Clinicians

Cellist David Geber had his early musical training in Los Angeles, where he was raised in a family of professional cellists. He studied at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School, from which he holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. His principal teachers included Claus Adam and Ronald Leonard. Mr. Geber has been the recipient of numerous cello and chamber music awards, including the Walter W. Naumburg Award and the Coleman Chamber Music Prize. He has appeared as soloist at Tanglewood and Aspen, as well as with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Montreal Symphony. A strong supporter of new music, he has premiered numerous works for cello as well as varied chamber music combinations. As a founding member of the American String Quartet, he concertized with that ensemble for twenty-eight years, giving up to 100 annual concerts and performing regularly in most major musical centers of the world. In 2002, Mr. Geber retired from the Quartet, in order to direct more attention to music administration and teaching.

A member of the Manhattan School of Music College faculty since 1984 and of the Precollege faculty since 2004, he also maintains summer teaching and performing affiliations with Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and the Tanglewood Music Center and is a faculty member with DeTao Masters Academy in China. He has recorded for Albany Records, Capstone Records, CRI, Musical Heritage Society, New World Records, Nonesuch Records, and RCA. Mr. Geber frequently gives recitals and master classes in North America and has adjudicated for major international string competitions including Bordeaux, Evian, and Naumburg. He is on the Board of Directors of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation and the American Friends of Kronberg Academy. His cello is a rare G.B. Ruggieri, made in Cremona in 1667.

Manhattan School of Music Precollege faculty since 2004.

Julia Lichten enjoys a varied career as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher in the New York City area and beyond. She was a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra from 1995 to 2014, and has toured as soloist with Orpheus, Musicians from Marlboro, and American Chamber Players, and as artistic ambassador for the U.S. State Department.

Her festival engagements have included the Marlboro Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Taos Chamber Music Festival, Library of Congress, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and Rencontres Musicales d’Évian. She has recorded for Marlboro Recording Society, Arabesque, Koch International Classics, Music Masters, Sony Classical, and Deutsche Grammophon.

Lichten is an annual guest artist with the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, and has served as artist/faculty at Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School and Festival, Mannes College Beethoven Institute and Perlman Music Program.

A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Lichten graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe (Phi Beta Kappa) and from the New England Conservatory (with honors and distinction). Her principal teachers and mentors included Mischa Nieland, Paul Tobias, Felix Galimir, David Soyer, and Leon Kirchner.

BETH VANDERBORGH, Cellist, Artistic Director and Professor of Cello at UW, enjoys a rich and varied career as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and pedagogue. She serves on the faculty of the University of Wyoming, as principal cellist of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, and on the Artist-Faculty of the Eastern Music Festival. As cellist in the acclaimed Helios Piano Trio, she has performed concerts throughout Wyoming and around the world. The trio gave it’s NYC debut at Carnegie Hall in 2021. She is a founding member of the acclaimed Stanislas Sextet, based in Nancy, France. The Classical Voice of North Carolina described her playing as "...Impeccable musicianship, rhythmic precision, technical expertise and expansive, passionate musicianship. Gorgeous music, exquisitely performed, and I do not believe I have overdone the superlatives."

Dr. Vanderborgh has captured top prizes in the Baltimore Chamber Awards, the National Society of Arts and Letters Cello Competition and the Ulrich Solo Competition. As United States Information Service Artistic Ambassador and member of the Fadial-Vanderborgh Duo, she has performed on four continents, including recitals at the Kennedy Center, the Phillips Collection, the Teatro Nacional in Costa Rica and the American University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. She was awarded the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship in 2018 in acknowledgment of her service to the State of Wyoming. In 2019 Vanderborgh was the recipient of a professional development grant from the American String Teacher’s Association to pursue conducting studies under the legendary Maestro Gerard Schwarz.

Her most recent CD, with the Stanislas Sextet, of Schoenberg and D-Indy sextets, was recorded by Radio France and released in 2018 by the European label, Forgotten Records. She has recorded two CDs for Albany Records, both released in 2013: Chamber Music of Jennifer Higdon ("Highly recommended!" Fanfare Magazine) and Salon Music of August Nölck for Cello and Piano. Strad Magazine described her Nölck recording as "lyrical and technically accomplished… eloquent and persuasive." The CD, When the Spirit Sings, was released on Centaur in 2017 and features Musica Harmonia performing chamber music of Gwyneth Walker. Dr. Vanderborgh has collaborated in

chamber music performances with Lynn Harrell, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Augustin Hadelich, Elmar Oliviera, Yura Lee, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Jon Nakamatsu, Garrick Ohlsson and Bela Davidovich.

At the University of Wyoming, Dr. Vanderborgh teaches (and has taught) applied cello, string solo literature, string chamber literature, cello pedagogy, Form and Analysis, Baroque performance ensemble, chamber music and she directs the UW Chamber Orchestra. Under her guidance, the UWCO has collaborated with Augustin Hadelich,the Ying Quartet, and the tango group, Extasis, and has toured extensively, including concerts in Denver’s Newman Center and at high schools throughout Wyoming, Colorado and Montana. She has received two Top Prof Awards, the Extraordinary Merit in Research Award, the Thumbs Up Award, and an Every Student a Person Award. This spring the UWCO will record Gwyneth Walker’s Spirit of the Mesa.

Dr. Vanderborgh’s interest in historical performance practice led her to studies on baroque cello/viol with viola da gambists Martha McGaughey (Mannes) and Ann Marie Morgan (Peabody). This coming May, she is recording 19th century works for two cellos with Kenneth Slowik at the Smithsonian Instution. For this recording, she will play the Servais Stradivarius!

Dr. Vanderborgh holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Maryland, where her teachers included David Geber, Evelyn Elsing and David Soyer. She engaged in intensive chamber music studies with the Guarneri, Juilliard, Cleveland, and American String Quartets

When not playing the cello, Dr. Vanderborgh enjoys skiing, equestrian sports, and hiking in the beautiful Wyoming wilderness with two Malinois (and husband). She was honored to represent the State of Wyoming in the 2019 National Senior Olympics, where she reached the podium earning 5th place in both the 20k and 40k women's cycling road races.

"Wow! Great Stuff!" The Washington Post

"Cellist Beth Vanderborgh, comparisons to Jacqueline du Pre´ aside, plays with the intensely focused sound of Anner Bylsma." The Charlotte Observer

Cellist Douglas Moore, a native of Iowa, was the Mary A. and William Wirt Warren Professor of Music. He was at Williams from 1970 to 2007, and served as department chairman from 1979 to 1986, 1995 to 1997 and 2001-2002. He was

cellist with the Williams Chamber Players and The Williams Trio, and keeper of the Willem Willeke Collection of Music and the Arthur Foote Collection. He holds the Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University where he studied cello with Fritz Magg and chamber music with Janos Starker. His Master of Music (1970) and Doctor of Musical Arts (1977) degrees are both from Catholic University in Washington, DC.

Douglas Moore has appeared with orchestras and in recitals throughout the United States. He has played at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and at the Great Music West (Utah), Saratoga Baroque, Music Mountain, and Newport music festivals. Moore is an artist/teacher at the Manchester (VT) Music Festival. Concerti by Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak, Schumann, Lalo, Shostakovich, Saint-Saëns, Arthur Foote, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Bloch and Hindemith are in his repertoire. He has been principal cellist with the Great Music West Festival, Albany (NY) Symphony, Berkshire Symphony and Lake George Opera Festival orchestra. He served the national College Music Society as Vice-President from 1987 through 1990 and as Special Projects Committee chair from 1991 through 1993.

In 1976 Douglas Moore played the world premiere of Cello Sonata by the American composer Arthur Foote. His edition of the complete music for cello and piano by Foote was published by A-R Editions on the Recent Researches in American Music series in 1982. The first modern-day performance of Foote’s Cello Concerto took place in 1981 with Douglas Moore as soloist; since then he has performed the work with orchestras in Connecticut, Minnesota, Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Illinois and Iowa. He has performed and/or read papers at regional and national meetings of the College Music Society and Sonneck Society for American Music.

Douglas Moore has made five recordings. The first was a 1979 Musical Heritage Society release of the complete cello/piano music of Arthur Foote. Another, with music by Arthur Farwell and Charles Wakefield Cadman, was issued in 1981 and was selected Best of the Month by Stereo Review magazine. Both discs were world premiere recordings of the repertoire. The Williams Trio’s recording of the two piano trios of Arthur Foote was issued by MHS in 1983; their disc of trios by Rachmaninoff and Arensky (including the premier recording of the Trio No. 2 by Arensky) appeared in 1985 on Grand Prix Records. His recording of Winter Branches: Sonata for Cello and Piano by David Kechley appears on a Liscio Records compact disc.

Douglas Moore publishes over three dozen arrangements for from two to eight cellos, including Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever and overtures by Mozart and Rossini. His arrangements have been recorded by Yo-Yo Ma, the Boston Cello Quartet (see them on YouTube) and the Saito Cello Ensemble. He also publishes new editions of violin and cello duos from rare sheet music from about 1800. They are available at http://www.playmoorecello.com/.

Ryan Walker currently serves as the Orchestra Director and AP Music Theory Instructor at Sheridan High School in Sheridan, WY. Prior to his appointment at SHS in 2021, Ryan held the position of Orchestra Director and IB diploma level Music Instructor at Seoul Foreign School, in Seoul, South Korea. Ryan holds an M.M. in Historical Musicology from the University of South Dakota (2015) and a B.A. in Music Education from Luther College (2002). He is a String Bassist with over 35 years of playing experience, but has also performed regularly on the cello, guitar, and as a trained tenor.

Ryan has also held teaching positions at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the International School of Stavanger, Norway, and Singapore American School. He has been privileged throughout his 22-year teaching career to direct Orchestras, Bands, and Choirs of Elementary, Middle School, and High School-aged students as well as teaching AP Music Theory, IGCSE, and IB Diploma level academic music courses.

Arts advocate and cellist Stephanie Flores Guerrero has performed and toured internationally throughout Europe, Mexico, and the United States. Miss Flores holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from University of Wyoming and a M.M. in Cello Performance from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Miss Flores has Suzuki Violin Training Units under the training of Joanne Bath. In addition to performing, she is dedicated to teaching music in community programs such as Bath Elementary Suzuki Violin Program, UWYO String Project, OPUS String Project, Boys and Girls Club Mexico and Núcleos Comunitarios de Tijuana.

Miss Flores has served as faculty member at Blue Lake Summer Camp working with students from all ages, such as serving as their mentor during international performances. She performs with professional orchestras as cellist with the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Lincoln, Omaha, Sioux City, and Powder River Symphonies. Miss Flores has was the winnerof the University of Wyoming Cello Festival Soloist in 2019, and performed Boccherini with the Festival Cello Choir. In addition, she was an honoree in several competitions including the Wyoming Symphony Solo Competition, University of Nebraska- Lincoln Concerto Competition and the MTNA Young Artist Competition in Wyoming and Nebraska area. In 2018, Miss Flores received the Hixson-Lied grant to study a summer abroad under the tutelage of principal cellist of the London Symphony, Rebecca Gilliver. She has also received extensive chamber music mentorship from the Chiara Quartet, Danish Quartet, Orpheus Orchestra, AlpenKammermusik Faculty and currently from Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival renowned faculty.

Currently, Miss Flores serves as instructor of String Methods and Applied Cello at the University of Wyoming. In addition, she is an Executive Directror for the UW Cello Festival.