffrey Michaels.

She teaches violin and viola at her home studio and also directs a summer music camps for young string players (Bear Crossing Music Camps, New Ringgold, PA).

Maurer is principal violist with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, the Lehigh University Choral Arts Orchestra and with the Shippensburg Festival Orchestra. She is a member of SATORI, of Pennsylvania Piano Quartet, and of the GCE. She is also co-founder and former executive director of the Ensemble

Her solo appearances include performances of Stamitz, Handel-Casadesus, and Telemann Viola Concerti, “Harold in Italy” by Berlioz, Hindemith “Trauermusik” and Mozart Symphonie Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra with Schuylkill Symphony Orchestra, Musica Sacra Atlanta, Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, Bloomsburg Chamber Orchestra and others.

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Simon Maurer

Sinfonia — Wed, 07 May 2025 16:34:16 +0000

Simon Maurer grew up in Switzerland in a family of six children, all of whom became professional musicians. He studied music at the Conservatory in Biel, and continued his violin studies in the U.S. with Geoffrey Michaels and Joyce Robbins.

He studied baroque violin with Elizabeth Field and plays on a baroque instrument from the 18th century.

A founding member of Gabriel Chamber Ensemble, www.gabrielensemble.org, he has performed with the ensemble for 34 years and is the artistic director of the concert series at Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Schuylkill Haven. Committed to performance and education, the group takes pride in bringing classical music to underserved areas.

As the violinist in the Ravel Trio, a piano trio in existence since 2003, he has done extensive work in the mid-atlantic region and Europe with concerts, residencies, collaborations with dancers, jazz events, wine concerts and much more.

In 2009 Trio Clavino was formed. Simon Maurer Violin/Viola and his long time collegues Xun Pan, piano and Doris Hall Gulati, clarinet enjoy exploring the wonderful repertoire for that formation. The Trio returned from the 4th successful concert tour to China. The Trio was awarded two Fulbright Grants, one in 2014 and one in 2016. Trio Clavino has also toured Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

In 2018 the Pennsylvania Piano Quartet was formed. The group performs in the eastern US and has an ongoing residency at the China Conservatory in Beijing working with young composers developing their skills of composing.

He is the violist in the Kalnas Ensemble

The quartet focuses on Lithuanian roots combined with jazz improvisation.

He currently conducts the ‘Sunday Sinfonia’, a string Orchestra in residence at Albright College Reading Pa. It is a mixed group of Albright Students and Community members, Students attend for credit and pleasure, young and adult amateurs for pleasure. The Orchestra has more than 30 string players participating and presents 4 concerts a year, two at Albright and two in the greater Reading area.

Mr. Maurer ventures in the practice of jazz and free style improvisation. He has been a featured soloist in Philadelphia area jazz clubs, has performed at “Jazzfest” in Schuylkill County. He has recorded numerous projects with folk singers and rock groups: Maggie Pierce and EJ; Zen for Primates, and others.

Mr. Maurer teaches violin, viola and cello in his studio in rural Schuylkill County.

Simon lives on a converted 20 acre YMCA camp, where he built his own 2000 square foot concert hall and enjoys the outdoors. Tennis is the preferred exercise. He has three granddaughters and one grandson.

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Shari Gleason-Mayrhofer

Sinfonia — Tue, 06 May 2025 15:53:07 +0000

A skilled musician and experienced arts administrator who anchors the PSO’s horn section and serves as its director of community engagement, Shari Gleason-Mayrhofer has additional talents involving wool and sourdough.

A PSO member since 2012, she earned a bachelor of music degree in horn performance and music theory from Oberlin College Conservatory and holds master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Georgia State University.

In addition to her roles with the PSO, Gleason-Mayrhofer serves as executive director of the Friends of Chamber Music of Reading, teaches horn at Lehigh and Kutztown universities and Muhlenberg College, and maintains a busy performance schedule in the Lehigh Valley-Berks County area. She is a member of the Mainstreet Brass, Fyve Woodwind Quintet, the Pennsylvania Philharmonic and the Southside Sinfonietta, and performs in musical theatre productions at the Fulton Theatre, Muhlenberg College, and DeSales University.

But when she’s not fulfilling her multiple roles in her performing arts world, she pulls out colorful skeins of wool and kneads starter dough for her favorite pastimes—knitting and baking. Gleason-Mayrhofer recently took her knitting interests to new heights by attending Shetland Wool Week, a world-renowned celebration of Britain’s most northerly native sheep, the Shetland textile industry, and the rural farming community on these remote Scottish islands.

We caught up with her to talk about her many interests and her love of the PSO.

How did you get interested in knitting and baking bread?

I took knitting as a course in Oberlin’s Experimental College (“ExCo”) when I was an undergraduate student. Funny, we were allowed to take two ExCo courses for credit during our time in college, and I took knitting and Indian Cooking, which included making chapatis, naan and puri breads. I had always enjoyed cooking (and eating!), but this was my first exposure to “yeasted” doughs. I continued to experiment with bread from that time on—baking most of the bread we ate at home—but I really started to get serious around 2017 or so, I’m not sure why! Honestly, I think I sort of randomly joined a Facebook sourdough group and I was inspired by the photos of amazing breads people from around the world were baking—and since that time I’ve concentrated on naturally fermented doughs.

Do you see them as complementary skills?

I think so. I’m not a particularly creative person. I don’t need to make “original” things, but I love experimenting with process. I like to understand how knitted garments are shaped and constructed and what kinds of techniques and ingredients are required to make different kinds of breads. And both are generally slow processes, which seems to appeal to me.

What’s the most complex item you’ve knitted and the most complex bread you’ve made?

Knitting: In my early years of knitting, I experimented with lots of complicated designs—delicate lace shawls, intricately cabled sweaters, and colorful ski sweaters. Now I find myself exploring the fine details of fit and finishing, while knitting plainer, classic designs. I fail miserably at rectangles. I have the worst time finishing scarves and blankets!

Bread: My bread-baking has followed a similar path. Occasionally I’ll step out and make something fancy, for example a wrapped semolina sourdough bread that looked like a sunflower with petals that opened up as the bread baked. I have gone through phases of experimenting with laminated doughs like croissants and Danishes that take lots of steps and more precise shaping. Lately, though, I find myself baking simpler breads, repeatedly looking for just the “right” texture and flavor; some favorites are a buttered multigrain porridge bread, red quinoa, and jalapeno-cheddar semolina. Oh, and I have the worst sweet tooth, so sometimes I cannot resist making frosted cinnamon rolls or filled donuts.

How do these activities help inform your work as a musician?

I think they’re all about processes that take time; everything is a practice, and certainly I see that as a musician.

Do you wear any of your favorite knitted garments during PSO concerts?

Knitting black is an extreme challenge! I’ve actually been working on a black sweater for some time and it’s not finished—someday soon, I hope. But I do often wear my sweaters to rehearsals, and I always have some knitting to keep me occupied when I’m not playing.

What do you enjoy most about playing with the PSO?

I love the intimate experience of playing in a chamber orchestra. As a horn player, it’s entirely different from a large symphony orchestra—all about precision and matching tone color with winds and strings. And that lends itself to getting to know the other musicians in a more personal manner, I think. I really treasure the friendships I’ve made through the PSO, and I look forward to connecting with these folks at every concert!

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Nobuo Kitagawa

Sinfonia — Tue, 06 May 2025 15:49:18 +0000

Growing up in a suburb of Tokyo, Nobuo Kitagawa started his musical journey with organ and piano and later picked up the flute, piccolo, and even the euphonium.

By high school, he grew fascinated by the flute, setting a goal to become the best flutist when he joined his high school wind ensemble.

“But I met a friend who was taking flute lessons with a college professor,” Kitagawa remembers. “Back then, in Japan, taking private lessons for high school students was very rare, especially for someone who had no ambition to go to music school. He was clearly better than I was, and I was very intimidated.”

But fate and circumstances soon conspired and changed his musical trajectory. “One day, the high school band director said, we just got ourselves a used oboe. Who wants to play it?” Kitagawa recalls. “So, I raised my hand immediately. All my life, I have loved doing things with my hands, making things and breaking things. Very quickly I realized that so much hand work is involved with the oboe. And it was just a perfect match for me.

“As far as I know, I was the very first oboe player in my hometown,” he adds. “I taught myself how to play and make reeds from books and records. I did eventually take lessons for preparing to go to music school. I had my first student (my sister) before I had my own teacher.”

He says his appreciation of the instrument’s vocal qualities developed over time. It took a leap forward when he heard a piece on an Eastman Wind Ensemble recording where the oboe and flute played a delicate melody an octave apart.

“It was a magical moment,” Kitagawa says. “That was the first time I thought, wow, this instrument has an amazing tone. It took me years to actually find a voice I really admired.”

A graduate of Tokyo University of Arts and a recipient of master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees from Yale University, he joined the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra when he moved to the Lehigh Valley 16 years ago.

“What I enjoy most about the Pennsylvania Sinfonia is the camaraderie,” he says. “It’s like a small family.”

Beyond his work as a performer, Kitagawa manages a YouTube channel, NK Music Lab, where he has posted more than 850 instructional videos, arrangements for wind instruments with piano accompaniment, and technical exercises for oboe. He also offers an online store.

He also occupies his creative time making modern editions of Baroque music, turning to the International Music Score Library Project, a storehouse of free public domain sheet music, for source material. In addition to several oboe concertos, he edited an orchestra suite by Telemann, which never had a modern edition.

“I find it fascinating because I have to create a keyboard part from scratch and that really forces me to dig deeper into the structure of the music,” says Kitagawa, whose most recent project was Marcello’s Oboe Concerto in D minor, which he premiered at this year’s June Valley Vivaldi series.

His recreational works can be heard here.

In his spare time, Kitagawa hosts two Zoom sessions per week for mostly Japanese people who wish to practice their English conversation skills. “It started as a COVID project and it kept going for over two years, with up to 12 people joining the conversation sessions,” he says. “I have made many new friends through this outreach.”

In addition to the PSO, Kitagawa maintains an active freelance career, also serving as principal oboe of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem Festival Orchestra. He teaches at Lafayette and Muhlenberg colleges and at the Kinhaven Adult Chamber Music Workshop.

Becoming a single father five years ago while managing a busy professional life as a musician, he has started taking his physical health seriously. He follows a strict three day regimen of strength training, rowing, and jogging.

“I have never been in better shape my whole life,” Kitagawa says, adding that his physical conditioning enhances and supports his oboe playing. “There’s so much work yet to be done. I wish to be at my best.”

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Steve Mathiesen

Sinfonia — Tue, 06 May 2025 14:57:37 +0000

Steve Mathiesen, all it took was the sight of a gleaming snare drum to send him on a lifelong career as a percussionist.

“When I was in elementary school, I had a cousin who was a couple years older than me. And he had this nice, bright, shiny Slingerland snare drum, which I thought was just the coolest thing,” Mathiesen recalls.

“In those days, I had to do everything that my cousin did. So, when it came time to choose my instrument for the East Stroudsburg school bands, it was percussion,” he says. “The band director who tried me out wanted me to play trombone, but I would have none of it.

“Through the opportunities provided by our school bands, I was able to attend music camps and even got to play timpani for Aaron Copland,” he says. “I also played in a youth orchestra that toured Europe for a month.”

Since his days in the East Stroudsburg Area School District’s music program, (he was inducted into its Music Hall of Fame in 2005), Mathiesen has enjoyed a performing arts career that spans many genres, from jazz to classical.

A PSO member since 1987, Mathiesen also plays with the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, the Binghamton (N.Y.) Philharmonic, the Bethlehem Bach Festival Orchestra, and Mainstreet Brass, and teaches at Marywood, Lehigh, and Moravian universities.

He has also played shows featuring Bernadette Peters, the Irish Tensors, Aretha Franklin, Regis Philbin, Kathie Lee Gifford, Mitzi Gaynor, and Joel Grey. He received his bachelor of music degree from the Ithaca College School of Music and a master of music degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Mathiesen echoes the sentiments shared by his colleagues when asked what he loves most about playing with the PSO. “It’s a group of friends and colleagues, and it’s a nice, intimate setting in which to play music,” he says. “There’s a lot of repertoire overlap between what a full-size symphony and a chamber music plays. To me, it’s always interesting to hear the difference in sound and color in a chamber orchestra.”

In his spare time, Mathiesen enjoys bicycling, canoeing, and camping.

“Sometimes, when I’m taking a walk or cycling, I often listen to music in my head,” he says. “I can hear the last piece I played or something that’s coming up in the future. Music is always a welcome companion when I’m outdoors and enjoying nature.”

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Elizabeth Mendoza

Sinfonia — Tue, 06 May 2025 14:43:09 +0000

Elizabeth Mendoza is principal cellist of the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. She is also the principal cellist of the Bay Atlantic Symphony in southern NJ and regularly performs with the Allentown Symphony and Delaware Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Mendoza is also a member of the SATORI Chamber Music Ensemble, based in the Lehigh Valley and is a member of the Chanticleer String Quartet of Richmond, Indiana. She received her BM from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and her MM from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. She currently resides in Havertown, PA .

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Hugh Williamson

Sinfonia — Tue, 06 May 2025 14:18:29 +0000

“My dad noticed my interest in music from an early age. I was particularly drawn to brass instruments, especially the red and white mutes used by trumpet and trombone players,”A frequent substitute and extra trumpet for the PSO, Williamson formally joined the orchestra for the 1999-2000 season as its second trumpet.

“My first performance with the PSO was playing fourth trumpet on a concert of opera highlights while I was still a college student,” he recalls. “I remember having to count hundreds of rests before playing a few well-timed low notes for dramatic effect.”

His most memorable PSO concert was playing “The Trumpet Shall Sound” as part of a complete performance of Handel’s “Messiah” with the PSO and Camerata Singers.

“This was the first time I performed Handel’s ‘Messiah’ in a professional performance with an orchestra,” Williamson says. “I was very familiar with ‘Messiah,’ both as a trumpet player and singer, and because of my dad’s own study of the work when preparing to perform it with his own choirs.”

Performing with the PSO, Williamson appreciates the Sinfonia’s deeps roots within the Lehigh Valley music scene.

“Many members perform and teach in various ensembles and settings in the region. Although we only play together a handful of times each year as the PSO, many members collaborate together in other chamber groups and orchestras,” he says, noting how these shared musical friendships add depth to performances.

“Additionally, both our director emeritus, Allan Birney, and our new music director, Paul Chou, have built rich and longstanding relationships in the region’s musical community,” Williamson adds. “It’s a thrill to make music with people who share a commitment to enriching the greater Lehigh Valley with music.”

Besides the PSO, he has performed with orchestras and brass ensembles throughout the Northeast, including the Mainstreet Brass; Pennsylvania Chamber Brass; Philadelphia Brass; Bach Choir of Bethlehem Festival Orchestra; Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey; Riverside Symphonia; and the Allentown, Catskill, Pottstown, and Utica symphonies.

He started his college career as history major but, having been bitten by the music bug, began to realize that he wanted to pursue music as a career.

“My college musical experiences, including trumpet lessons and brass quintet coaching with Lawrence Wright, led to new playing opportunities, including a European tour with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and later as a soloist with the Allentown Symphony as a winner of the Voorhees Concerto Competition,” Williamson says. “Those successes confirmed that I was on the right path, and I decided to commit to pursuing a career in music.”

In addition to studies with Wright, he studied trumpet and chamber music with notable teachers including Walter Gier and Benjamin Aldridge and completed additional work with master artists Ed Cord, John Rommel, Vincent Penzarella, and Per Brevig.

After earning bachelor of arts and bachelor of music degrees in history and music education from Moravian College, he completed a master of music degree in instrumental conducting and trumpet performance at the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he served as a graduate conducting assistant and brass quintet coach. Williamson went on to teach high school band for a number of years in New York and Pennsylvania before returning to school to complete a Ph.D. in music education from Temple University. At various points along the way, he completed additional studies at the Indiana University School of Music, Ithaca College, and the Pierre Monteux Festival for Orchestral Musicians.

Currently, Williamson serves as an instrumental music specialist with the School District of Philadelphia. Prior to coming to Philadelphia, he directed high school instrumental music programs in Pennsylvania and New York. At the collegiate level, he has taught at the State University of New York at Binghamton, Elizabethtown College, and Temple University.

When not teaching, playing the trumpet, or conducting, Williamson enjoys singing, reading history, watching baseball, and spending time with his wife, two daughters, and the family’s new kitten.

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