Audrey Solomon, violin

An Alaska native, Ms. Solomon’s brilliant violin playing has won her
numerous awards and sent her around the globe performing. She holds a Young Artist Certificate and Bachelor’s degree in music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Masters of Music and Graduate Certificate degrees from the University of Southern California, where she had a full merit scholarship, taught as an assistant for the string department, and participated in USC’s Protégé Program with her trio, The Blue Rose Trio. Ms. Solomon has been a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Anchorage Civic, Anchorage Symphony, the Fairbanks Symphony, the Anchorage and Fairbanks Festival, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestras. Her chamber music experience includes performances at the Chautauqua Chamber Festival, the Anchorage Festival Chamber Series, the Sitka Music Festival, the Prince Albert Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii, the Western Slope Chamber Series in Colorado, the International Cello Encounters in Rio, Brazil, and the Rencontres Franco-Américaines De Musique De Chambre in Missillac, France. Among her awards are the Mary Lucian Casetta Memorial Scholarship Competition in Alaska in 1997, and the American String Teachers’ Association State Competition in Alaska. In 2000, she won Anchorage Festival's "Young Alaskan of the Year” award. She is a founding member of the Blue Rose Trio, which took top prizes in the Coleman National Chamber Music Competition, the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition, and the International Young Artists Peninsula Competition. They were recipients of USC’s “Outstanding String Ensemble” award in 2006. In addition to playing concerts in California, they performed in Alaska, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Rio, Brazil, and Northern France this year.Ms. Solomon loves to play Irish, Bluegrass, and Texas Swing music, and is a two-time Alaska State fiddling champion. She won the title of Miss Alaska 2000 in the Miss Alaska Scholarship Competition, and had numerous performances, appearances, and speaking engagements promoting her platform of "Outreach Through Music". Among the many scholarships awarded to her at the Miss Alaska and Miss America Pageant, she was the recipient of a Bert Parks non-finalist talent award. Ms. Solomon in collaboration with her mother, violinist Beverly Beheim, has launched a summer “Chamber Music Intensive” in Anchorage, presenting concerts with Alaskan artists as well as visiting guest artists and workshops for students. In addition to playing chamber music and conducting music outreach in Los Angeles, Audrey free-lances which includes recording for motion pictures, record albums, and t.v. shows.

Kathryn Mientka, piano   
Tyme Mientka, cello

As the classical Mientka Duo, this husband and wife team has performed internationally to critical acclaim. They have given concerts to enthusiastic audiences in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and the USA, where they have been featured nationally on radio and television. Their sensational debut at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. was received with an enthusiastic standing ovation.  They have been featured numerous times on NPR's "Performance Today". In 1995 they were selected by an American film company to be the subject of a documentary.  The resulting hour-long film was shown nationwide on PBS television and was nominated for an Emmy. Both Tyme and Kathryn graduated from Northwestern University and the University of Southern California, and hold a Master’s Degree in Music Performance. They taught at Montana State University for two years. Subsequently they moved to Germany, where they lived for eight years, teaching music and touring internationally. The Mientka Duo is the recipient of many honors and awards, including a special prize at the Concours International De Musique De Chambre in Paris. Residents of Grand Junction, Colorado, they founded and direct the Western Slope Chamber Music Series.

David Alderdice, percussion
David was introduced to music through violin study at age 5, then switched focus to percussion and rhythm at age 10. He attended Montgomery College in Maryland for two years, taking music and art courses, focusing on applying the aesthetics, concepts, and mysticism of the arts to his different musical endeavors. David has been actively performing in local and national music groups for the past 13 years. He has been first call drummer for studios in the D.C. area and sits in for many sessions at Third Stream Music. His sensitive and inspiring style has been recorded dozens of times throughout the past 12 years. His expertise includes trap kit, frame drums, and tambourines, with a focus in jazz studies, grooveability, and ethnomusicology. He has worked with dance troops, theater companies, church choirs, percussion ensembles, symphonies, pit orchestras, big bands, and small ensembles. Highlight performances include the Kennedy Center, the Romanian Embassy, Blues Alley Jazz Club, and the Western Slope Chamber Music Series. David presents lessons and workshops on the metaphysics of sound, silence, rhythm, and motion, and resides in Paonia, Colorado.