FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 22, 2008
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF NEW ORCHESTRA MEMBERS
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of two new members to the second violin section: Ni Mei and Aiko Noda. Additionally, Scott Hostetler, a member of the Orchestra's oboe section, has won the audition for English horn. Mr. Hostetler will serve as the Orchestra's English horn in addition to his role as oboist.
Ni Mei started with the CSO as the fourth chair second violin on July 7. She came to the CSO from the Detroit Symphony, where she was a member of the first violin section. A native of China, Mei began playing the violin at the age of 6. Her first teacher was her father, who was the concertmaster and later music director of the Wuhan Symphony Orchestra. At age 10, she entered Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she studied for 11 years under Duoqin Xu, Shisheng Zheng and Zhinuo Ding. Mei came to the United States to continue her violin study at Pittsburg State University and at Rice University, where she studied with Kathleen Winkler. During her years of study, she won the Concerto-Aria Competition of Pittsburg State University, the Waddile Chamber Competition and first prize in the Texas Young Artist Competition. She was also the concertmaster of Southeast Kansas Orchestra, associate concertmaster of Ohio Light Opera and a member of the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
Aiko Noda will join the Orchestra on September 15. Born in Japan, Noda moved to Switzerland at the age of 9 to study with the world-renowned Hungarian violinist Tibor Varga at the Ecole Supérieure de Musique de Sion. She continued her studies in the United States with Shmuel Ashkenasi at Northern Illinois University. She has received numerous awards, including the Young Concert Artist Award in Osaka, Japan, and a special award at the International Music Festival Tibor Varga. Noda was a faculty member in the Community School at Northern Illinois University in 2004, and from 1997 to 2001 she taught in a public music school in Switzerland. She is currently a faculty member of the Renaissance Music Academy, an adjunct faculty member at Radford University and a member of the Avanti Ensemble.
Scott Hostetler joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2002. He was previously principal oboe and an artist in residence of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, and he has also performed with the Michigan Opera Theatre, the Florida Orchestra, and with the Cleveland Orchestra during its 1999 European tour. A native of Indiana, he began studying the oboe at the age of 11 and made his solo debut with orchestra at age 14. While in high school, he was principal oboe of the Kokomo Symphony Orchestra, and at age 16 he was invited to perform the Mozart oboe quartet with members of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He received his bachelor's of music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was a student of John Mack. He subsequently studied with Elaine Douvas at the Juilliard School in New York, and he has attended the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado.
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