Internationally-acclaimed pianist Olga Kern is now recognized as one of her generation's great artists. With her vivid stage presence, passionately confident musicianship and extraordinary technique, the striking pianist continues to captivate fans and critics alike. Olga Kern was born into a family of musicians with direct links to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and began studying piano at the age of five. She jumpstarted her U.S. career with her historic Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas as the first woman to do so in more than thirty years.

Steinway Artist and First prize winner of the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition at the age of seventeen, Ms. Kern is a laureate of many international competitions and tours throughout Europe and the United States, Japan, South Africa and South Korea. In 2016 she served as Jury Chairman of both the Seventh Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition and the first Olga Kern International Piano Competition, where she also holds the title of Artistic Director. Ms. Kern frequently gives masterclasses and since September 2017 has served on the piano faculty of the prestigious Manhattan School of Music.

For the 2018-19 season, Kern will perform with the Moscow Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, and the St. Louis Symphony, as well as opening Pacific Symphony’s season. Olga will also be featured soloist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, both in Glasgow, and on their Spring 2019 US tour. She will appear in recitals in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Southern California, Zurich, and Milan.

In recent seasons, Kern served as Artist in Residence for the San Antonio Symphony’s 2017-18 season , had her Chinese debut with the National Youth Orchestra of China tour, performed concerts with Detroit Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Colorado Symphony, the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic, Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, and La Jolla Music Festival, and recitals in Santa Fe, New Haven, Scottsdale, and San Francisco. Ms. Kern opened the Baltimore Symphony’s 2015-2016 centennial season with Marin Alsop. Other season highlights included returns to the Royal Philharmonic with Pinchas Zukerman, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice with Giancarlo Guerrero, a month-long tour of South Africa for concerts with the Cape and KwaZulu Natal philharmonics, an Israeli tour with the Israel Symphony, solo recitals at Sarasota’s Van Wezel Hall, New York’s 92nd Street Y, and the University of Kansas’ Lied Center, and recitals with Renée Fleming in Carnegie Hall and Berkeley.

Ms. Kern has performed with Tokyo’s NHK Symphony, Orchestre National De Lyon, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, the symphonies of Detroit for Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos 1, 2 & 3, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Nashville, Colorado, Madison, and Austin, and gave recitals in New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Louisville, and alongside Renée Fleming and Kathleen Battle. Ms. Kern's performance career has brought her to many of the world's most important venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Salzburger Festspielhaus, La Scala in Milan, Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Châtelet in Paris.

Ms. Kern's discography includes Harmonia Mundi recordings of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Seaman (2003), her Grammy Nominated recording of Rachmaninoff’s Corelli Variations and other transcriptions (2004), a recital disk with works by Rachmaninoff and Balakirev (2005), Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Antoni Wit (2006), Brahms Variations (2007) and a 2010 release of Chopin Piano Sonatas No. 2 and 3 (2010). Most recently, SONY released their recording of Ms. Kern performing the Rachmaninoff Sonata for Cello and Piano with cellist Sol Gabetta. She was also featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Competition, Playing on the Edge, as well as Olga’s Journey, Musical Odyssey in St. Petersburg and in They Came to Play. In 2012, Olga and her brother, conductor and composer, Vladimir Kern, co-founded the “Aspiration” foundation whose objective is to provide financial and artistic assistance to musicians throughout the world.

In 2017, Ms. Kern was gratified to receive the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, joining other honorees including Rosa Parks, Buzz Aldrin, Coretta Scott King, and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. This commendation recognizes Americans who “embody the spirit of America in their salute to tolerance, brotherhood, diversity, and patriotism.”

Olga Kern is a Steinway Artist.

Olga’s iconic dresses are designed by Alex Teih (New York), and her jewelry is designed by Alex Soldier (New York).

Virginia Native Brendon Elliott received his BM studying with Pamela Frank and Joseph Silverstein at The Curtis Institute of Music, and attained his master’s at The Juilliard School under Sylvia Rosenberg and Ronald Copes, then completed a fellowship with the New World Symphony. He began his violin studies under his mother’s tutelage at the age of three and made his solo debut when he was 10 years old.

As a three-time concerto competition winner, Brendon was invited as a guest soloist with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra at age 17 on their Masterworks Series. He toured with the Virginia Symphony performing the Hailstork Violin Concerto as an opener for Natalie Cole and his performance of William Grant Still’s Mother and Child was broadcast on WMRA radio. Brendon has soloed with The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Harlem Chamber Players, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, and has performed in orchestras such as the Sphinx Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Chineke! Orchestra. The Charleston Post and Courier described his solo performance with the Colour of Music Virtuosi as; “Playing with grace and poise, displaying a fine technique and sweet tone.”

Brendon is currently touring as Joseph Bologne’s musical half in Bill Barclay’s play The Chevalier and is a member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Elizabeth Coulter Vonderheide, originally from Lynchburg, VA, began violin studies at age 5. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying with the late Franco Gulli, Distinguished Professor of Violin. She received the Master of Music degree from the prestigious Orchestral Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Glenn Dicterow, then Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. While in New York she served as Concertmaster of the MSM orchestras, and had the opportunity to play under renowned conductors Kurt Masur, David Robertson, Pierre Boulez, and Julius Rudel. She also appeared as soloist both with the Claremont Ensemble, and in a live broadcast on Soundcheck with John Schaeffer on 93.9 WNYC FM.

Elizabeth joined the Virginia Symphony as Assistant Principal Second Violin in 2003, and was appointed Principal Second Violin in 2022. Since 2008 she has been a substitute with the Saint Louis Symphony, joining them frequently, including their 7-week Opera Season, Carnegie Hall tours, and a domestic tour with American Ballet Theater. Beginning in the 2022-23 season, Elizabeth has been a regular substitute with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Additionally, she is often called on as a substitute musician by the Atlanta, Baltimore, and North Carolina Symphonies, and the Florida and Sarasota Orchestras.

Elizabeth has soloed four times with the Virginia Symphony, as well as with the Lynchburg Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Wintergreen Music Festival orchestra. She has performed as a guest member of the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic, and with the orchestras of the Spoleto, Italy Festival, the American Institute of Musical Study (Graz, Austria), the Crested Butte Music Festival, The Colorado Music Festival, and the Conducting Institute at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Since 2015 she has held a summer position with Wintergreen Music. Elizabeth has also twice toured Japan with the Hollywood Concert Orchestra.

An enthusiastic chamber musician, Elizabeth is a founding member of both the Hampton Roads-based New Commonwealth Quartet, and the Surf and Sounds Chamber Music Festival in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. With NCQ, she has performed with Feldman Chamber Music, on the Virginia Wesleyan recital series, for Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church “Sacred Music in a Sacred Space”, for the Graif Foundation, and in a chamber music series the quartet created in East Beach, Norfolk. They also recorded a recital for WHRO public media that was live-streamed during the pandemic. The quartet has twice been a featured ensemble at Bruce Hornsby’s Funhouse Fest, and can also be heard on Mr. Hornsby’s album Absolute Zero, on the track “White Noise”. As a solo recitalist, Elizabeth has appeared as a guest artist at Old Dominion University, Randolph College, and Madison (Indiana) Performing Arts.

Elizabeth is on the Instrumental Faculty at the Governor’s School for the Arts and The Academy of Music, and is a regular coach with the Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia, and the Heart Strings Program. She maintains a private teaching studio in Portsmouth, where she lives with her husband, VSO Principal Trumpet David Vonderheide, and their Border Collie Indy.

Michael Daniels began studying the cello at age 12 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and continued further studies at the Brevard Music Center, in Brevard, North Carolina. He later received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. While in Cincinnati, Mr. Daniels was a member of the Dayton Philharmonic and performed with the Cincinnati Symphony, the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Pops.

He has been a member of the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, a faculty member at the Brevard Music Center, and a participant in the Grand Teton Summer Music Festival. He is also a founding member of the Adagio Trio (harp, flute, and cello), which has produced five seasonal CDs: Stillpoint, Sanctuary, Evensong, Winter Gift, and Celtic Heart. Mr. Daniels has performed as soloist regularly with the Virginia Symphony.

His solo appearances include the Saint-Saens Concerto in A minor, Haydn Cello Concerto in C, Beethoven Triple Concerto, Elgar Concerto, and duo performances with Bobby McFerrin of the Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto. He has also performed chamber music concerts with Robert McDuffie, Anthony Newman, Awadagin Pratt, and Nadja Salerno-Sonenberg, and the Miami String Quartet. Mr. Daniels is currently the principal cellist of the Virginia Symphony.

Debra Wendells Cross has held the position of Principal Flute in The Virginia Symphony and Virginia Opera, and made Norfolk her home since 1980.  The Seattle native graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she studied with Boston Symphony member James Pappoutsakis.  From there she went on to study with Michel Debost in Paris, France, under the auspices of the Harriet Hale Woolly Scholarship.  Ms. Cross serves on the faculties of The College of William and Mary and Old Dominion University, and during the summer Ms. Cross is Principal Flutist of the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina.  Ms. Cross prepared and was a guest artist in an historical program entitled American Flute Music of the 1920's at the 1998 National Flute Convention.  She is a founding member of The Virginia Chamber Players, a chamber music group that has released two recordings, and has been broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today.  In the fall of 2000, with the Virginia Symphony’s Principal Harpist, Barbara Chapman, she released a new recording, An American Mosaic, for flute and harp.

Oboist Alexander Mayer has appeared in concert halls around the world and joins the Virginia Symphony as Principal Oboe in January 2024. A passionate orchestral player, he served as an acting member of the Minnesota Orchestra in Fall 2023, and has freelanced with orchestras such as The Metropolitan Opera, Richmond Symphony, and The Florida Orchestra. In 2023, Mayer was a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra as well as Spoleto Festival USA, and was previously a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. In recent years he has also been a part of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Sarasota Music Festival, and le Domaine Forget International Music Festival. In 2018 he participated as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, touring across Asia under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas.

Mayer received his Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School studying with Nathan Hughes, and is currently working towards a Master’s degree, also at Juilliard. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Mayer previously studied with Martin Schuring and Nikolaus Flickinger, and has been supported over the years by the Arizona Musicfest Scholarship. Outside of music, he can be found hiking and exploring outdoors or enjoying strategy/puzzle games.

Hailed as "one of the world's top saxophone artists" (Audiophile Audition) with "the personality and fingers of a first rate soloist" (American Record Guide), "subtle, perceptive phrasing, and flawless control of vibrato" (Fanfare Magazine), Yamaha Artist Christopher Creviston has played venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to Paisley Park and the Apollo Theater.  As soloist and with the Capitol Quartet, Creviston has been featured with bands and orchestras across the U.S. As a recitalist and clinician, he performs regularly with the Capitol Quartet, and in duos with pianist Hannah Gruber Creviston and guitarist Oren Fader. In addition to several established recordings with these ensembles, Creviston’s most recent releases are the premiere recording of the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Band by William Bolcom with conductor Gary Hill and the Arizona State University Wind Orchestra, and a Creviston Duo CD called Breaking, presenting works commissioned (or co-commissioned) by the duo from composers Stacy Garrop, Mark Lanz Weiser, Katherine Hoover and John Fitz Rogers. Now on the faculty at Arizona State University, Professor Creviston has held positions at the Crane School of Music (SUNY Potsdam), the Greenwich House of Arts (NYC), the University of Windsor (Canada), and the University of Michigan. Creviston is President of the the North American Saxophone Alliance. 

Harpist and harp instructor. Chapman has held the position of Principal Harp for the Virginia Symphony since 1988 and the Virginia Opera since 1986.