Who We Are
and have performed around the world! Click the blocks below to learn more about the musicians in our upcoming concerts and all the musicians in the Astraios network.
Violin
Claudia Jones was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She began playing violin at age of 8, studying first with her father, Hernán Orsi, followed by Hans Scheepers. At age 12 she won Bolivia’s prestigious national solo competition Abril en Tarija. At 14 she was accepted to the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, where she studied for four years. She then came to the University of North Texas, where she studied with Julia Bushkova.
She has been a featured baroque violin soloist in Texas and Louisiana, and is a regular performer of solo and chamber music recitals in the U.S. and South America. She currently performs with several orchestras in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, and lives in Carrollton, TX with her husband Eric and two children Juliana and Diego.
Viola
Eric Jones got his start in music as at an early age, studying voice with his father, Robert Jones and singing in many children’s roles, including Amahl and the Night Visitors. He began studying the violin and viola at age 10, and received a Bachelors and Masters of Music in Viola Performance and a Masters in Musicology from the University of North Texas, and has done PhD coursework in Ethnomusicology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Eric studied Bolivian folk music as a Fulbright Scholar in Cochabamba, Bolivia and is a specialist in the folk music traditions of Latin America and the Andes. He is a regular performer of solo recitals and chamber music, and has performed with many of the orchestras in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, and as a baroque viola soloist in Texas and Louisiana. Eric lives with his wife Claudia and children Juliana and Diego in Carrollton, TX.
Founder and Director
Flute
Ruth Ann Ritchie studied flute at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Cleveland Music School Settlement before receiving a Bachelor of Music with Distinction in Flute Performance from Indiana University, studying with Thomas Robertello. She continued her studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Alexa Still, receiving a Graduate Diploma in 2006.
Ms. Ritchie has played in orchestras and chamber groups in the U.S. and Australia, and has been on the faculty at the Indiana University Summer Music Clinic, the Northern Arizona University Summer Music Camp and the Texas A&M Commerce Summer Festival. An active freelancer in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, Ms. Ritchie maintains a large private studio and is the founding flutist of the August Wind Quintet. This summer she will appear as a guest panelist at the National Flute Association’s annual convention, speaking on creative careers for musicians. In addition, she has recently joined the Board of the Lewisville Lake Symphony.
Programming Director
Bassoon
Michael Jones began performing at a young age, singing the lead role in Amahl and the Night Visitors from ages 10-12 for the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company in Norman, OK. He began to study the bassoon in junior high school, and received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University, where he held an Associate Instructorship. Mr. Jones subsequently received a Fulbright Grant to study bassoon performance and pedagogy at the Sydney Conservatorium, where he received a Graduate Diploma in 2006.
His teachers have included Carl Rath, Andrew Barnes, Arthur Weisberg, and Kim Walker. Mr. Jones has played in orchestras in the U.S. and Australia, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, has performed many solo and chamber recitals, and is a founding member of the August Wind Quintet. For their 2010-2011 season, he joined the Arkansas Symphony as Contrabassoonist.
Clarinet
Marianne Shifrin is an active orchestral and chamber musician around the country. She is a member of the Arizona Opera Orchestra, the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra in Colorado, and the Missouri Symphony, and the August Wind Quintet. Previously she was a member of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. She has performed at the Music Academy of the West, and the Aspen, Sarasota, Chautauqua, Bowdoin, and Artosphere music festivals.
Dedicated to music education, Marianne has taught privately at the elementary, middle school, high school, and college level in schools and programs around the country. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree and a Performer Diploma from Indiana University and her Master of Music degree from Yale University. Her principal teachers include Eli Eban, David Shifrin, and Bil Jackson.
Oboe
Natasha Merchant holds a Bachelor of Music from Indiana University and a Master of Music from the University of Southern California. She has attended the Round Top, Sarasota and La Domaine Forget music festivals, and has performed with orchestras across the United States and Mexico.
Most recently she was Guest Principal Oboist with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Sonora. She is also a founding member of the Dallas-based August Wind Quintet. Ms. Merchant currently resides in Dallas, Texas.
Horn
Jonathan Kuhns, currently an active freelancer in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, has previously held principal positions with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra (Japan), and the Young Musicians’ Foundation Debut Orchestra. He has also played professionally in a number of smaller orchestras, including the San Bernardino Symphony, Fresno Philharmonic, and Columbus (IN) Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed in a number of prestigious summer music festivals, including the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, and the Aspen Music Festival and School. In addition to performing, he maintains a large private teaching studio in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and is a founding member of the August Wind Quintet.
Mr. Kuhns is a graduate of the University of Southern California, earning a Master of Music in Horn Performance, and earned a Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance from Indiana University’s School of Music. His teachers have included Myron Bloom, Eli Epstein, Jennifer Montone, and James Thatcher.
Baritone
Robert Jones, Associate Professor of Voice at North Dakota State University, has appeared as soloist with varied ensembles in the United States, Canada and Bolivia, including the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir and Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra and the Bolivian Chamber Music Society. He has appeared in leading and supporting roles with the Des Moines Metro Opera Company, Opera Oklahoma and the Fargo Moorhead Opera.
Active as a recitalist, Dr. Jones has performed numerous solo and chamber music recitals throughout North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Indiana. His research interests include 20th Century art song and text music relationships, and he has presented numerous lecture-performances on 20th century vocal literature at both regional and national CMS Conferences.
He is a member of College Music Society, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Lyrica Society and Pi Kappa Lambda. Dr. Jones received his DMA degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1991 and has taught at Hesston, KS College, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, East Central, OK University, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. He has been a faculty member at NDSU since 1995.
Flute
Emily Hoppe McKay is Assistant Professor of Flute at Northern Arizona University, principal flutist of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the Kokopelli Chamber Winds. Formerly, Ms. McKay served as Associate Instructor of Flute and Chancellor’s Doctoral Fellow at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, where she performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Columbus, IN Symphony Orchestra, and the Indiana University Summer Festival Orchestra.
Ms. McKay is an active recitalist and her recent collaborations include concerts with guitarist Espen Jensen at Indiana University and the Waldron Center for the Performing Arts in Bloomington, IN. In addition, Ms. McKay has recorded as the piccoloist of Philharmonia à Vent on the Klavier Records label.Ms. McKay is a graduate of Penn State University, Carnegie Mellon University, and is currently working to complete the Doctor of Music, Flute Performance and Music Literature degree at Indiana University. Her teachers have included Thomas Robertello, Jeanne Baxtresser, Alberto Almarza, Jeffrey Khaner, and Eleanor Duncan Armstrong.
Viola
Alicia Valoti has recently returned to the United States after studying several years abroad. She completed her Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) in 2004. In 2005, she received a Performance Diploma in Orchestral and Chamber Studies from the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento Musicale (Saluzzo, Italy) and in 2007, her Master of Music degree from the Conservatorio “Luigi Cheubini” de Firenze (Florence, Italy).
Her primary teachers have included Augusto Vismara, Diemut Poppen, Neal Gripp and Douglas McNabney.Now residing in Houston, Texas, Ms. Valoti is an adjunct professor of music at Lone Star College and is an active freelancer. She will begin further graduate studies in 2009 at Rice University.
Harp
Email – Website
Louisa Ellis Woodson has been playing the harp since age nine. She holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Harp Performance from Indiana University, where she studied with Susann McDonald. She completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2008 at Manhattan School of Music in New York.Ms. Woodson is currently the Principal Harpist with the Waco Symphony Orchestra.
She has participated in many types of theater productions, including ballet, opera, and musical theater, most recently appearing in the New York Musical Theater Festival. She enjoys collaborating with other musicians, including flute, violin, cello, voice, organ, and trumpet, to name a few. Her solo work has included recitals and extensive freelancing.
Astraios Board of Directors
Laura Cox
Christopher Curtis
Dr. Emily Hoppe McKay
Michael Jones
Carolyn England Ritchie
Ruth Ann Ritchie
Emily Kluesener Spaulding