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For Immediate Release
SAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WELCOMES Melissa Brooks-Rubright Named Associate Principal Cello ST. LOUIS, June 29, 2005 – The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra announced today seven new full time musicians will join the Orchestra for the 126th Symphony season. Shannon Farrell, Principal Viola, joins the SLSO from the Louisville Symphony Orchestra where she spent the 2004-05 season. Farrell has also held positions with New Bedford Symphony, Portland Symphony Orchestra and Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. She attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and Indiana University. Farrell’s appointment fills a two-year open position previously held by Thomas Dumm. Carolyn Landis, Utility Horn joins the Symphony from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra where she spent the past four seasons. Landis also served as a replacement player for the SLSO last season and played with the MET Opera in 2000 and 2003. She studied under Julie Landsman at Juilliard and received a Bachelor of Music degree. Her position with the SLSO is a newly created position. Philip Ross, Second Oboe, joins the SLSO from the Alabama Symphony Orchestra where he spent the past three years. Ross received his bachelor’s degree at Eastman School of Music and his master’s degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL. He fills the vacant chair of Thomas Parkes, who recently retired. David DeRiso, Double Bass, joins the Orchestra from the New World Symphony in Miami, FL., where he spent the 2004-05 season. He was also a first call replacement with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2002. Sarah Hogan, Double Bass, has won a permanent position after serving as an SLSO one-year replacement player last season. She was a member of the New World Symphony for the 2003-04 season and received her Master of Music Performance degree from Rice University. Hogan completed her undergrad education at Indiana University in 2000. Shawn Weil, Section Second Violin, has won a permanent position after serving as a one-year replacement player for the SLSO for the last two seasons. Prior to joining the SLSO he was Co-Concertmaster at the New World Symphony from 1998 to 2002. Weil began his professional orchestral career with the Evansville Philharmonic as a section violinist where he played from 1995 to 1998. He studied at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. Weil replaces Louise Grossheider, who retired in 2004. Bryan Florence, Section Viola, returns to the SLSO as a permanent player after spending last season as a one-year replacement player. Florence studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and received his degree in Viola Performance from the University of Maryland in 2001. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England. He has participated in the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Maine and the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Brunswick, Maine. In other Symphony musician news, Melissa Brooks-Rubright is the new Associate Principal Cello. She joined the SLSO in 1992 and studied at Juilliard and New England Conservatory. Brooks-Rubright replaces Mark Votapek, who resigned in 2004. The SLSO currently has four open positions; English Horn, Associate Concertmaster, Assistant Principal Flute and Second Trombone.
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