Violinist John Haspel Gilbert has been praised by legendary performers such as the late Josef Gingold ("I have great admiration for this superb violinist"), Glenn Dicterow ("Obviously we are dealing with a very high level of artistry"), Camilla Wicks, Arnold Steinhardt and the late Joseph Fuchs. An active soloist, recitalist and chamber music collaborator, he regularly performs throughout the United States, having appeared from coast to coast in prestigious venues from Weill Recital Hall in New York City, to Abravanel Hall in Santa Barbara (CA). In recent seasons he has performed concerti of Bach, Brahms, Bruch, Corigliano, Peter Fischer (World Premiere), Lou Harrison, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Vivaldi, and Kurt Weill, and has been heard in broadcasts on National Public Radio. Recent international engagements have included performances in Brazil, France, Iceland, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Appointed to the faculty of the Texas Tech University School of Music as Artist-Performer and Professor of Violin in 1995, he is a sought after clinician and adjudicator and has been heard in concert in every major city in Texas. His students hold university positions and have performed with the Charlotte Symphony, Houston Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (New Orleans), Memphis Symphony, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, and the Phoenix Symphony.
Gilbert is currently serving as concertmaster of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. He previously held this position with the Baton Rouge Symphony and Knoxville Symphony and has been a member of the faculty at the SMU Meadows School of Music, University of Memphis, and Hope College. Gilbert was the teaching assistant to Sally O'Reilly at both the University of Minnesota and Louisiana State University. Currently a member of the artist faculty member of the Green Mountain (VT) Summer Music School, his previous summer festival appearances have been at the Madeline Island (WI) Chamber Festival, Schlern (Italy) International Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, BRAVO! Summer String Institute, Eastern Music Festival, Heidelberg Castle Festival, Killington Music Festival, and the Spoleto Festival.
Gilbert's principal studies were under the tutelage of Sally O'Reilly and Charles
Castleman. He holds degrees from the University of Minnesota, the Yale University School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music, and has held fellowships at the Aspen Music School in both chamber music and orchestral performance. His chamber music coaches are current or former members of the Julliard, Tokyo, Cleveland, Fine Arts and Yale string quartets, and the Eastman and Rafael trios.
Mr. Gilbert may be heard on the Naxos and InnovaCentaur label in 2008. labels. His recording of violin and piano duos by Herbert Howells, Benjamin Britten, and Ralph Vaughan Williams was released on the
Linda Lin
Linda Lin is originally from Taipei, Taiwan and has been a member of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for 11 seasons. She holds a B.A. from the University of Minnesota, a M.M. from the University of Minnesota, and a D.M.A. from Texas Tech University.
Martha Perez
Martha Perez, a Lubbock native, has been a part of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for 33 seasons. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Texas Tech University.
Anne Rudolph
Anne Rudolph is from Denver, Colorado and she has played with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for one season. Anne is currently working on her Doctoral degree in violin performance from Texas Tech. She obtained a Bachelors degree from Belmont University in Nashville, TN and a Masters degree from the University of Louisville in Louisville, KY.
Anne has played with several professional orchestras such as the Huntsville Symphony (Huntsville, AL), Evansville Symphony (Evansville, IN), Owensboro Symphony (Owensboro, KY), the Tennessee Philharmonic (Murfreesboro, TN), Bowling Green Western Symphony Orchestra (Bowling Green, KY), and the Tupelo Symphony (Tupelo, MS).
Violin II
Shirley Cobb Wigley
Shirley Cobb Wigley resides in Lubbock, Texas and she has played with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for 36 seasons. Shirley received her B.M.E. from Texas Tech University.
Shirley began studying violin in elementary school at Parson's Elementary School in Lubbock. She studied under Dr. Virginia Kellogg. Shirley has also studied the guiatar, piano and the banjo. She enjoys listening to ANY kind of music except hard rock and rap.
Viola
Carrie Turner
Carrie Turner is from Kansas City, Missouri and has played with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for one season. Carrie received her B.S. in Biology from Truman State University, her B.M. Music and M.M. Music in Viola performance and Orchestral Conducting from University of Missouri and she is currently a candidate for her D.M.A. in Orchestral Conducting from TTU.
Carrie is also the director of the Missouri Youth Orchestra at the University of Missouri School of Music. She has worked with youth orchestras for 11 years. Carrie is the violist for the Prairie String Quartet since 1998.
She has participated in conducting workshops with Kenneth Kiesler, Gustav Meier, Leonard Slatkin, and Marin Alsop and performed at the 2002 Pablo Casals Music Festival in Prades, France.
Michael Newton is originally from Lubbock, and has played with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for 18 seasons. He is also the Orchestra Director of OL Slaton Middle School. He received his B.A. in Music Performance and his M.M. in Music Performance from Texas Tech University. Mr. Newton began playing cello in his 6th grade orchestra program at Bayless Elementary. He has previously played with symphonies such as: Texas Tech University Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic, Big Spring Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, and the Roswell Symphony.
Clarinet
David Shea
David Shea serves as Associate Professor of Clarinet at Texas Tech University. He also serves as Principal Clarinetist for the Lubbock Symphony and Abilene Philharmonic Orchestras, and has recently joined the music faculty at Rocky Ridge Summer Music in Estes Park, CO. Shea has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, Brazil and Chile. As a member of Trio Montecino, he has recently toured in Belgium, Germany, and the United States to promote the release of their second CD, Nuevo Sonido: Latin- American Trios. Shea has performed at the Clarinetfests in Chicago, Columbus, Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Kansas City, as well as the OU Clarinet Symposium and Klarinetstage, Belgium. In addition to his solo and chamber music performances, Shea has played with the Indianapolis Symphony, Fort Wayne Symphony, Columbus Philharmonic, Champaign-Urbana Symphony and the Sinfonia de Camera. He has also been involved in numerous CD recording projects for Eroica Classical Recordings, Crystal, Naxos, Delos, Opus One, Indiana University Recordings and Hal Leonard Productions where he worked with such artists as Eugene Rousseau and the Indiana Clarinet Trio.
As a teacher, Shea has been invited to do master classes throughout the United States. He has been invited twice to teach as a sabbatical replacement at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and has given master classes throughout the US and South America. Shea was a Creative and Performing Arts Fellow at the University of Illinois, an Indiana University Academic Fellow, a member of the Texas Tech Teaching Academy and a recipient of the Texas Tech University President’s Excellence in Teaching Award.
Shea has earned degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory (BM), Oberlin College (BA-Mathematics), the University of Illinois (MM) and Indiana University (DM). His teachers have been Howard Klug, Lawrence McDonald, Eli Eban, James Campbell and the late Ronald Phillips.
David Shea is a Buffet Crampon USA Performing Artist and is Texas State Chair for the International Clarinet Association.
Bassoon
Richard Meek
Mr. Meek is Professor of bassoon and music theory at Texas Tech University where he performs with the Mariah Winds and the Devienne Trio. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Performer's Certificate and the Master of Arts from the Eastman School of Music where he served as principal bassoonist of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Philharmonica. Among his teachers are Rudolph Klepac (Akademie Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria), Kenneth Moore, David Van Hoesen, Louis Skinner and Marcel Moyse.
Mr. Meek has performed at numerous annual meetings of the International Double Reed Society both here and abroad and served as its treasurer and as host for the 1981 Congress of that group in Lubbock, Texas. He has appeared as soloist wit several orchestras and premiered a number of solo works written for him. Formerly principal bassoonist of the Midland-Odessa, San Angelo, symphonies and the Orchestra of Santa Fe, Mr. Meek is currently principal bassoonist with the Lubbock, Roswell (NM) Symphony Orchestras and Abilene Philharmonic. He performs also with the Obietech trio and on baroque bassoon with the Texas Baroque Trio. Mr. Meek serves as editor for solo and ensemble works for the bassoon with Allyn Publications and supervises some twenty-thirty bassoonists at the annual Texas Tech Band/Orchestra Camp.
Horn
Christopher Smith
Christopher M. Smith is from Mascoutah, Illinois and has played with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for eight seasons. He received his B.M. in Music Performance from Murray State University in Kentucky and his M.M. in Music Performance from the University of Michigan.
Christopher Smith is an associate professor of horn at Texas Tech University where he teaches applied horn and plays in the Faculty Brass Quintet. His performance experience includes Detroit, Indianapolis, Barcelona (Spain), Windsor (Canada), Evansville Philharmonic, the American Wind Symphony, Kentuckiana Brass Ensemble, and the New Columbian Brass Band. In addition to Lubbock Symphony he is also currently the principal horn of Santa Fe Pro Musica and Caprock Pro Musica.
In addition to his experience on the valve horn, Mr. Smith has also performed natural and Baroque horn with the Early Music Foundation of New York and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco. Mr. Smith can be heard on Dorian, Naxos, Marco Polo, Walking Frog, Zephyr, Arabesque, and Harmonia Mundi recording labels.
Alex Kovling is originally from Lewisville, Texas and he has played with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for one year. He is currently a student at Texas Tech University. Alex performed two years with the Greater Dallas Youth Symphony and he is currently playing with the Texas Tech University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Orchestra. He was a Texas All-Stater for two years as well.
Timpani
Alan Shinn
Alan D. Shinn is Professor of Percussion and Assoc. Director for Undergraduate Studies at Texas Tech University. He holds the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Univ. of Missouri and the Master of Music degree from Texas Tech. His primary teachers were Tim Lautzenheiser and Ron Dyer. He served as Chair of the Winds/Percussion Area from 2004-2007. Shinn was the Director of Jazz Studies at Tech from 1985-2005 and continues to lead the summer jazz program. Under the his direction, Texas Tech’s Jazz Ensemble 1 has taken honors at many jazz festivals. Over 100 percussion students have graduated with music degrees at TTU since 1982 and are enjoying careers in education and performance as well as music business and industry. Shinn is Principal Timpanist with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and a former member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. He has also served as Principal Timpanist/Percussionist with the Roswell, NM Symphony and has performed a number of times with the chamber orchestras of Santa Fe Pro Musica and 20th Century Unlimited.
Shinn is also a busy drum set artist performing with major stars throughout his career as well as an active clinician and adjudicator throughout the Southwest and Midwest and has served as an Educational/Product Consultant for REMO, Inc. and Innovative Percussion. He is currently an Artist Endorser of Pro-Mark. In February 2009, Shinn was awarded the prestigious William D. Kern Performing Arts Award in recognition of his outstanding service to the performing arts in the South Plains region.
Percussion
Larry Hess
Larry Hess is from Lubbock, and has been a member of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for 28 seasons. He received his B.A. of Music Education from Texas Tech University in 1976 and his M.M. from Wichita State University in 1978. Mr. Hess has been a member of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra, and the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra.
Double Bass
Boyce Wyrick
Boyce W. Wyrick is from Lubbock Texas and has been a memeber of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for 37 seasons. He recieved a Bachelors and a Masters degree from Texas Tech University.
Cello
Francisco Diaz
Francisco Diaz is from Houston, Texas. He is in the process of earning a Bachelor of Music in Performance with a teaching certification from Texas Tech University. Francisco has been a memeber of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for one season. He has been playing the cello for eleven years and attended the Chataugua Summer Music Festival. His cello was won through the Potter's Instrument Competition.
Cello
Jared Cooper
Jared Cooper is from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He is currently in the process of earning a Bachelor's of Music in Performance from Texas Tech University. Jared has been a memeber of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for two seasons. He won the Concerto Compeition at Texas Tech University and Oklahoma State.
Viola
Hailey Hatcher
Hailey Hatcher is from Lubbock, Texas. She graduated from Lubbock High School in 2008 and is currently an undergraduate student at Texas Tech University. She has been with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for one season. Hailey began playing in the sixth grade under the direction of Laurie Williams and for the past five years under the direction of Renee Sherik.
Viola
Sharon Herschberger Mirll
Sharon Herschberger Mirll is from Lubbock, Texas. She has a Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music from Texas Tech University. Sharon has been a memeber of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for 29 years.
Violin
Miguel Lesmes
Miguel Lesmes is from Reno, Nevada. A graduate of Carson High School in 2005, he attended Nevada College and recieved his degree from Texas Tech University in 2010. He has been a member of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra for two seasons. Miguel began playing at the age of 9. He has studied under the direction of Ann Dunn, Daniel Yale and John Gilbert. Miguel has been awarded the Assistantship to Florida State University and Texas Tech School of Music Creative Scholarship.
Horn
David Lewis
David Lewis is from Big Spring, Texas. He graduated with a Bachelors of Music Education and a Masters of Music from Texas Tech University. David has been a member of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra on and off since 1976. He served as a Band Director and has been affiliated with the Roswell Symphony, Big Spring Symphony, Midland-Odessa Symphony, Mid-Texas Symphony, San Angelo Symphony, Austin Symphony, American Wind Symphony, and the Santa Fe Chamber Orchestra.
