Dr. Laura Talbott, violin/viola

Director, Horizons Chamber Music Camp

Laura Talbott began studying the violin at the age of 12 in her hometown of Carmel, Indiana. She received a Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, in violin performance from Vanderbilt University in 1997. In the same year, Laura left a section violin position with the Nashville Symphony to pursue a Master of Music degree at the University of Michigan, which she completed in 1998. Dr. Talbott received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University in May 2004.  Her principal teachers have included Paul Kantor, Christian Teal, Peter Zazofsky, and John Kochanowski. She has performed in master classes for Dorothy DeLay and Ian Swenson, and has received chamber music coachings from members of the American, Emerson, Concord, and Blair string quartets.  Dr. Talbott has spent summers at Interlochen, Meadowmount, Tanglewood, and the Aspen Music Festival, where during the summers of 1994-1996, she was a fellowship student.

Dr. Talbott is an active orchestral performer, performing with the New Hampshire Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, Cantata Singers Chamber Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra.

An avid chamber musician, she served as the principal violinist of the Janus 21 Chamber Ensemble of Boston.  Dr. Talbott recently performed as part of the Brightmusic Chamber Music Series in Oklahoma City.  During the summer of 2005, she performed at Mannes Conservatory’s annual Beethoven Institute in New York. Most recently, Dr. Talbott appeared on the Tulsa Brown Bag-It Recital Series with pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng.   In addition, Dr. Talbott is the Artistic Director of the Frontiers New Music Ensemble, an ensemble she founded along with colleague Dr. Paul Popiel.

Laura has held teaching positions at the Bands and Orchestras of America Summer Symposium, the Meadowmount School of Music, as well as at Boston University, where she assisted Peter Zazofsky. During the summer of 2005, she attended the Juilliard School’s Exceptional Students/Exceptional Teaching Symposium in New York, NY. Along with her OSU string area colleagues, Dr. Talbott is an active proponent of string education within Oklahoma, presenting string clinics at high schools throughout the state.  She serves as an elected Member-at-Large of the Oklahoma chapter of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA).  The former director of the Indian Hill Chamber Orchestra, Dr. Talbott recently completed a five-year tenure at the Indian Hill Music Center in Littleton, Massachusetts, where she served as the head of the string department and directed an annual summer string festival.  Currently, she is Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK.  Dr. Talbott also maintains a studio of pre-college violinists and violists.

Dr. Talbott is a member of the American String Teacher Association (ASTA), the College Music Society, Music Educators National Committee (MENC), Oklahoma Music Educators Association (OMEA), and Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society.

Douglas Droste, violin/viola

Douglas Droste is Director of Orchestral Studies at Oklahoma State University and Music Director/ Conductor of the Oklahoma Youth Symphony. Before coming to OSU, he served on the faculties of Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, Liberty Union-Thurston School District in Baltimore, Ohio, and conducted the Paducah (KY) Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Mr. Droste has received degrees from The Ohio State University and Texas Tech University. He has studied conducting with Gary Lewis and violin with Michael Davis and John Gilbert. Additional studies include the Pierre Monteux School for Orchestral Conductors with Michael Jinbo, Oregon Bach Festival Conducting Master Class with Helmuth Rilling, as well as conducting seminars sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra League and Conductors Guild. Mr. Droste has guest conducted the Tulsa Signature Symphony in both Classical and Pops series concerts, and frequently conducts high school honor orchestras.

On violin, Mr. Droste has performed with the orchestras of Oklahoma City, Nashville, Memphis, Lubbock, and with the Lancaster (OH) Festival Orchestra and Disney's All-American College Orchestra. He is also proficient on viola, trumpet, and has sung in numerous choirs.

Mr. Droste is a founding member of the College Orchestra Directors Association, and holds memberships in Pi Kappa Lambda, Conductors Guild, American String Teachers Association, Music Educators National Conference, College Music Society, American Symphony Orchestra League, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Kappa Kappa Psi.

 

Jeffrey Lastrapes, cello

Jeffrey Noel Lastrapes is a cellist, chamber musician, recitalist, and teacher. He has appeared throughout the United States, Europe, and South America, with concerts and recitals at The Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, Steinway Hall in New York, and numerous others. He has been soloist with the Monroe Symphony Orchestra, the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, the Midland-Odessa Symphony, the Lower Marion Symphony of Philadelphia, and the Festival Orchestra in Vina del Mar, Chile. Appearances at festivals include the Evian Festival in France, the Bellingham Festival, Sevenars Festival, Mozart on the Square in Philadelphia, The National Cello Congress in Phoenix, Mid-Atlantic Chamber Music Society, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and twice at the Gregor Piatigorsky Seminar at the University of Southern California.

After earning his Bachelor of Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied under the renowned pedagogue Orlando Cole, he was awarded the Robert Brereton full scholarship to the Juilliard School where he received his Master of Music degree with Harvey Shapiro. He has had master classes with such cellists as Rostropovich, Paul Tortelier, Joel Krosnik, Yo Yo Ma, and Lynn Harrell. In 1991, Mr. Lastrapes represented the United States in the International Competition for Violoncello in Chile and won two of the four major prizes. Other honors and awards include the Lighthouse Award for Outstanding Achievement which included a recital in New York, and first prize at the Birmingham American Society of Arts and Letters Competition.

Positions held include principal cello with the Curtis, Juilliard and Temple University orchestras, the Haddonfield Symphony, New Jersey, and the Midland-Odessa Symphony in Texas. He was also the cellist of the Lindsayan String Quartet for three seasons. Mr. Lastrapes has performed frequently on radio and television including broadcasts over Radio France, Northwave Radio of Japan, National Public Radio, National Television and Radio of Chile, and three live recitals on WFLN of Philadelphia. He has recorded for New World Records and West Virginia University Press. For nine seasons, he served on the Cello and Chamber music faculty of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Michigan. Currently, he is Assistant Professor or Cello at Oklahoma State University.

Mr. Lastrapes performs on a Rugieri cello dated 1684.