2024 Fall Musicians – Jackson Hole Chamber Music

GET TO KNOW Our 2024 Fall Musicians

A graduate of both Northwestern University and San Francisco Conservatory, Chandra Cervantes has held positions with The United States Army Field Band, Tulsa Philharmonic, Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony, and Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Now an active freelance musician in the Washington, DC/Baltimore area, she is a member of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, American Pops Orchestra, Barclay Brass, Washington Symphonic Brass, and Inscape, a Grammy nominated chamber ensemble committed to presenting emerging American composers. Chandra also performs regularly with Wolf Trap Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Post Classical Ensemble, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, and as a Guest Artist with Seraph Brass and the Little River Band.

Chandra has been involved in several shows in the DC area including a production of Anastasia and Sunset Boulevard at the John F. Kennedy Center, Into the Woods at Ford’s Theater, Signature Theatre and the Kennedy Center, and She Loves Me and Ragtime at Signature Theatre. With the National Symphony Orchestra she has played on three international tours, performing across Europe, Poland, South America, Mexico, Trinidad, and Oman. Since 2020 Chandra has played and spoken at the Wintergreen Music Festival, collaborating with musicians from around the country.

While maintaining a private home studio, Chandra is also Professor of Horn at University of Maryland Baltimore County, Montgomery College, and Instructor of Horn at the Levine School of Music. She coached the DC Youth Orchestra’s top two orchestra’s sectionals for many years and was an instructor at MATS, a summer camp for adult musicians.

Her recordings include four with the Washington Symphonic Brass: The Edge, Classic Rock for Brass, Home for the Holidays and Trumpets Ring! Voices Sing!. In December of 2013 she recorded Marcos Galvany’s internationally successful opera Oh My Son. She is heard on the album Redes, a world premiere recording of the full Revuelatas score, with PostClassical Ensemble. With Maryland Symphony Orchestra she recorded for Sharon Isbin’s Affinity. Chandra has recorded three albums with Inscape: a new arrangement of Petrushka, released in 2015, an exciting collaboration with Phillip Glass, The Fall of the House of Usher, and an upcoming album including Barber’s Medea, recorded in November, 2021. Two pieces by Florence Price are available on YouTube, recorded with Barclay Brass, and with special permission.

During the pandemic Chandra pursued two additional degrees in both Psychology and Business Administration.

Kirsten Docter

viola

Laura Colgate

violin

Laura Colgate

violin

Praised by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as “remarkably poised...sensitive and majestic,” violinist Dr. Laura Colgate enjoys a versatile career as a chamber and orchestral musician, soloist, educator, curator, activist, and innovator. Having performed worldwide
across Europe, Asia, and North America, she has performed on stages including the Barbican Centre, Kennedy Center, and multiple appearances at Carnegie Hall.

Laura currently lives in Takoma Park, MD and is Concertmaster of The National Philharmonic at Strathmore in Bethesda, MD. She formerly served as Concertmaster of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. She frequently performs as a substitute with several major orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and is a member of the IRIS Collective in her hometown, Memphis, TN. She is also the curator for the
Strathmore Music in the Mansion series, and formerly the curator for National Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, and the Chamber Music Series at The Clarice
Smith Performing Arts Center. Laura formerly taught Financial Entrepreneurship for Arts Leaders as well as adjunct Violin Professor at the University of Maryland (UMD), and currently serves as Lecturer of Chamber Music and Chamber Music Coordinator for
Strings at UMD School of Music.

She completed her Doctorate from the UMD School of Music, focusing her thesis on Women Composers. Laura is passionate about being an innovator in the world of classical music, and in March 2018 co-founded the Boulanger Initiative, an advocacy organization for women composers based in Maryland, for which she holds the position of Executive and Artistic Director. The Initiative champions the works of women and gender-marginalized composers through consulting, performance, education, and commissions, and launched the Boulanger Initiative Database of Repertoire by Women and Gender Marginalized Composers, the largest of its kind with over 11,000 works included, in March 2023.