Spheres of Influence, Colorado Chamber Players Performers

At the age of eleven, violinist John Fadial performed as soloist for President Gerald Ford, and since has sustained an international career as chamber musician, concertmaster, soloist and pedagogue. At home performing in multiple styles, from the baroque to contemporary, his performances have been praised by the critics. “Sparkling Technique,” (L’Est Republicain),“Wow! Great Stuff,” (The Washington Post). Of Fadial’s recording of the Complete Brahms Sonatas (Centaur), Peter Burwasser of Fanfare writes, “Rich tone and elegant phrasing…John Fadial gives us, dare I say, cleaner readings than those from…Stern. 5 Stars: a fresh rendition…by a pair of elegant artists….” “(Fadial) moves effortlessly among the composer’s subtle moods, voicing sentiment, melancholy, wistfulness and joyful lyricism with utter naturalness…5 Stars: …these could hardly be bettered” (Huntly Dent, Fanfare). Fadial was a Grammy semifinalist for the disc Where Does Love Go:Chamber Music of Mark Engebretsen (Innova) and collaborates regularly with the world’s top musicians including Gerard Schwarz, Jennifer Higdon, and Libby Larsen. Fadial has given recent master classes at prestigious institutions, including the Interlochen Arts Academy, the French National Conservatory of Nancy, France, and Beifan University (Yinchuan, China). He currently serves as Professor at the University of Wyoming, and has played with the CCP since 2017.

Barbara Hamilton is Artistic Director and Violist/Violist d’Amore with the Colorado Chamber Players, a position she has held for 28 years. She served as principal violist with Eastern Music Festival 1990-2005. Barbara played as principal violist/soloist with Colorado Symphony, Orquesta Ciudad de Barcelona & Orquesta de Valencia (Spain). She was in the New York Philharmonic for one season. Dr. Hamilton received a DMA from Yale School of Music in 1992, where she studied with Jesse Levine and taught in 1998. She was a prize winner in the Fischoff, Aspen Festival and Woolsey Hall Competitions, as well as the Young Artists of YM-YWHA (New Jersey). In the 1990’s, she toured Europe with the Orquesta Ciudad de Barcelona, the NY Virtuosi and the American Sinfonietta, concerts in the Grosse Saal/Vienna, the Concertgebauw, Leipzig Gewandhaus. She performed the complete Brandenberg Concerti with BCOC on baroque viola.

Cellist Beth Vanderborgh serves as Professor of Cello at the University of Wyoming, as principal cellist of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, and on the Artist-Faculty of the Eastern Music Festival. She is a founding member of the acclaimed Stanislas Sextet, based in Nancy, France, and tours regularly with Musica Harmonia and the Helios Trio. She has recorded two CDs for Albany Records, both released in 2013: Chamber Music of Jennifer Higdon (“Highly recommended!” Fanfare Magazine) and Salon Music of August Nölck for Cello and Piano. Strad Magazine described her Nölck recording as “lyrical and technically accomplished, eloquent and persuasive.” She holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, the Eastman School of Music and the University of Maryland. Beth has played with the CCP since 2017.

Violinist Paul Primus grew up in the Chicago and Cleveland areas, before attending Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in music from UWM. Paul won an audition with the Denver Symphony in 1984, and was promoted to Principal Second Violinist in 1985, the position he still holds. He coordinated the chamber music program at Denver School of the Arts from 2013-2018. Paul is a founding member of the Colorado Chamber Players, which he and his wife Barbara Hamilton began in 1993. He performs approximately 30 concerts a year with the CCP, and can be heard frequently on Colorado Public Radio. Mr. Primus has performed numerous unaccompanied violin recitals over the years, most memorably one of the complete Paganini Caprices in 1986. Paul is an active teacher in the Denver area and has also taught and performed at Eastern Music Festival, Rocky Ridge, and the Lamont Pre-College Academy at DU. He is a frequent coach for the DYAO.

Amy Frost Baumgarten has been principal cellist of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and the Washington National Opera Orchestra since 2000. She has performed chamber recitals at venues including the Phillips Collection, the Kennedy Center, the Yale Center for British Art, San Francisco Symphony’s Chamber Music Sundaes, and the University of California at Berkeley Faculty Series. A frequent guest artist with Colorado Chamber Players, she has also performed with the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra and toured with the New Century Chamber Orchestra. She has been a featured soloist at the Kennedy Center in works for ballet by Villa Rojo, Dvorak, and Schubert, and performed concertos with the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra and the Vallejo Symphony, and recitals of solo Bach at the Los Angeles and San Francisco Public Libraries. She is currently on the faculty at Catholic University of America. Previously Ms. Baumgarten was a teaching assistant for Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music, and also taught at the Hartt School of Music, Choate Rosemary Hall, and Wesleyan University. A faculty member at Eastern Music Festival since 1992, she performed in numerous highly acclaimed chamber recitals broadcast by National Public Radio.

Mary Davis Cowell has held her position in the viola section of the Colorado Symphony since 2007. In 2002, Mary earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wyoming, where she studied with James Przygocki. In 2004, she earned a Professional Studies Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey. Mary has performed with the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, CO, and the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, WY. A favorite part of her job with the Colorado Symphony is getting to play in beautiful venues around Colorado such as Red Rocks Amphitheater, Beaver Creek, Salida, and Telluride. Mary has two children and resides in Boulder.