Fred Gratta, cellist completed his Bachelor Degree in Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was a student of Stephen Geber. In 1988, Fred received an invitation from Lynn Harrell to join his studio at the University of Southern California, where he completed the Advanced Studies Program and his Masters Degree in Performance. Upon graduation from USC, Fred accepted a one-year contract to perform with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife in the Canary Islands as Violonchelo Solista (Principal Cello). When he returned to the United States, Fred joined The Florida Orchestra in 1994. He was appointed by Music Director, Jahja Ling, to serve as Assistant Principal Cello from 1995-1997. Praised for his enthusiastic style as a teacher, coach, and chamber musician, Fred is a member of the Artistic Staff of Florimezzo and Pinellas Youth Symphony, member of the Upper Pinellas Music Teachers Association, American Federation of Musicians, American String Teachers Association and is cellist of the Myakka Piano Trio. Fred has also participated in numerous national and international festivals including Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, where in 1998 he performed as Principal Cellist under Richard Hickox for a live nationally televised broadcast of Mendelssohn's Elijah. In addition to his duties with TFO, Fred is a member of the Tampa Bay Master Chorale and looks forward to touring with the Chorale to the 2008 Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria.

 

Felicia Brunelle, violinist is currently a member of the Florida West Coast Symphony. She was invited to join the symphony as a member of the New Artists String Quartet in 1989 and has been an active chamber musician throughout the United States, with concerts in Japan and Canada. She has worked with the Emerson String Quartet and the Tokyo String Quartet in summer festivals at the Yale Summer School of Music-Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, and the Tanglewood Music Festival. Felicia completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1996, and holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Minnesota. Upon graduation, Felicia was appointed Principal Second Violinist with the New World Symphony. She joined the Missouri Symphony as Concertmaster in 1993, and has appeared frequently as a soloist there, as well as with the Florida West Coast Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic, the Sarasota Pops and the Ozark Festival Orchestra. Her faculty positions have included the Eastern Music Festival, the Florida West Coast Symphony Youth Orchestra, and a teaching assistantship at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Felicia is currently on the faculty of the Manatee Community College. After 15 years serving as Assistant Concertmaster of the Florida West Coast Symphony and founding member of the New Arts Piano Quartet, Felicia decided to balance her musical activity with a career in Traditional Chinese Medicine. A graduate of the East West College of Natural Medicine, she is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine and a board certified acupuncturist and herbologist. Felicia now finds harmonic balance in her lifetime study of classical music and the healing arts.

 

 

Mary Pendleton Hoffer, pianist has performed across the United States, in England and in Mexico. She made her solo piano debut at the prestigious Wigmore Hall, London, in 1984, and she has appeared as a piano and harpsichord soloist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, the Phoenix Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the Lubbock and Amarillo Symphonies (TX), the Alameda Mozart Festival Orchestra (CA) and the Nouveau West Chamber Orchestra. As a selected Touring Artist for the Arizona Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, she performed solo recitals and chamber music throughout Arizona and northern Mexico. Following ten years with the Phoenix Symphony, she joined The Florida Orchesta in 1998, performing for eight years. She was a Florida Orchestra featured soloist twice in 2006, performing the Symphonic Variations by César Franck and George Gershwin’s I Got Rhythm Variations. She has performed with many chamber ensembles; she was founding member of the Bel Canto Piano Trio, Bach West and the Hanusofski Trio, and she frequently performs in recital with instrumentalists and singers. Her summer festival appearances have included the Sedona Chamber Music Festival, the New Hampshire Music Festival, the Park City International Chamber Music Festival and the American Matthay Association Piano Festival. Mary holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University, Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Texas Tech University, and Performing Artist diplomas from the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, both in London, England. She has taught on the faculties of Arizona State University, Texas Tech University and the Maricopa Community Colleges, and frequently serves as adjudicator and presenter of workshops and masterclasses.