A SOUL’S JOURNEY

Colorado native Jacob Klock was six years old when he received a VHS copy of Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” for Christmas. Inspired by the music featured in the film, he told his parents he wanted to learn the violin and began taking lessons in March of 1992. Jacob first worked with the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs in 2004-07 as Assistant Concertmaster and currently serves as Concertmaster, a position he has held since 2010.

He has regularly been featured as soloist with the group during that time. Jacob is also a member of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra, and joined local string quartet Hausmusik in 2014. Venturing into the non-classical realm, he has played fiddle with Colorado Springs alt-country outfit, Joe Johnson & The Colorado Wildfire since 2012.

Jacob enjoys all genres of music past and present, from traditional to experimental, and is an avid collector of records and scores. His favorite composers include J.S. Bach, Brahms, Mahler, and Bartók. Jacob currently lives on the west side of Colorado Springs with his wife Heather, and his three children, Ivy, Ella, and Arlo.

Elisa Wicks is the founder and artistic director for Parish House Baroque, and directs the Collegium Musicum at Colorado College. She also holds the position of Principal Second Violin in the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs. In demand as a soloist and a chamber musician, she performs on both baroque and modern violin, and has appeared with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Amherst Early Music Festival Orchestra (concertmaster), Chatham Baroque, the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, Seicento, Musikantan Montana, the Case Western Baroque Orchestra (concertmaster and soloist), and the Pittsburgh Baroque Ensemble. She can also be heard performing with the Plein Aire Chamber Ensemble and frequently with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic.

Formerly, she was the Concertmaster of the Butler County Symphony and performed extensively with the Academy Chamber Orchestra (principal 2nd), the Hausmusik String Quartet, the Wheeling Symphony, Eyrie Philharmonic and Westmoreland Symphony. Recent solo recordings and performances have included Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Johan Helmich Roman’s concerto in D minor, Joseph Bologne violin concerto in G major as well as his Duo Concertante in G, Vitali’s Chaccone arranged by Respighi, Vaughn Williams’ Lark Ascending, and the Telemann ‘Frog’ concerto, as well as several Bach concertos and the Beethoven Romance in F major. Her teachers include Carla Moore, Cynthia Roberts, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Julie Andrijeski, Linda Cerone, and Stephen Rose with additional instruction from Rachel Podger.

Teaching is also a passion for Elisa; she teaches baroque violin at Colorado College and maintains a private Suzuki violin studio. Elisa holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music with a full Suzuki pedagogy certification. Additional early music studies were completed at Case Western Reserve University. Elisa enjoys spending time with her husband and three sons, as well as running, riding and cooking. Her violin was made by Hiroshi Iizuka in 1990.

Veronika Afanassieva is an accomplished violinist and a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Veronika String Quartet. As a core member of the quartet, Veronika has captured top prizes at prestigious global competitions - including the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and the Shostakovich International String Quartet Competition.

Her career has taken her to major cultural capitals worldwide, performing in premier venues across Moscow, London, Madrid, New York, and Chicago. In addition to a prolific recording catalog ranging from Mozart to modernist masters, Veronika is deeply invested in the arts community, engaging in vital performance residencies and the applied training of emerging young musicians.

Yurie Mitsuhashi is a violinist and educator based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She is Associate Concertmaster of the Colorado Springs Chamber Orchestra and a member of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mitsuhashi has performed at festivals throughout the United States, including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., the MostArts Festival in Alfred, New York, and the Bard Music Festival in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Her performances have also taken her to prominent New York venues including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, The Rose Studio at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Merkin Hall.

She can be heard on several albums, including The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 81, with pianist Piers Lane on Hyperion Records, where she served as concertmaster, and which reached No. 1 on the UK Specialist Classical Chart. She also contributed to Anton Rubinstein’s Piano Concerto No. 4 & Caprice Russe on Sorel Classics, as well as Buried Alive and Piano Protagonists: Music for Piano and Orchestra on Bridge Records. She made her solo radio debut as a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award on NPR’s From the Top.

Mitsuhashi holds a Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School, a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music, and a Master of Music in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies from Bard College.

Beyond performance, Mitsuhashi’s artistic interests extend to the history, craft, and material culture of musical instruments. She has studied bowmaking and repair, deepening her interest in the relationship between musicians, instruments, and the craftspeople who create them.

Michael Hart began his musical experiences at Bellevue Junior High School where he asked the orchestra teacher if she could teach him to play country fiddle. The teacher informed him that they did not teach fiddle music and that they were out of violins for him to use. “But we need violas to play in our orchestra.” He said, “What’s a viola?!”  The rest, as they say, is history.

At Bellevue High School, Michael’s orchestra instructor introduced him to Donald McInnes, viola professor at the University of Washington, and Richard Skerlong, principal violist of the Seattle Symphony and professor at Seattle Pacific University, where Michael earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Viola Performance. With Professor Skerlong, he attended the Rocky Ridge Music Festival in Rocky Ridge, Colorado. 

 Following graduation, Michael continued graduate studies at the University of Washington with Eric Shumsky and at the Peabody Conservatory with Paul Coletti. While attending Peabody he received chamber music coaching from Earl Carlyss of the Julliard String Quartet and orchestra audition training form Richard Field, principal violist in the Baltimore Symphony. Before attending Peabody, Mr. Hart attended music festivals at the Menuhin Academy in Gestadd, Switzerland, and the Lenk Music Festival in Lenk, Switzerland. 

Mr. Hart was a founding member of the Bravura String Quartet which toured Bavaria in 1988. They were invited by Denes Zsigmonditoattend a music festival in Bavaria where his quartet received coaching from Laszlo Mezo, cellist in the Budapest String Quartet. 

Mr. Hart then attended the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee for continued training with Jerry Horner, violist in the Fine Arts Quartet, and Lewis Rosove, assistant principal violist in the Milwaukee Symphony. While there he received his Master’s Degree in viola performance and was a regular substitute violist in the Milwaukee Symphony, a member of the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra and Principal violist in the Green Bay Symphony. 

In 1996 Mr. Hart won a viola position with the Colorado Springs Symphony (now the Colorado Springs Philharmonic), and in 2013 Michael won the principal viola position with the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs.

Mr. Hart is also the Strings Department Manager at Graner Music.  He is married to his lovely wife, Marta, with whom he has a daughter, Jennie, and granddaughter, Gabby Abby.