GCYO 2007-2008 Soloists

Seth Russell has studied cello with Martha Brons since 1995.  He is a home schooled Senior and attends the Fine Arts Center where he studies chamber music with John Ravnan and coaches ARMES strings students in the after school program.  Seth was a member of one of the Fine Arts Center string quartets that tied for first place in the South Carolina Instrumental Chamber Music Competition in 2005.  In addition, as a member of a FAC string quartet, he competed in the final rounds of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2005. Seth and the members of the Delta Trio took first place in the SCICMC in 2006, and he and the members of the Jocassee Sextet placed first in 2007.  He has been a member of SCMEA All State and Regional orchestras from 2002 to 2006. He was recognized with a second place scholarship in the Crescent Music Club competition, an honorable mention in the Clemson Concerto Competition, and as first alternate in the 2006-07 All-State Solo Competition.  In the summer of 2005 Seth attended the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities Academy where he studied with Robert O’Brien.  Seth attended the MasterWorks Festival in Winona Lake, Indiana in the summers of 2006 and 2007 where he participated in the String Intensive Study Program and studied with Leonardo Altino.  He has participated in master classes with cellists Steven Doane, Anne Martindale Williams, and Martha Gerschefski. Seth has been a member of GCYO since 2004, and last season he performed Concerto No, 1in E-flat Major by Dmitri Shostakovich as part of the orchestra’s Young Artist Series.  Seth is the son of Walter and Marcia Russell.  After high school he plans to pursue a degree in cello performance.

Valerie Hsu has studied piano with Sally Brown-Ullom of Greer, SC for eleven     years and is also a student of Dr. Peter  Davis of Bob Jones University.  A junior at Bob Jones Academy, she is a four-time state winner of the South Carolina Music Teachers Association piano performance competition, two-time recipient of the Hinda Honigman piano scholarship, and winner of the Laurence Morton scholarship. Valerie is very active in local music clubs and competitions, and has performed in masterclasses with Elizabeth Pridonoff, Richard Cass, Melody Bober, Stephen Carlson, and Douglas Weeks. She has received eleven consecutive superiors in both the National Federation of Music Clubs Festivals and National Piano Guild Auditions. She attended the Southeastern Piano Festival in summer 2005. Valerie is a flutist with the GCYO; she has been a member of the South Carolina All-State and Region Bands since 2004, and was a regional winner/national finalist in the 2006 MTNA Junior Woodwind Performance Competition. In addition to music, her interests include literature and history.

Andrew Jacobi began studying clarinet in 2001 at R. C. Edwards Middle School, where he played under the instruction of band director Tab Hughey for three years. After a year at D. W. Daniel High School, Andy transferred to the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities (SCGSAH), where he is currently a senior. His teachers have included Harry “Chip” Hill, Professor of Music at Limestone College; Anthony Marotta, Principal Clarinet in the Greenville Symphony Orchestra; and, most recently, Kyra Zhang, clarinet faculty at SCGSAH. He has performed in a masterclass with David Shifrin, Professor of Clarinet at Yale University. This past summer, Andy attended Brevard Music Camp, where he played principal clarinet in such works as Stravinky’s Firebird Suite and Dvorak’s Eighth Symphony.  There, he took lessons with Steve Cohen, Associate Professor of Clarinet at Northwestern University, and Eric Ginsberg, Professor of Music in Clarinet at Western Illinois University. Andy’s honors and awards include being named First Place Winner in the Limestone College Young Artist Competition, 2007; Third Place Winner in the Crescent Music Club Orchestral Scholarship Competition, 2007; Finalist in the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium/Bernhardt House of Violins Concerto Competition, 2007; First Place Winner in the South Carolina Music Teachers National Association Senior Woodwind Competition, 2006; and several first-chair placements in state honor bands and orchestras. Andy also received the John Phillip Sousa Award for Outstanding Musicianship in 2004. After graduating from high school, Andy hopes to pursue a degree in clarinet performance.