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Damon Nelson, horn |
Damon Nelson is the principal hornist of the NOVA Manassas Symphony. He has studied with with Edwin Thayer, former principal horn of the National Symphony Orchestra. Aside from the NMSO, he also performs in two woodwind quintets, including the Fairwinds Quintet (which is comprised of the NMSO's principal winds), a horn quartet, and several other small ensembles. When not playing horn, Damon works at Lockheed Martin as an electrical engineer. |
Ken Elston, narrator |
Ken Elston is the Artistic Director of the Gray Ghost Theatre Company - a professional theatre company bringing history to life with art that is relevant and accessible to families in Northern Virginia. He teaches theatre at George Mason University in Fairfax and is the Resident Theatre Artist at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. He teaches Acting and Directing with a specialty in movement for the stage and one-person show development.
Ken is a professional director and actor with both local and national credits. His work as a director includes directing his own translation of Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid with the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, the Off-Broadway productions of The Adjustment (as assistant director to Pam Berlin) and A Vow of Silence (both at Playhouse 91), several university and regional productions, and work with new scripts and original work. Regionally Ken serves as a fight director and movement coach. Recent movement coaching has included Bartleby for Journeyman Theatre, Le Bourgeois Avant Garde at Catholic University, An American Song, for Spotlight on the Spirit Productions, and Children of Eden and The Civil War for the Prince William Little Theater. His direction of For Alejandra won honors at the Source Theatre in DC and the 2002 Dubrovnik Theatre Festival. As an actor Ken has worked on stage, television and in film. Some of those credits include productions of Rashoman, Romeo and Juliet, The Country Wife, Dangerous Corner, and The Cherry Orchard. Ken has appeared in Woody Allen’s Celebrity, Patrick Wright’s Minivan, Albert Pyun’s Brain Smasher, and in such television shows as The Sopranos, Dellaventura, and Unsolved Mysteries. Ken has trained with both Marcel Marceau, and Jacques Lecoq, and he has worked with many master teachers of stage combat. He holds an MFA from the Ohio State University, studying there with Reid Gilbert and Jeanine Thompson. Ken is a member of the Actor’s Equity Association, Association of Film, Television, and Radio Artists, the Screen Actor’s Guild, and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. He is on the board of The Oberon Theatre Ensemble in New York, is a board member of the Mount Zion Church Preservation Association, is the past president of the Illinois Theatre Association, and serves as treasurer of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators. |
Bruce Farquharson, composer |
Bruce Farquharson graduated cum laude from George Wahington University with a Bachelors Degree in Music in 2001. Prior to graduation, Mr. Farquharson won the Institute for the International Education of Students Merit Scholarship to study composition in Austria, Vienna. In addition to studying at George Washington University, Mr. Farquharson studied at at Shenandoah University, The Juilliard School, and Grove School of Music. His primary studies included composition, guitar, piano, viola, and conducting. Currently, Mr. Farquharson teaches guitar at the Woodbridge campus for Northern Virginia Community College and at Music & Arts, and he also serves on the Board of Directors for the NOVA Manassas Symphony Orchestra. In addition to composing the music to How I Became A Pirate, he composed the score for the independent film Lot Lizards, and he will begin work on a new independent film, Dracula's Mother, in early 2007. Mr. Farquharson is also preparing to begin graduate studies towards a Masters Degree in music composition. |
Barbara Fitzgerald, double bass |
Barbara Fitzgerald is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. As winner of the school’s concerto competition, she performed as soloist with the Juilliard Philharmonia. She has played in orchestras in various parts of the world: Montreal, Canada; Perth, West Australia; New York City, and is presently a free-lance musician in the Washington, DC, area. She has given several recitals in each of these locations, and has been a soloist with several local orchestras. |
Nimrod Borenstein, composer |
Nimrod Borenstein has won several international composition competitions and his works are gaining a worldwide reputation with performances throughout Europe, Canada, Australia and the U.S.A. His latest works for orchestra are receiving exceptionally enthusiastic reviews from the press and becoming part of the repertoire of many orchestras. Legendary pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy recently heard Nimrod's music for the first time and has given him his full support.
The Shell Adagio for Strings, commissioned by the Oxford Philomusica, was performed over 30 times by 16 different orchestras during the last seasonand is to be published by Boosey & Hawkes in 2007. World premieres in 2007-8 include Elves and Mirrors for solo violin & orchestra (USA), If I forget thee, O Jerusalem for choir and organ (Cambridge, UK), Lynx for orchestra (NOVA Manassas Symphony Orchestra), Noah's Ark for children choir and string orchestra (London, UK), Genesis - The Days of Creation for solo soprano and orchestra (USA) and To be, or not to be for choir and orchestra (USA). Mr. Borenstein's publishers include Boosey & Hawkes (New York), Fatrock Ink (Los Angeles) and Alain Van Kerckhoven Éditeur (Belgium). Nimrod Borenstein holds postgraduate diplomas from the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music were he was a Leverhulme Trust Fellow and is now listed amongst the alumni, as an illustrious past student. He is a Laureat of the Cziffra Foundation of France. |
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NOVA Manassas Symphony Orchestra is in the Communications Technologies and Social Sciences Division |
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